Best time to visit Alice Springs

Australia · Oceania

All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.

The year in Alice Springs

Tap a month for its page

Sweet spot
Good
OK
Avoid
Busy

Good for

Hiking May–Aug

Go in Apr–Oct — these months score within a whisker of each other; 28C max, 1 rainy day.

Plan this trip

Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too.

Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you; most pay nothing, and what a site pays never decides whether it is listed or where. How we rank

Flights

Choose where you fly from

Where to stay

Things to do

Car hire

Rent direct

Travel insurance

SafetyWing Ad

Mobile data (eSIM)

Each opens in a new tab, on the site's own pages.

Things to do in Alice Springs

Henbury Meteorites Conservation Reserve Explore the 12 craters, which were formed when a meteor hit the earth’s surface 4,700 years ago.
Alice Springs Telegraph Station Historical Reserve Where it all began, this is the original telegraph station, with some exhibits about its history.
Anzac Hill Hill with good views and some history of Alice Springs.
Alice Springs Desert Park Truly memorable in its examples of local flora and fauna.
Old Ghan Heritage Railway and Museum Next to (or part of, but with a separate entrance fee) the Road Transport Hall of Fame, this is a museum about Australia's wildest train line, The Ghan.
Totem Theatre Theatre in Alice Springs, Australia
National Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame Hundreds of women are recognized for their special contributions to Australia’s heritage.

Tours and tickets in Alice Springs

Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too. Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you; most pay nothing, and what a site pays never decides whether it is listed or where. How we rank

Sights and their lines from Wikivoyage (Alice Springs), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, and Wikidata; in order of how often each one's Wikipedia article was read on phones in the last 12 months.

Month by month

No fare history for this route yet, so this ranking is climate and crowds only — the price column will fill in as the scanner collects.

Month	Max °C	Rain days	Humidity	Sun h/day	Verdict	Why
Jan	37°	3d	35%	11.7h	avoid	extreme heat: 23 days over 35C
Feb	35°	2d	35%	11.4h	avoid	extreme heat: 18 days over 35C
Mar	33°	3d	39%	10.3h	avoid	extreme heat: 14 days over 35C
Apr	29°	0d	37%	10.8h	sweet spot	29C max, 0 rainy days
May	23°	1d	45%	9.6h	sweet spot	23C max, 1 rainy day
Jun	20°	1d	51%	9.4h	sweet spot	20C max, 1 rainy day
Jul	21°	1d	46%	10.0h	sweet spot	21C max, 1 rainy day
Aug	24°	1d	35%	10.6h	sweet spot	24C max, 1 rainy day
Sep	28°	1d	29%	11.0h	sweet spot	28C max, 1 rainy day
Oct	32°	1d	28%	11.2h	sweet spot	32C max, 1 rainy day
Nov	33°	3d	35%	11.2h	avoid	extreme heat: 13 days over 35C
Dec	36°	1d	28%	11.8h	avoid	extreme heat: 20 days over 35C

Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.

Weather read at the centre, 12 km from the airport (ASP): ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.

A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.

How busy it gets

Busiest in December and January; quietest in April.

Then and now

Alice Springs's July days now average 20.6°C, 2.4°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 3 of 12 months are clearly warmer.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
1981–90	35.9°	35.1°	31.5°	27.1°	23.1°	18.4°	18.1°	22.2°	26.5°	31.3°	33.6°	35.7°
2017–26	37.0°	35.4°	33.1°	28.7°	22.7°	20.0°	20.6°	23.8°	28.3°	32.4°	33.3°	36.2°
Change	+1.1°	+0.2°	+1.5°	+1.6°	-0.4°	+1.6°	+2.4°	+1.6°	+1.7°	+1.1°	-0.3°	+0.5°

The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.

Getting there

How far Alice Springs is, and what it costs, depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.

Before you go

Type I plugs at 230 V. Drives on the left. The currency is the Australian dollar. No UK Foreign Office advice against travel. Everything for Australia: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.

Being there

On arrival

Paying — Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay and Google Pay are taken in most shops, cafés and hotels; carry some cash in remote areas. Since 1 October 2026 shops may not add a fee for paying by card; taxis follow their state's rules.
UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.
Tipping — Not expected; prices include service. In upmarket restaurants 10% for good service is common. Taxi drivers do not expect tips.

Getting around Alice Springs

Apps — Rides: DiDi, Uber. Maps: Google Maps, Apple Maps. Messages: Messenger, Text messages (SMS), WhatsApp.

There are a couple of public bus lines bringing you around town. Other than that, you can get around by foot or bike, drive or take a taxi. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Alice Springs, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Help

Emergency — 000 (any emergency).
TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.

Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 7 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.

Sources (25)

Alice Springs in pictures

Alice Springs ridge — i

Stephen Codrington, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Central Australia Railway line into Alice Springs, 1958 (A Attwood LANT ph0815 0139) — i

Attwood, Audrey, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Australia Alice Springs ANZAC Hill — i

Genet (Diskussion), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Alice Springs Australia — i

Johannes Püller, CC BY-SA 2.0 at, via Wikimedia Commons

Alice Springs Public Library — i

Tenniscourtisland, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What Alice Springs is like

Alice Springs (Arrernte: Mparntwe), sometimes colloquially known as Alice, is the heart of Central Australia and consists of cavernous gorges, boundless desert landscapes, remote Aboriginal communities and a charming pioneering history. More on Wikivoyage

Worth seeing: Alice Springs has quite a few interesting things to see; one of them happens every night. If you don't get out of town and watch a sunset, even just sitting off the main highway, you've missed something special. More on Wikivoyage
Worth doing: Pyndan Camel Tracks – Take a one-hour or half day journey aboard a "ship of the desert", through the scenic Ilparpa Valley, located in the famous MacDonnell Ranges. More on Wikivoyage
Getting in: Alice Springs Airport (ASP IATA). The airport doesn't have air bridges, so that passengers need to use stairs to get in/out of planes. More on Wikivoyage
Staying safe: Alice Springs suffers from a relatively high crime rate. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Alice Springs, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.

Around Alice Springs

Also in Australia

Nearby

Kind of place

Deserts

Alice Springs is in Australia, Oceania. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.

Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book through one, at no extra cost to you. That does not affect the scores on this page, which are computed from climate and fare data before any link is built.