
Top End
Darwin
Darwin is the Northern Territory's tropical, multicultural harbour capital on Larrakia country, rebuilt four times by cyclones and war, and the main gateway to Kakadu, Litchfield and Katherine.
Tours, attractions, caravan parks and local guides — all organised by place. Sam pulls these together from what our team's actually visited and what travellers tell us is worth the detour. Pick a destination to start planning.

Darwin is the Northern Territory's tropical, multicultural harbour capital on Larrakia country, rebuilt four times by cyclones and war, and the main gateway to Kakadu, Litchfield and Katherine.

Uluru and Kata Tjuta are the spiritual and geological heart of the Red Centre, sacred Aṉangu country jointly managed since the 1985 handback and the 2019 climb closure.

World-heritage wetlands, rock art at Ubirr, Jim Jim Falls and croc-filled billabongs.

Alice Springs is the Red Centre's outback capital — Arrernte country on the Todd River, gateway to Uluru and Kings Canyon, and home to the School of the Air and Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Palmerston is Darwin's purpose-built satellite city on Larrakia country, a young, family-friendly NT city that makes a handy, cheaper base for exploring Litchfield, Kakadu and Katherine.

Kings Canyon's famous Rim Walk cuts along 100-metre sandstone cliffs above the Garden of Eden waterhole and the beehive domes of the Lost City, deep in Watarrka National Park.

Litchfield National Park is Darwin's favourite day trip: sealed roads, no permits, and a run of swimming holes, sandstone formations and magnetic termite mounds within two hours of the city.

Tennant Creek is a genuine outback highway city on Warumungu country, built on a 1930s gold rush and the gateway to the Karlu Karlu / Devils Marbles boulders down the Stuart Highway.

Katherine is the Top End's working gateway city, an unglamorous highway town wrapped around the thirteen gorges of Jawoyn-owned Nitmiluk National Park.

The Victoria River's escarpment country is the NT's 'mini Kimberley' — dramatic gorge cliffs, boabs and cattle-station history most travellers only ever see through a windscreen.

The MacDonnell Ranges (Tjoritja) split east and west of Alice Springs into a maze of red gorges, permanent waterholes, historic sites and the famous 223km Larapinta Trail.

Permit-access Aboriginal land — rock art, Injalak Hill, buffalo safaris and remote fishing.

Small Gulf-country town on the McArthur River — Yanyuwa, Garawa, Marra and Gudanji country. Barramundi fishing in the Sir Edward Pellew Islands, the Old Police Station Museum, and the gateway to Limmen National Park and its Southern Lost City sandstone formations.

Mainland Australia's northernmost peninsula, almost entirely contained within Garig Gunak Barlu National Park — Australia's first Ramsar wetland (1974). Iwaidja country, Victoria Settlement ruins, world-class sport fishing, and the most remote-feeling drive-in destination in the Top End.

The Gove Peninsula sits on the easternmost tip of Arnhem Land on Yolŋu country — Nhulunbuy town, the Yirrkala art centre, Turtle Beach and Daliwuy Bay, and host of the annual Garma Festival at Gulkula. Permit-only access via the Northern Land Council; best April to October.

Bathurst + Melville — AFL-mad island community, art centres and day-trip ferries from Darwin.