Uluru and Kings Canyon - best options for 3 nights

[NM]

Finally got around to booking flights for next Autumn to tick off the long-standing bucket list of visiting Uluru. Flights are booked and have a refundable/changeable accommodation booking at Ayers Rock Resort Sales in the Desert. Now looking at planning some sight-seeing and looking for suggestions on best things to do/see and best ways to do that. Budget is limited so not wanting to spend $300pp on a sunset dinner meal unless someone can convince me it really is worth the huge asking price.

I have also booked the Uluru Segway Tour. Happy and able to walk/hike for good views.

I have been told by a friend that Kings Canyon is amazing to see. But they did drive from Alice Spring to Uluru via Kings Canyon so it was kind of on the way. I note that driving from Uluru to Kings Canyon is a bit over 3 hours each way, which is quite doable for us in a day-trip on one of the days, So is it worth renting a car (currently pricing out at around $810 for 3 days) and heading to Kings Canyon for one day and then being self-sufficient for transport for the rest of the stay?

I assume there is very limited (and hence high priced) options for fuel when returning the rental car. likely to pay a little extra to rent a hybrid and hopefully get some of that cost back in reduced fuel consumption.

Is the hop-on-hop-off bus an ok way to get around the resort and to/from Uluru and The Olgas? Or is going to be a better experience with our own rented wheels?

Any other suggests on how to get best bang for the buck at Uluru.

 

[JIMMYTHEJET]

Sales in the dessert I have stayed there a few ago such a nice hotel !

3 hour drive for another rock I would if pass if I was you ? Your in holidays don’t make more work for your self .


They had a little camel thing . You can ride. A camel around the pen .
If you want you can do longer tours

Also will they have the garden light show night time dinner and lights that’s pretty cool

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 10:39 PM

Maybe look into helicopter tours around Uluṟu and the other rocks too

 

[JIMMYTHEJET]

Finally got around to booking flights for next Autumn to tick off the long-standing bucket list of visiting Uluru. Flights are booked and have a refundable/changeable accommodation booking at Ayers Rock Resort Sales in the Desert. Now looking at planning some sight-seeing and looking for suggestions on best things to do/see and best ways to do that. Budget is limited so not wanting to spend $300pp on a sunset dinner meal unless someone can convince me it really is worth the huge asking price.

I have also booked the Uluru Segway Tour. Happy and able to walk/hike for good views.

I have been told by a friend that Kings Canyon is amazing to see. But they did drive from Alice Spring to Uluru via Kings Canyon so it was kind of on the way. I note that driving from Uluru to Kings Canyon is a bit over 3 hours each way, which is quite doable for us in a day-trip on one of the days, So is it worth renting a car (currently pricing out at around $810 for 3 days) and heading to Kings Canyon for one day and then being self-sufficient for transport for the rest of the stay?

I assume there is very limited (and hence high priced) options for fuel when returning the rental car. likely to pay a little extra to rent a hybrid and hopefully get some of that cost back in reduced fuel consumption.

Is the hop-on-hop-off bus an ok way to get around the resort and to/from Uluru and The Olgas? Or is going to be a better experience with our own rented wheels?

Any other suggests on how to get best bang for the buck at Uluru.

With rental car you can come and go as you ease . Maybe consider rental car .

 

[Daver6]

My experience in the area was in 2010, so make of that what you will.

We did the sounds of silence dinner under the stars. I can't recall the cost, but it wasn't cheap at the time but we thought it was worth it.

We drove to Kings Canyon after Uluru. We spent the night there staying in a glamping tent on a camel station. It wasn't fancy or that cheap but what can you do. We did the Kings Canyon rim hike and swam. It was awesome and really enjoyed it. We were there in Jan so a hike began at dawn due to the heat.

 

[kpc]

If heading to Kings Canyon to do the rim walk (recommended) which took us about 3 hours IIRC, you really need to stay the night there and start the walk at first light in the morning and complete the walk before it gets too hot. Then drive back to Uluru. If you are only there for 3 nights I think you will be pushing it to do Kings Canyon as well.

Hiring a car at Uluru means you can go to the sunrise and sunset areas yourself to avoid paying for the expensive tours. A trip to Kata Tjuta is a must. Car hire and petrol is expensive and they have the annoying limit of only 100kms per day free before you have to pay for extra kms. However, it will be still cheaper than tours and you can go at your own timetable.

There is a light show which you need to book a tour to go. Probably worthwhile but not essential. Dinner in the dessert means dealing with the flies as well which are a constant annoyance. So a pass from me. During my last trip, I accidentally swallowed 2 flies.

