A country the size of Europe with the population of greater Tokyo.
Here is when to go, how long to give it, and which corner to start with.
Most people plan Australia backwards. They pick the flights, then work out the country, and end up doing five thousand kilometres in a fortnight and remembering airports.
We have travelled Australia as a family the slow way, driving the south west of Western Australia and the south coast of South Australia, and the single most useful thing we learned is that Australia is not one destination. It is half a dozen, and they have different weather in the same week. Choosing well matters more here than almost anywhere.
In short: the best time to visit Australia depends entirely on which part you are going to. For the southern half, where our guides are, that is spring and autumn. This page covers the timing, the trip length and where to start.
We write about the places we have actually been, in the depth we would want if we were planning it ourselves. Right now that means two states, both of them on the quieter side of the country.
The half of the country most visitors never see. Quokkas on a car-free island, nine wine regions, orcas off the south coast and beaches you share with kangaroos, strung along one of Australia’s great drives. Perth is the gateway and deserves more than a stopover.
Start with: Is Perth worth visiting? · Rottnest Island · Margaret River · Lucky Bay, Esperance
The state Australians fly over, which is exactly the appeal. Adelaide is the most underrated capital in the country, the wine regions start half an hour from the city, and the coast running east towards Victoria is emptier and stranger than the Great Ocean Road that gets all the attention.
Start with: Things to do in Adelaide · Kangaroo Island · Barossa Valley · The Limestone Coast drive
More coming soon. Tasmania and Victoria are both being written up now, and they will get their own guides here as soon as they are ready. If you want them the moment they land, the newsletter at the bottom of this page is the way to hear first.
This is the question that decides the trip, and the honest answer is that it depends where you are going. Australia runs from the tropics to the Southern Ocean, so there is no single right month for the whole country.
For the southern states, go in spring or autumn. September to November and March to May give you warm days, cool nights, thin crowds and the lowest chance of a heatwave. For the tropical north, go between May and October, which is the dry season. Trying to do both in one trip means one half of it will be at the wrong time of year.
This is the Australia we know first-hand, and the seasons work like an inverted British year.
Sep to Nov
The sweet spot. Wildflowers across Western Australia, comfortable walking weather and warm enough for the beach by November.
Dec to Feb
Hot, bright and busy. Australian school holidays run from mid December to late January and coastal towns fill up. Beautiful, but book early and respect the heat.
Mar to May
Our pick, and when we drove the south west. Two weeks without rain and mid twenties almost every day. Also orca season off Bremer Bay, which runs December to April.
Jun to Aug
Mild rather than cold by British standards, green, quiet and cheap. Rain in the south west, and the south coast can be wild. Whale watching season.
We have not travelled to the Kimberley or the Northern Territory, so this is research rather than experience, but the pattern is well established and worth knowing before you book.
We have been to Queensland, and content is in the pipeline for the future – keep an eye out!
The north runs on two seasons rather than four. The dry season, roughly May to October, is when almost everyone goes: warm days, low humidity, passable roads and open national parks. The wet season, November to April, brings monsoon rain, humidity, road closures and stinger season in the water. Some places close entirely.
This is the trap in a lot of Australia itineraries. December is a wonderful time to be in Margaret River and a difficult one to be in the Kimberley.
If you are coming from the UK and can pick your month, October or March. You get the southern states at their best, the north still workable at the edges of the dry, and you dodge both the Australian school holidays and the worst of the heat.
Pick the season first and the itinerary second. It is the wrong way round to most people, but Australia punishes the other order more than anywhere else we have travelled.
Longer than you think, and in fewer places than you planned.
The mistake is the fortnight that takes in Sydney, Uluru, Cairns and Melbourne. On a map it looks reasonable. In practice Perth to Sydney is a four hour flight, roughly London to Cairo, and you will spend a third of your holiday in transit.
Our two weeks went from Perth south through Margaret River and Denmark to Esperance and back, around 2,500km at a pace that still felt unhurried. That is the shape of an Australian fortnight that works. The full route is below.
The ready-made plan
The ready-made plan, leg by leg. Two weeks following the South West Edge through Margaret River, Denmark and Albany to the beaches of Esperance, with what needs booking ahead, the national park passes, the hazards worth knowing about and what to pack.
The practical things we wish someone had told us.
Perth is the closest Australian city to the UK and the only one you can reach nonstop. The London to Perth service runs at around 17 hours and is the only nonstop flight between the two countries. Everywhere else means a change, usually in Singapore, Dubai or Doha, and 21 to 24 hours door to door.
Qantas has confirmed a nonstop London to Sydney service for October 2027, at around 22 hours. Until then, if you want to step off one plane and be in Australia, it is Perth.
One thing to check on the return – Between 25 October 2026 and 31 January 2027 the Perth to London leg routes via Singapore, which adds about three hours. The nonstop is due back on 1 February 2027, and the outbound to Perth is unaffected throughout. Qantas has moved this route more than once, so check the current position rather than assuming.
Beyond the cities, a car is not optional. The driving is a pleasure, on long empty roads with almost no traffic, but the distances deserve respect.
One of us travels with a severe nut allergy, and Australia is one of the easier countries in the world to manage it. Labelling is clear, staff take it seriously and kitchens are used to the question, provided the allergy goes in at the time of booking rather than on the day.
The full picture, including how the airlines compare, is in our guide to travelling Australia with a nut allergy, and our free allergy translation cards are worth packing wherever you are going next.
The things worth sorting before you fly, because they sell out. We book through GetYourGuide where it makes sense.
Yes, but it is free and takes minutes. British passport holders travelling as tourists apply for the eVisitor, subclass 651, which costs nothing, allows stays of up to three months at a time and stays valid for twelve months. Apply through the Australian Department of Home Affairs directly. Plenty of third party sites charge a fee to fill in the same form for you, and none of them are official. Do not turn up without one, because airlines will not board you.
Coffee, eating out and alcohol cost more than the UK, sometimes noticeably. Fuel and supermarket food cost about the same or less, and the long flight is usually the largest single line in the budget by a distance. The way to keep the cost sensible is self-catering accommodation, driving rather than flying between places, and picking one region instead of three. National park passes are the one small purchase that always pays for itself.
There are no compulsory vaccinations for travellers arriving from the UK, and Australia has no malaria risk in the areas most visitors go. Routine UK vaccinations should be up to date, and that is generally the whole of it. Check NHS Fit for Travel or a travel clinic six to eight weeks before you fly, since requirements change and anyone routing through another country on the way may have different advice.
Very. The wildlife has a reputation that the actual risk does not support, and almost nobody has a problem with any of it. Swim between the flags on patrolled beaches, which is the single most useful safety habit in the country, and take the shark and stinger signage seriously because it is there for a reason. Snakes and spiders will avoid you if you let them. The genuine hazards are more ordinary: the sun, dehydration, and kangaroos on rural roads at dawn and dusk.
Australia uses the Type I plug, three flat pins in a triangle, running at 230 volts. It is the same standard as New Zealand, Fiji and Argentina, and nothing like the UK three pin, so you will need an adapter. Voltage matches the UK, so British phone chargers, laptops and hairdryers work on an adapter alone without a converter. Buy them before you fly, because airport prices are dreadful.
Between eight and eleven hours ahead, depending on the state and the time of year. Perth is eight hours ahead of the UK in British winter and seven in British summer. The eastern states run two to three hours ahead of Perth. It shifts because Australia’s clocks change in the opposite direction to ours, and because Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory do not use daylight saving at all. Check the exact gap for your dates rather than assuming.