Why Alice Springs is the Ideal Base for a Hiking Holiday in the Red Centre

We Are Explorers acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the Countries on which these adventures take place, who have occupied and cared for these lands, waters, and their inhabitants for thousands of years. We pay our respects to them and recognise that sovereignty was never ceded.

Why Alice Springs?

Every time I visit Mparntwe/Alice Springs, I’m delightfully reminded that despite being in the heart of the desert, this town is actually set amongst the mountains. With the Tjoritja/West MacDonnell Ranges to one side and the East MacDonnell Ranges to the other, the town is enveloped in staggering cliff faces and rolling ranges everywhere you look.

As I drove between the colossal walls of Ntaripe/Heavitree Gap while the Todd River flowed through, scrambled up Spencer Hill at sunset for golden views across town, and quickly hit dirt roads on the east side of town on the way to more remote trails, I was reminded how much this town is built around nature, rather than on top of it. 

Heavitree Range near Alice Springs | @dayginprescott

With the trailhead for the 223km Larapinta Trail starting from the Telegraph Station just a ten minute drive from the centre of town, Alice Springs is set up for hikers who are about to go remote. With a well-stocked independent outdoor store, Lone Dingo, a wide variety of accommodation options, and a surprising food and drink scene, Alice Springs makes sense as a base for hikers keen to explore the surrounding trails, (even if you’re not heading out for the full two weeks of the Larapinta!). 

Here’s my five-day itinerary of how to explore the hiking trails of the Red Centre with Alice Springs as your home base!

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Day 1 – Exploring Alice Springs

Trails to walk: Telegraph Station Trails 

I always find it handy to get my bearings in a brand new place, so a day wandering the trails around Alice Springs is a great way to get acquainted with this unique town. 

I recommend heading to the Telegraph Station first up, where there’s a beautiful picnic area by the river, a quaint cafe with very friendly staff, and plenty of info about the trails that extend out from the central hub. 

Trig Hill was a great short trail to get under our belts first thing in the morning and offered scenic views over the historic buildings of the station and Todd River. We were lucky enough to be visiting the Red Centre after historic amounts of rain, so the rare glisten of water in the riverbed was an extra special touch (and very enticing for a dip!).

On top of Trig Hill | @dayginprescott

The Telegraph Station is also the starting point for the region’s most coveted walk, the Larapinta Trail, which you can walk separate sections of as day hikes. The trailhead is also the start and finish line for a number of trail races in the region (if a quicker pace is more your style), including the mighty West Macs Monster (15-17th May 2026) and the Run Larapinta Stage Race (14-17th August, 2026).

Although sunset from ANZAC Hill is an easy option, I was keen to find somewhere a bit more natural, so opted for the short scramble up Spencer Hill on the east side of the river. The 5km loop starts at the Telegraph Station and walks alongside the river bank, but there’s also access closer to town by the Spencer Hill Community Park at the end of Winnecke Ave. There’s a scrambly trail to the top of the peak with plenty of vantage points to look out across Alice itself, or off into the ranges behind town as they light up at golden hour. I’m always surprised by the number of good walks around town.

Day 2 & 3  – The East MacDonnell Ranges

Trails to walk: Yeperenye Trail and Chain of Ponds

The East MacDonnell Ranges are the lesser-known side of this famed desert mountain range, and are full of secrets most travellers to the Red Centre haven’t yet been told. 

One of the newest trails in the whole region is the one-way 8.2km Yeperenye Trail, which winds between Emily and Jessie Gaps. The trail only opened in 2021 after being built by 33 Eastern Arrernte workers and funded by the Traditional Owners. The trail follows the base of the range, which also tracks the caterpillar Dreaming Songline, and there’s significant rock art found on the jagged slabs that tower over the sandy creek beds of both gaps.

As we visited just after heavy rain, there was a decent waterhole at Emily Gap and still some water in the creek at Jessie Gap too, which meant we could cool down with a swim after our out-and-back trek. 

