OceaniaAustraliaAustralia
Australia is not one trip, it is a dozen that happen to share a passport. Sailing to the silica sand of Whitehaven, driving a beach called 75 Mile, watching Uluru change colour for an hour, snorkelling a reef straight off the sand at Ningaloo. Nobody sees it all, and nobody seems to mind.
AustraliaAustralia in a nutshell
Where to go in Australia
Turn these stops into a Australia route
Pick your favourites and Stippl orders them, adds travel times and builds the day-by-day.
Routes that work
Australia itineraries, two weeks to a month
Australia is loved by culture seekers and backpackers alike. We recommend several routes through this country, here they are in full!
3 nights3 days, the Great Ocean Road from Melbourne
Great Ocean Road · Twelve Apostles
Mild driving weather on the coast road, with whales off Warrnambool from May to October.
4 nights4 days, Adelaide→Melbourne overland
Adelaide · Grampians · Great Ocean Road
Mild shoulder seasons suit the Grampians and Great Ocean Road without southern winter or peak tourist pressure.
5 nights5 days, Cairns & the tropical north
Cairns · Great Barrier Reef · Port Douglas
Great Barrier Reef and Port Douglas at peak visibility; dry season eliminates wet-season stingers and storms.
5 nights5 days, the Red Centre
Alice Springs · Kings Canyon · Uluru Kata Tjuta
Alice Springs, Kings Canyon and Uluru demand cool, dry conditions; winter and spring offer bearable desert temperatures.
5 nights5 days, the Top End
Darwin · Litchfield · Kakadu
Darwin, Litchfield and Kakadu at their prime; dry season transforms the tropical north from wet to sunny and warm.
7 nights1 week, Sydney→Melbourne coastal
Sydney · Jervis Bay · Wilsons Promontory
Jervis Bay and Wilsons Promontory at their best; autumn and spring avoid southern winter and summer heat.
7 nights1 week, Tasmania loop
Hobart · Bruny Island · Freycinet
Hobart, Bruny Island and Cradle Mountain peak in summer; Tasmania inverts mainland logic with warmest, longest days.
10 nights3 weeks, Sydney→Perth cross-continent
Sydney · Blue Mountains · Broken Hill
Broken Hill, Nullarbor and outback routes require mild temps and good road conditions; shoulder seasons balance comfort and scenery.
11 nights12 days, Sydney→Great Ocean Road→Adelaide campervan loop
Sydney · Wilsons Promontory · Phillip Island
Southern route peaks in autumn and spring; Melbourne and Great Ocean Road shine without winter chill or summer crowds.
14 nights2 weeks, east coast highlights
Sydney · Byron Bay · Gold Coast
Mild temps and dry north; Sydney to Cairns at their best without summer crowds or tropical storms.
19 nights4 weeks: the west coast, Perth→Broome
Perth · Kalbarri · Shark Bay
Ningaloo whale sharks from March; Shark Bay and Karijini best in dry, cool months; wildflowers peak in spring.
25 nights4 weeks: the east coast classic, Cairns→Sydney
Cairns · Port Douglas · Mission Beach
Port Douglas through Byron Bay avoid wet season and peak heat; shoulder seasons offer ideal reef and coastal conditions.
Updated October 2026 · Written by the Stippl editorsWe looked at how travellers actually plan Australia on Stippl, across 366,000+ planned stops in the country.
You do not do Australia, you do a piece of it, and most travellers give a stop 2 nights. The named things are spread across a continent: snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef, sailing the Whitsundays, 4WD on K'gari, the Great Ocean Road, Uluru changing colour at sunset, Ningaloo's whale sharks, the walk into the Daintree, Sydney's set pieces and Tasmania's wild side. Very few trips get more than a handful of them.
The Australia our travellers actually plan is the east coast, in order. Ten of the twelve most-planned Australian destinations run in a line from Sydney to Cairns, and no single one takes more than 11.6% of the country's stops. Uluru, Darwin and Tasmania are on every list of things to see here and on very few of the itineraries.
