Alice Springs, AU

A tucked-away courtyard cafe off Fan Arcade with the best big-plate breakfast in town — Middle Eastern eggs, smashed avo with bush dukkah, and proper coffee. The locals' brunch that visitors usually walk straight past.

The town's special-occasion table — Thai-Indian-Malay fine dining inside the Doubletree Hilton, run by Darwin's Jimmy Shu. White tablecloths, banana-flower salads, and the Hanuman oysters that locals fly the menu in for.

A rooftop bar-and-share-plates over Todd Mall — Mediterranean small plates, decent cocktails, and the only outdoor evening view in the CBD. Live music most weekends and the closest thing Alice has to a city wine bar.

The garden cafe inside Olive Pink Botanic Garden — open-air under shadecloth among the eucalypts, with a small bush-foods-leaning menu (wattleseed pancakes, lemon-myrtle scones) and the town's quietest morning soundtrack.

A bright corner cafe in the Yeperenye complex doing all-day brunch, decent coffee, and grab-and-go salads — the locals' Monday-to-Friday workday spot and the most reliable lunch in the CBD.

A long-running Todd Mall sidewalk cafe — the place older locals have had coffee for 20 years, with a big all-day breakfast menu, generous portions, and the easiest people-watching seat in town under the river red gums.

A Wild-West-themed saloon on Todd Street — saddle-stool seating, walls of outback memorabilia, and honest pub food from steaks and ribs to wood-fired pizza. Recently reopened after a closure; touristy on the surface, but the live music most evenings is real.

A Todd Mall restaurant that built its name on native-ingredient mains — kangaroo fillet with quandong glaze, crocodile spring rolls, wattleseed pavlova. It leans tour-group, but it's the most accessible bush-tucker dinner in town.

A small brunch room on the Milner Road corner with a tight menu of well-executed eggs, bowls, and bakery — the locals' alternative to Page 27, a little out of the centre but every bit as good. Sourdough toasties and Bonsoy lattes are the orders.

A compact Thai kitchen on Todd Street turning out authentic curries, stir-fries, and a standout laksa to a loyal local crowd — big portions, quick service, and the town's best-value Asian meal. Named Alice Springs' best Thai restaurant in the 2026 Quality Business Awards.

The opening 24km of Australia's iconic 223km Larapinta Trail — undulating ridges, scribbly-gum gullies, and Wallaby Gap as the midway camp. The full section is two days; most do it as a half-day from the Telegraph Station to Wallaby Gap and turn back.

A short signed ascent (1.5km return) from the Simpsons Gap carpark up Cassia Hill to a 360-degree West MacDonnell viewpoint — the easiest big-landscape payoff in the area, doable in 45 minutes.

A 20-minute signed climb up Meyers Hill inside Olive Pink Garden — the closest hilltop view in town, with rock wallabies on the scree at dusk and a 360-degree look at Heavitree Range, the Todd, and the town grid.

The 10-minute switchback path from Wills Terrace to the Anzac Hill summit — short, steep, and the most-walked piece of dirt in town. Sealed surface, kid-friendly, the local sunrise run.

A network of 1.6km of sealed and gravel paths through the Desert Park's three habitats — desert river, sand country, woodland — with shade structures, interpretive signs, and the chance to walk past birds-of-prey enclosures between shows.

The sealed shared path running 4km from the CBD along the Todd River bed to the Telegraph Station, then climbing 800m of dirt to Trig Hill's bench-and-view at the top. The town's go-to walk-cycle-jog combo.

A flat 3km return creek-bed walk from the Simpsons Gap carpark to the Ghost Gum and back — easy ground, ghost gums leaning over the dry channel, and rock-wallaby sightings on the cliffs above. The relaxed alternative to Cassia Hill.

An 8km return walk along the Ross Highway corridor between Emily Gap and Jessie Gap in the East MacDonnell foothills — caterpillar-dreaming rock art at one end, a quieter waterhole at the other, and saltbush flats in between.

A short signed walk (1.2km return) from John Flynn's Grave reserve up to a low ridge with a southerly view to Mount Gillen and the western Heavitree Range — quick, free, and the unhurried alternative to Anzac Hill.

The 8km return from Telegraph Station to Wallaby Gap campsite — the most-walked piece of the Larapinta, gentle ridges, gum-tree gullies, and the trail's first proper waterhole-and-shelter combo as a turnaround.

The town's flagship attraction — habitats, raptor shows, nocturnal house, and Arrernte-guided walks. Half-day minimum, all-ages, and the place every Alice visitor is recommended within 10 minutes of arriving.

The historic 1939 base of the world's first aerial medical service — hologram theatre, full aircraft fuselage you sit inside, and exhibits explaining how 7 million sq km of Outback get healthcare. The one museum that explains modern Australia.

