- ✓Uluru and Kata Tjuṯa sit on Anangu land — the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara people are the traditional owners, and climbing Uluru has been permanently closed since 26 October 2019, following the traditional owners' 2017 decision.
- ✓Kakadu National Park is jointly managed with the Bininj/Mungguy people, its traditional owners, and its wetlands and waterfalls are at their most dramatic — and least accessible by road — in the wet season.
- ✓The Territory runs on a wet-season/dry-season year rather than four temperate seasons, and winter in the rest of the country (roughly May–October) lines up with its best, driest travel window.
The Red Centre
Uluru-Kata Tjuṯa National Park is the Territory's best-known drawcard and one of Australia's defining images — a pair of sandstone formations rising out of the desert, on Anangu land. The Anangu — the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara people — are Uluru's traditional owners, and any visit should credit that plainly: climbing the rock has been permanently closed since 26 October 2019, timed to the 34th anniversary of the 1985 Handback of the land to its traditional owners, following the traditional owners' own 2017 board decision. Kata Tjuṯa (also known as the Olgas) sits inside the same national park and is usually visited alongside Uluru as effectively one stop; Kings Canyon is a separate park a few hours away and is normally treated as its own leg.
Alice Springs is the Red Centre's practical hub — most Uluru trips fly into either Alice Springs or the small Ayers Rock airport near Uluru itself, then drive or tour from there.
Kakadu, Darwin and the Top End
Kakadu National Park, a few hours from Darwin, is jointly managed by its traditional owners, the Bininj/Mungguy people, alongside Parks Australia — its wetlands, rock art and waterfalls are the drawcard, and the wet season (roughly November–April) is when the falls run fullest even as some roads become impassable. The dry season (roughly May–October) trades some of that drama for reliable 4WD access, which is why it's generally considered the more practical window for a first visit.
Darwin itself is a small, tropical, laid-back capital that works well as a base for Kakadu and Litchfield National Park day trips, and as the northern terminus of The Ghan train from Adelaide.