So pick the coast or commit to the distance. A typical Australian trip already runs 29 days, which is the length the map forces rather than a preference, and an attraction here means a reef trip or a skydive rather than an entry ticket, so budget advice written for Europe does not transfer. Skip Australia on a short trip or a tight budget, and expect to see much less if you will not drive.
Plan Australia in Stippl
Day-by-day planning, stays and budget in one app, with every place from this guide already on the map.
Download the appWho Australia is for
Road-trippers and campervanners
The archetypal Australia trip: the distances demand a vehicle, the caravan-park and free-camp network is built for it, and 29 days is typical.
Backpackers, working holidays
A huge hostel trail, casual work economy and van culture make the year-out here a rite of passage.
First-time solo travellers
Australia is among the safest, easiest solo countries, and the hostel scene makes meeting people effortless.
Divers and snorkellers
The Great Barrier Reef from the east, Ningaloo's whale sharks from the west; two of the world's great reef systems in one country.
Wildlife lovers
Quokkas on Rottnest, wild koalas on Magnetic Island, penguin parades, whale sharks, sea lions: 90% of native species exist nowhere else.
Surfers
Byron Bay, the Gold Coast, Sydney's beaches and Bells Beach, the birthplace of Australian surf culture.
Families
Gold Coast theme parks, wildlife sanctuaries and safe beaches, with Melbourne the best family city of the lot.
Maybe not for you: short trips and tight budgets, it is far, expensive, and the distances eat itinerary days; travellers who won't drive will see far less, and one region per trip is the honest plan for under three weeks
The best time to visit Australia
Summer
December to February
The southern peak: beach weather, Christmas on the sand, school-holiday crowds and prices. The tropical north is wet, humid and stinger-infested.
Autumn
March to May
The shoulder sweet spot in the south and on the mid-east coast, while the north dries out through April and May.
Winter
June to August
The southern low season and the cheapest time, and exactly the best season for the reef, the Kimberley and the Red Centre. Ski season runs in the Snowy Mountains.
Spring
September to November
The overall pick: mild everywhere, pre-peak prices, wildflowers in the west and whales up the east coast.
- Winter is the north's best season and the south's cheapest, at the same time. June to August is the window for the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu and Uluru, and the low season for Sydney and Melbourne, so a winter trip goes north.
- Ride the east coast in the direction the weather is moving. Cairns to Sydney in September to November, ahead of the wet season; Sydney to Cairns in April to June, into the northern dry. May and October are the two ideal months.
- January is the month most travellers plan Australia for on Stippl, about 89 days ahead. Only 13.1% of plans are made inside a fortnight, and January is the school-holiday peak, so book the coast early.
- Stinger season in northern Queensland runs November to May. Box jellyfish and Irukandji close the sea to ordinary swimming; go in the dry season, swim in a stinger suit, or swim in fresh water.
- Late December to late January and Easter fill every coastal campsite and lift prices nationwide. Book everything ahead for both, or travel the month either side.
- Whales have a coast, not a national season. East-coast humpbacks run June to October with the peak in July and August; the west coast runs September to November, and Bremer Canyon's orcas March and April.
Add your Australia dates and we'll flag the weather per stop
Stippl shows the season, crowds and prices for every place on your route.
Festivals, and when to avoid them
Christmas and New Year
The summer school holidays put the whole coast at peak price, and Sydney's New Year's Eve fireworks book the harbour hotels two to three months out. The one window to book before anything else.
Australian Open
The Open fills Melbourne for a fortnight on top of the school holidays; book the city before the draw is out. Australia Day on 26 January adds a long weekend and closes the shops.
Sydney Mardi Gras
The parade on Oxford Street fills Sydney for the weekend, and the Adelaide Fringe runs the same fortnight. Book that weekend or come the week after.
Formula 1 Grand Prix
Albert Park takes Melbourne's hotels for four days, in the month that is also autumn's best on the east coast. Plan the race or plan around it.
Easter and Anzac Day
Two long weekends close together; the coast fills with families and the dawn services close city roads early. Book the beach towns, not the cities.
Vivid Sydney
The harbour is lit every night for three weeks. Circular Quay is packed on the weekend evenings and a weeknight is the same show with room; hotels run busier, not sold out.