Food and restaurants are expensive at Uluru and we stayed at Emu Walk Apartments which are self contained Apartments with full kitchen facilities. In June, we brought all our groceries, food and grog from Sydney for our party of 4 for 3 nights and that saved us a fair bit of money.

Instead of doing a segway tour around Uluru, we walked the 10+ kms ourselves. Took about 3+ hours at a slow pace.

 

[NM]

If heading to Kings Canyon to do the rim walk (recommended) which took us about 3 hours IIRC, you really need to stay the night there and start the walk at first light in the morning and complete the walk before it gets too hot. Then drive back to Uluru. If you are only there for 3 nights I think you will be pushing it to do Kings Canyon as well.

According to a a little pre-trip planning before we set the travel dates, we are not expecting scorching temps while we are there.
Weather in Uluru (Ayers Rock) in april: Temperature, Rainfall, Sunshine... for April 2025! - Australia (and selecting End of Month which includes our travel dates) suggests 20-26 degrees - very pleasant for Queenslanders. And I assume the humidity will be less than here in SEQ in summer.

Sunrise and sunset will be around 6:50am and 6:50pm while we are there.

While the Rim Walk views are likely enhanced by the rising sun, I expect heading off from Uluru around 5am for a walk 8:30-11:30am even if the temp is 28 degrees with low-ish humidity, I expect would be ok. Certainly would not consider doing the rim walk in those hours at this time of year or any earlier than the end of April.

Mrs NM has to be very careful with time in the sun, so we are very used to proper slip-slop-slap protections, and of course hydration.

Hiring a car at Uluru means you can go to the sunrise and sunset areas yourself to avoid paying for the expensive tours. A trip to Kata Tjuta is a must. Car hire and petrol is expensive and they have the annoying limit of only 100kms per day free before you have to pay for extra kms. However, it will be still cheaper than tours and you can go at your own timetable.

will definitely need to look into the daily km limit/rate. I did not see anything about that in the quotes I looked at, but it likely depends on the way it is booked. Booking everything flexible at this stage to monitor for pricing drops and just in case plans change.

There is a light show which you need to book a tour to go. Probably worthwhile but not essential. Dinner in the dessert means dealing with the flies as well which are a constant annoyance. So a pass from me. During my last trip, I accidentally swallowed 2 flies.

Yes, that is one common report from that outdoor dinner.

Food and restaurants are expensive at Uluru and we stayed at Emu Walk Apartments which are self contained Apartments with full kitchen facilities. In June, we brought all our groceries, food and grog from Sydney for our party of 4 for 3 nights and that saved us a fair bit of money.

Instead of doing a segway tour around Uluru, we walked the 10+ kms ourselves. Took about 3+ hours at a slow pace.

we'll probably include some daytime snacks in our packing. And hopefully can get some fruit etc locally for hiking consumption. We tend to only eat two small-ish meals a day. We just need to accept that we will be paying New York prices for accommodation, experiences and food - it is what it is.

 

[ols]

We have found that it was best to do the sunset at the sunrise place and vica versa.
The views and colours are still spectacular but there are no crowds.
The crowds at sunrise are large and loud.
The best way to observe Uluru is in silence if you can.

Kata Tjuta is incredible and worth at least a half day in itself.
Kings Canyon is a long way to go and if going their for sunrise would mean driving in the dark to get there. I don't like to do it myself and have done vast amounts of outback travel.
Field of lights and the drone show are the main attractions.

 

[jastel]

Last visited in 2018 just before they shut the climb.

There was only 1 Shell servo at Yulara...price would be around $2.80 litre I'd think now.
Ayres Rock is 25km away from resort, Olgas is 50km. So its very easy to use up your km allowance.

I had my own car and camped in my tent, $50 a night for some dirt to put a tent on. I had some basic food and my car fridge for breakfast/lunch and for dinner I walked over to a Pub/Bistro type restaurant in the resort and ate dinner so I didnt need to cook. It was only a little bit more expensive than a normal RSL or pub. Yes - there are more fancy ones as well but.
There is a mini mart store thing, prices are a bit higher but that's life in the bush.

I climbed the rock, walked around it, sunset can be noisy as others said, hiked the Olgas, did the Field of Light show only not the dinner, it was a bit exxy for looking at fairy lights but its a once off.
There are/were different Light tours, there was high hill (to see sunset) with snacks/wine then walk into lights, lower hill with snacks/wine (cant see sunset) then walk into lights, and small hill no food only look at lights dont walk amongst them tour. I did the middle one.

There is also hot air balloons, helicopters, segways, harleys, camels, drone shows, aboriginal tour and stuff etc.

I would check how busy it is and reserve some of these things before going.

I didnt do Kings Canyon that time as I only had a car not 4wd. I continued on to Adelaide.