TOP END

The Top End and Kakadu

Kakadu in January is green, loud with rain, and half the roads are shut. In July it is dry, clear and open: Jim Jim Falls reachable, the floodplains drawn back to billabongs full of birds, and the rock art galleries at Ubirr and Burrungkuy lit low in the evening. Fly in by light aircraft and you see the escarpment before you walk it.

Right season: May to Aug
Nights we'd give it: 4 to 6
Fly into: Darwin (DRW)
From Sydney, approx.: 4h 30 in the air · 3,150 km

Kakadu is about three hours by road from Darwin, or less than an hour by light aircraft.

Month by month

When to go

Compare every region

The right season
Good
Possible, with trade-offs
Out of season
This month

May to Aug

The dry. Warm, clear and low humidity. Roads open, waterfalls still running early in the season.

Sep to Oct

The build-up. Hot and humid, the falls shrinking, wildlife crowded at the billabongs.

Nov to Apr

The wet. Green, loud with rain, and half the roads are shut. We'd send you in July.

From a rocky sandstone lookout, bright green wetland floodplains stretch to the horizon beneath a cloudy sky in Kakadu

The Katherine River runs between tall orange sandstone cliffs in Nitmiluk Gorge, its water rippling in soft light

Twin waterfalls of Florence Falls pour into a shaded plunge pool surrounded by dense green monsoon forest in Litchfield

What we'd do

Ubirr at sunset
Rock art galleries, then the floodplain from the lookout.
Yellow Water at dawn
A boat on the billabong: jabiru, magpie geese, saltwater crocodiles.
Over the escarpment
A light-aircraft flight over the Arnhem Land plateau.
Nitmiluk Gorge
By canoe or boat through the gorge, on Jawoyn Country.
Arnhem Land, with permission
A day across the East Alligator River with Traditional Owners. Permit required.
Litchfield's plunge pools
Swim where the rangers say it's safe, and only there.

Whose Country

Bininj (north) and Mungguy (south) in Kakadu; Larrakia people at Darwin; Jawoyn people at Nitmiluk; Yolŋu and many other peoples across Arnhem Land

Kakadu National Park is Aboriginal land, jointly managed by its Traditional Owners and Parks Australia. Entering Arnhem Land needs a permit from the Northern Land Council.

Aboriginal-owned and -led operators we'd book

Nitmiluk ToursGorge cruises, canoes and the lodge at NitmilukJawoyn-owned

Ownership details are being confirmed with each operator.

Visiting respectfully

Kakadu has sacred sites that are closed to visitors; obey the signs. In Arnhem Land you're a guest on community land: your permit lists where you may go.

Country, region by region

Where to stay

Stays in the Top End

All stays

The kind of place we book here. Your proposal names each property.

The Top End · Wilderness lodge

A lodge on the floodplain edge

On the edge of the floodplain, with a boat at the billabong.

Photo: the area, not the property · Price on enquiry

Sample journeys

Journeys through the Top End

All journeys

15 to 18 nights · May to September

The long way down

From the Top End to the Southern Ocean, through the middle of the country.

4 nightsKakaduFly or drive from Darwin. Ubirr, Yellow Water at dawn, a flight over the escarpment.
2 nightsThe Ghan, Darwin to Alice SpringsOne night on board, stopping at Katherine for Nitmiluk Gorge.
3 nightsTjoritja, the West MacDonnellsGorges, waterholes and ghost gums west of Alice Springs.
3 nightsUluru-Kata TjutaVia Kings Canyon. The base walk at first light, Kata Tjuta at dawn.
2 nightsAdelaide and the BarossaFly south. A winemaker's table.
3 nightsKangaroo IslandTwo days with a naturalist and the south coast.