Winter school holidays
Families go north: Cairns, the Whitsundays and Uluru are at their busiest and the reef boats and sailing trips fill. The south is at its cheapest in the same fortnight.
Melbourne Cup
A public holiday in Victoria; offices and shops close and Flemington fills. A museum plan for that day is a plan for the day after.
Schoolies
The school-leavers' fortnight takes over Surfers Paradise and Byron Bay; the police presence triples and the family trade moves down the coast. Anyone not eighteen goes elsewhere for those weeks.
Describe your trip, get a Australia itinerary in seconds
Everything in this guide is already in Stippl. Tell the planner how long you have and what you like: it builds the route, the days and the travel times, and you edit whatever you want.
Things to do in Australia
The Great Barrier Reef
Snorkel or dive the outer reef on a day boat from Cairns, Port Douglas or Airlie Beach, about €130, or a two-to-seven-day liveaboard. Pick a small operator that goes to the outer sites; that is where the living coral is.
Sailing the Whitsundays
Take a two-or-three-night boat out of Airlie Beach to Whitehaven Beach's silica sand and the Hill Inlet lookout, from about €350 sleeping on board. All the boats cover the same water; choose on crowd and comfort, not route.
K'gari by four-wheel drive
Drive the world's largest sand island on a tagalong tour or a self-drive with a permit, about €180 a day: 75 Mile Beach as the highway, the Maheno wreck, Lake McKenzie and the dingoes. The tide table sets the day.
The Great Ocean Road
Drive the 243 kilometres of shipwreck coast past the Twelve Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge and the wild koalas at Kennett River over two or three days from Melbourne. Do it in reverse, from Warrnambool, to beat the coaches to the Apostles.
Uluru at sunset
Watch the rock change colour from the sunset viewing area, then walk the ten-kilometre base walk at dawn and Kata Tjuta's Valley of the Winds, about €25 for the three-day park pass. A sacred Anangu site; the climb is closed and the cultural centre is where to start.
Ningaloo's whale sharks
Swim with whale sharks from Exmouth or Coral Bay between mid March and late July, about €250 for the day, on a reef you can snorkel straight off the beach at Turquoise Bay. The one reef trip the east coast cannot offer.
What to eat in Australia
the national handheld: minced beef in pastry
Australia's coffee export; espresso with velvety milk
avocado toast with poached egg, brunch canon
salty yeast spread, thinly on buttered toast
charity BBQ sausage in white bread
battered, fried potato disc
shucked straight from the water
the novelty grill items
boxed wine, the backpacker staple
Discover food spots in Stippl
Find restaurants and markets on the map, save them to your itinerary, works offline too.
Australian customs and what not to do
Do not talk yourself up
Egalitarian to the bone: relaxed formality everywhere, a fair go for everyone, and tall poppy syndrome, where boasting gets you cut down to size in the friendliest way.
Arvo, brekkie, bottle-o
Slang is a second language: shorten everything and add mate, and treat hi, how are ya as a greeting rather than a question that wants an answer.
You walk the base, not the top
Uluru and Kata Tjuta are sacred Anangu sites: the visit is the sunset viewing, the base walk and the cultural tours, and the climb has been closed since 2019.
K'gari, not Fraser Island
Indigenous place names are encouraged and increasingly official: Uluru, K'gari, Meanjin for Brisbane and Naarm for Melbourne, and a guided cultural tour is the way in.
Never drop in on a local
Surf etiquette is taken seriously: wave priority, line-up position and no dropping in, and a chat with the locals before you paddle out is how you learn the break.
If you can cuddle it, walk away
Wildlife ethics run deep: observe, never touch or feed, and the working rule is that any experience where you can cuddle or feed the animal is not in its interest.
Do
- Swim between the red-and-yellow flags on patrolled beaches
- Slip, slop, slap sunscreen daily; you burn here even at fifteen degrees
- Declare all food and biological material at customs, or bin it
- Use Indigenous place names and take a cultural tour where offered
- Book campsites and stays well ahead for late December to January and Easter
Don't
- Climb Wollumbin; the summit is closed at the request of the traditional custodians
- Drive rural roads at dusk, dawn or night if you can avoid it
- Swim in unmarked water in the tropical north; crocodiles and stingers are real
- Touch or feed wildlife, or cuddle a koala for a photo
- Tip; it is not expected, and prices include tax
What a Australia trip costs
Budget
€43–81
Dorm or campsite, self-catering, buses/relocations, mostly free nature.