Read more: Staying Safe Around Swimming Holes and Waterfalls

The Yeperenye Trail is a shared track between riders and walkers, so keep your ears and eyes peeled for bikes whipping through. 

A little deeper into the East Macs, I got to share a trail with the crew that I think is the Red Centre’s best kept secret – the 3.5km Chain of Ponds loop. Each time I’ve walked this trail, it’s taken well beyond the suggested 1.5 hours walking time because the photographers I’m with can’t stop gawking at and snapping the expanding views around every corner. 

This trail started out humbly, with a small rise to a lookout down into the gorge we ended up walking through, then down the backside of a hill and onto the sandy river bed. Soon the ruby red rock stacks began to grow on either side around us, and the puddles became a flowing freshwater creek. 

We even had to wade through thigh high water at one stage as there was so much around. The grand finale is arriving at the top of a perfectly-scooped three-tier waterfall before walking up and around the opposite clifftop to witness the scene in all its glory. 

Please note! The water in desert waterholes can be extremely cold and depths can change drastically. There may also be hidden rocks and branches under the water, so take care and don’t dive in.

We descended the cliff and raced to John Hayes Waterhole at the bottom to cool off and revel in the unexpected glory of the landscape around us. 

John Hayes Rockhole | @dayginprescott

The last 4km of the drive to the trailhead are along a very rough 4WD track involving water crossings, sand, and rocks. Take a 4WD and drive slow! If you don’t have one of your own, there are plenty of 4WDs for rent! Chat to the team at Alice Springs Visitor Info Centre and they’ll help you find the best car for your trip.

The East Macs are a little closer to Alice Springs than the West Macs, so we found it was easy enough to drive back to town each day. But to really immerse yourself in the landscape, pack your camping gear and spend a night at one of the three campgrounds in Trephina Gorge Nature Park. Bluff Campground is my pick, right on the sandy river bank peering up at a spectacular orange cliff face.

Day 4 & 5 – The West MacDonnell Ranges

Trails to walk: Standley Chasm, Ormiston Pound Walk or Ghost Gum Walk

Angkerle/Standley Chasm is one of the most iconic details of the whole West MacDonnell Range and the perfect walk to do in the middle of the day. The area, including the short 2.4km out-and-back walk, is 100% owned and operated by the Arrente people and there’s a small per person fee to enter the trailhead, which goes back into the caretaking of this special place. 

Standley Chasm | Photo by Phillip Winther

The trail followed a rocky trail alongside a creek, with overarching Ghost gums and mighty craggy cliffs that slowly closed in around us. Rounding the corner, the pinnacle of the walk was unveiled – two sheer, glowing, crimson cliff faces, mere metres apart. Our heads were in full tilt as we peered up to the cliffs’ highest reaches and the slit of bright sky shining through from above. 

Unlike many other walks around the Red Centre, Standley Chasm is best visited in the middle of the day between 11am and 1pm, just as the sun is directly overhead and brilliantly warming up the chasm walls to their deepest hues.

Somehow we’d nailed the timing and arrived when no one else was around!

Afterwards, we soaked up the shade and enjoyed a cool drink at the handy kiosk.

Another location you can’t miss while in the West Macs is Ormiston Gorge. Whether you’re up for a longer half-day walk, or just a short walk to the swimming hole, Ormiston is a speccy spot to lounge around for a full day. 

To check out the gorge but still have time to relax, the 2.5km Ghost Gum Walk loop is a great shout. We climbed the trail up one side of the gorge face to the Ghost Gum Lookout for vast views above the natural waterhole and sandy beach below.

Ghost Gum Lookout

Then we slowly meandered down the side of the range before the trail landed us on the creek bed deeper up the gorge. There was a little bit of rock hopping involved as we walked back between the gorge walls, before finishing off with a well-deserved dip! 

For those keen on a longer leg stretch, tackle the 8.5km Ormiston Pound walk that takes you on a wider circuit of the area. The trail drops down to the expanse of the neighbouring pound – a ring of mountains that forms a natural amphitheatre – and delivers greater views of the expansive range, before turning back into the gorge and wandering along the creek bed to return to the main waterhole. 