Tours of the original 1951 broadcast base for outback kids — live lessons in term time, HF-radio archives, and a film that explains the world's largest classroom. Compact, fascinating, and uniquely Central Australian.

The Todd Mall gallery of Papunya Tula — the artist-owned company that effectively started the Western Desert dot-painting movement in 1971. The most important Aboriginal art gallery in town; museum-grade work at retail prices.

The town-camp artists' studio and gallery on Elder Street — Western Desert and town-camp painters working on-site, with the bright, narrative canvases of Sally M. Mulda and Marlene Rubuntja as the signature voices. Ethical, artist-owned, and the most personal gallery visit in town.

A long-running family-run gallery, now relocated to Elder Street and viewing by appointment, with a strong Utopia-region collection — Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Gloria Petyarre, and the Petyarre sisters all represented. The accessible mid-market alternative to Papunya Tula.

An owner-curated Hartley Street gallery showing emerging and mid-career Central Desert artists — smaller, sharper, with a working artist studio on-site, and the place to find the next Papunya generation at accessible prices.

A small CBD reptile centre on Stuart Terrace with king browns, perenties, taipans, and a 3m saltwater croc — handle-a-python sessions three times daily and the most kid-pleasing hour in town.

The MacDonnell Siding museum 10km south of town — original Old Ghan locomotives, carriages, and the National Road Transport Hall of Fame next door. The combo ticket is the train-and-trucks afternoon for anyone who likes machines.

Marc the cameleer's family-run camel tours on a working station 17km west of town — one-hour, sunset, and full-moon rides on a herd of trained dromedaries through the Western MacDonnell foothills. The outback-postcard activity that's actually fun.

The performing-arts venue inside the Araluen Cultural Precinct — the Albert Namatjira gallery, rotating exhibitions, and a working theatre with film festivals, touring music, and the annual Desert Mob exhibition each September.

A compact, free natural-history museum on Todd Mall — the Dromornis stirtoni skeleton (eight-million-year-old thunder bird) is the photo, the fossil gallery upstairs is the surprise. Air-conditioned, 45 minutes, the wet-day backup.

The town's most-climbed hill, a sacred Arrernte site and WWI memorial rolled into one — the 360-degree panorama takes in the MacDonnell Ranges, the Todd River bed, and the whole grid of Alice below. Drive to the top or walk the short steep path from Wills Terrace.

The original 1872 telegraph repeater station and the actual spring the town was named for — stone buildings still standing in a gum-tree gully 4km north of town. Self-guided walks, a working blacksmith on weekends, and the Larapinta Trail's official trailhead.

The town's pedestrianised main street — three blocks of Aboriginal art galleries, cafes, and a Sunday market under the river red gums. It's where Alice does its actual living and where the desert town's quiet rhythm becomes obvious.

The world's largest classroom — 1.3 million square kilometres broadcast from a suburban Alice studio to outback kids on remote stations. Tours include a live lesson when school's in, and the historical archive of HF radio gear that started it all in 1951.

The historic base of the world's first aerial medical service — a hologram of founder John Flynn talks you through it, and a full-size aircraft fuselage lets you sit in a real flying-doctor cabin. The exhibit that explains the Outback better than any book.

A 1300-hectare living museum of Central Australian habitats — desert rivers, sand country, woodland — with free-flying birds-of-prey shows, a nocturnal house for bilbies and mulgaras, and Arrernte-guided bushfood walks. Plan a half day; this is the one paid attraction everyone gets right.

Sixteen hectares of arid-zone botanic garden founded by anthropologist and activist Olive Pink in 1956 — semi-wild, walking-track-strung, with rock wallabies grazing the slopes at dusk. Free, dog-free, and walking distance from the CBD over the Todd causeway.

The town's arts hub on the western edge of the CBD — Araluen Arts Centre galleries with the strongest permanent collection of Hermannsburg watercolours and Papunya boards anywhere, plus the Strehlow Research Centre, Aviation Museum, and the Memorial Cemetery in one walkable precinct.

A small free natural-history museum in the heart of the CBD — the centrepiece is the towering Dromornis stirtoni skeleton, an eight-million-year-old flightless bird taller than an emu. Quick, free, air-conditioned, and the best wet-weather backup in town.

A red-rock cleft in the West MacDonnell Ranges 18km west of town — a permanent waterhole, black-footed rock wallabies on the boulders at dusk, and the easiest big-landscape moment from Alice. The Larapinta Trail's Section 1 ends here.

Two sacred gaps in the East MacDonnell Ranges 10km east of town — Emily Gap's caterpillar-dreaming rock paintings are right beside the carpark, and the walk through the gap to the permanent waterhole takes 20 minutes. The closest sacred site to the CBD.

The grave of Royal Flying Doctor Service founder Reverend John Flynn, marked by a massive Devil's Marbles boulder transported here in 1942 — a quiet roadside reserve 7km west of town on Larapinta Drive with West Macs views and the bike path running past.