Mid-range
€93–155
Private rooms/motels, rental car split two ways, a paid tour every few days, one meal out.
High-end
€186+
Hotels, campervan or own rental, frequent tours, restaurant dining.
Track what you actually spend
Set a daily budget per country and log expenses in any currency while you travel.
Visas, SIM cards and getting around
Entry & visa
Free, but apply online first
EU and UK passports need an eVisitor, free when applied for directly at immi.homeaffairs.gov.au; agencies charge for the same thing. Americans and Canadians use the ETA, about €12 (A$20).
Money
Cards for almost everything
The Australian dollar is the currency and cards, including contactless, work almost everywhere. Cash is for markets and old-school eateries; the airport exchange kiosks are the worst rate.
Connectivity
Telstra, or nothing inland
Telstra has by far the best coverage and is essential in Western Australia and the outback. Off the main networks the interior is a dead zone, so download offline maps.
Getting around
Self-drive, fly the long hops
A car or campervan is the ideal mode, since the national parks are poorly served by public transport. Domestic flights beat the coach on the long hops.
Health
The sun is the hazard
No vaccinations are required. The sun burns even on cool days under a thin ozone layer, so SPF 50 and a hat are kit; medical care is excellent but paid.
Water
No bottles needed
Tap water is safe to drink nationwide, and refilling is the norm. On a remote drive carry your own, because the 200 to 300 km fuel gaps have no taps.
Tipping
Staff are paid properly
Not expected and not needed: prices include tax and staff earn real wages. Rounding up for good service is a gesture, never an obligation.
Power & plugs
Buy the adapter at home
Sockets are type I, the angled three-pin at 230 V. Buy the adapter before departure, because it is surprisingly hard to find once you land.
Language
The slang is the real barrier
English needs no phrasebook, but the slang does: Australians shorten everything, and decoding arvo, servo and brekkie is part of the trip.
Australian slang worth knowing
Nobody expects you to speak the language, which is exactly why a handful of words goes so far.
Hello · G'day
You're welcome / it's fine · No worries
Friend, the universal address · Mate
Afternoon · Arvo
Breakfast · Brekkie
Liquor store · Bottle-o
Boxed wine · Goon
Aussie Rules football · Footy
Hello (a greeting, not a question) · How are ya?
Australia questions, answered
By cutting the map down. An Australia trip runs 29 days on Stippl and still only covers one or two regions, because the distances are the size of Europe. Lay the internal flights into Stippl first, then show the route to people who have driven it, in the Australia subreddits.
Sydney, Melbourne, Cairns and Byron Bay get three; Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Noosa, Airlie Beach and K'gari two; Perth one. That is across the 366,000+ stops planned in Australia on Stippl, and it is the east coast run written out as a packing schedule.
Most people do. Only 29.6% of the Australia trips planned on Stippl stay inside Australia, and New Zealand, Bali or Southeast Asia on the way out are the usual additions. Given the flight from Europe, a stopover is close to standard rather than an indulgence.
Yes, always, and arranged before you fly. It is a free eVisitor for most EU and UK passports, a low-cost ETA for the US and Canada, and a Visitor Visa for everybody else. Only New Zealanders are exempt. Apply through the official site: the copycat ones charge for nothing.
Not for the sealed routes, which is most of what a first trip covers, the drive across the Nullarbor included. You do need one for K'gari, the Great Beach Drive and much of the Gibb River Road. Hire companies are strict about which vehicles may go where, and the insurance follows that.
It depends which coast. In the south, summer only if you want to enjoy it. In the tropical north, stinger season runs roughly November to May and crocodiles are there all year, so the dry season is the safe window and netted enclosures are the answer outside it.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
Plan Australia in Stippl
Everything in this guide, ready to drop into your Australia route, with planning and bookings in one app.