Ormiston Gorge

Staying Longer? Walk the Overnight Giles Track

Day hikes are a great way to see a lot of places quickly, but after multiple trips to the Red Centre, I was keen to find a way to immerse myself a little deeper in the area. The Giles Track in Watarrka National Park was just the ticket. The crew and I road tripped 330km along the Merrinee Loop from Alice Springs to Watarrka/Kings Canyon for this epic overnight hike. 

The Giles Track trailhead | @dayginprescott

The Giles Track is a 22km one-way, overnight trail, and one of the most remote hikes in all of the Red Centre – which means it’s completely empty.

Like, not-another-soul-for-days kind of empty. Not-sure-if-anyone-else-has-walked-this-track-this-month kind of empty. 

But don’t let the remoteness fool you, the track is well-marked, built, and maintained. In fact, my fellow hiking buddy, Daygin, even called it ‘a masterclass in trail building’. 

You can start the trail from Kings Canyon and tack on around 5km of the much more popular Rim Walk, but we began at Kathleen Springs, around 20 minutes’ drive down the road, which meant the scenery got better and better the closer we walked to the canyon. 

There are a few marked campgrounds along the way (we stayed on the sandy bed of Rocky Creek Campground), but walkers are also permitted to pitch up anywhere between the 3km-20km mark. There are quite a few flat slabs with speccy views around, so take your pick!

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Sunset on the Giles Track | @dayginprescott

It’s important to note that despite crossing multiple water courses, it’s not guaranteed that there’ll be water available along the trail, and as it’s quite exposed and hot up on the George Gill Range, we needed plenty. 

Read more: How To Hike in Hot Weather

The pinnacle of the hike is the masses of beehive domes the trail winds between, over, and under. There are hundreds of these pancake-stack looking rock formations and it was incredibly special to be the only ones there to ogle at them.

This is an end-to-end hike, which means unless you’re up for walking 44km out and back, you’ll need two cars to complete a car shuffle, or to secure a lift one way. We left our car at the Kings Canyon car park and had the very friendly Greggo from Discovery Resorts Kings Canyon pick us up and drop us off at Kathleen Springs in a mini bus. The resort is only ten minutes away from the canyon and they’re happy to offer shuttles to guests, so give them a buzz well before your trip to organise this.

You can also fly in or out from Uluru (which is sometimes cheaper!) and pick up hire cars there too.

Where to Stay in Alice Springs

We stayed at Desert Palms during our time in Alice Springs, which instantly made us feel like we were on holiday with the towering palm trees throughout the property, and a sparkling lagoon-style pool. The motel offers individual studio cabins and is close enough to the centre of town that we could walk alongside the river to reach our morning coffee. 

Where to Eat in Alice Springs

Every other time I’ve been to Alice Springs, I’ve been told, ‘You have to go to The Bakery. THE Bakery. And somehow, every other time I’ve visited, I’ve turned up on a Monday and Tuesday, the only days it’s closed. But this time, I managed to get to The Bakery twice. The coffee was superb and the baked goods were hearty and varied. Don’t miss the lime meringue doughnut. 

During our one Saturday night in town, we headed to a new joint called Tropic of Capricorn – it was pumping. Situated in the Todd Mall, the venue has an expansive beer garden, the widest variety of beers I’ve seen on tap in all of the NT, and a tasty range of burgers, pizzas, and other finger food on offer. It’s a social and lively option for dinner and drinks while in Alice Springs.

Chain of Ponds loop walk | @dayginprescott

Hiking trails quite literally expand out from the heart of Alice Springs into the farthest reaches of the Red Centre, so choosing this memorable town as your home base for adventure just makes sense. 

Convinced a Red Centre hiking holiday is what you need? Enter our comp to go in the draw to win $2,500 AUD to spend on a Central Australia holiday! Head to Discover Central Australia to start planning your hiking trip, and take advantage of the 25% off offer when you book direct.