Coober Pedy to Alice Springs drive: Distance, time, stops & attractions

The Coober Pedy to Alice Springs drive in Australia is 688km long. Expect a Coober Pedy to Alice Springs driving time of 7h8m, with very few Stuart Highway road trip attractions on the way.

The drive from Coober Pedy to Alice Springs is one of the longest stretches of the drive up the Stuart Highway from Alice Springs to Darwin.

If you do just one thing in Alice Springs…

Make it a West MacDonnell Ranges day tour. It’ll show off many of the Red Centre’s most dramatic gorges, photogenic swimming holes, rugged landscapes and weird rock formations. (FIND OUT MORE).
Australia travel expert David Whitley.

To advance book weird and wonderful Coober Pedy accommodation, check out the deals here.

Alice Springs offers hot air ballooning over the rugged outback, spectacular adventures in the West MacDonnell Ranges and quirky camel rides. For a bigger range of Alice Springs activities, step this way, and for Alice Springs accommodation, book here.

Bus tickets from Coober Pedy to Alice Springs can be booked here.

The desert scenery on the way can be mesmerising in a wide open space kind of way. The starkness of the landscape has a surprising beauty to it. But, with the best will in the world, there’s not an awful lot to see on the Coober Pedy to Alice Springs drive.

Coober Pedy to Alice Springs distance and driving time

The distance from Coober Pedy to Alice Springs is 688km. This makes for a driving time of around seven hours and eight minutes. Don’t expect a huge amount of variety during that period. It’s a proper, old-fashioned outback slog.

Best Coober Pedy accommodation choices

The most interesting places to stay in Coober Pedy are:

For gloriously weird underground rooms in a former opal mine: Comfort Inn Coober Pedy Experience.
For (usually) the cheapest rates: The Underground Motel.
For pool, playground and apartments: Big4 Stuart Range Outback Resort.
For above ground rooms made from rammed earth, with merciful air-conditioning: Mud Hut Motel.

There are a few fuel stops spaced out along the Stuart Highway between Coober Pedy and Alice Springs. You can stop for petrol and snacks at the Cadney Homestead and Marla in South Australia before crossing the Northern Territory border. On the Northern Territory section of the drive, the options are the Kulgera Roadhouse, Erldunda Roadhouse and Stuarts Well. The latter is home to Camel Tours NT, which lets visitors go for short camel rides.

Sort out your Red Centre transport now

Transfers: Alice Springs to Uluru | Uluru to Alice Springs | Uluru to Kings Canyon | Kings Canyon to Uluru | Kings Canyon to Alice Springs.
Day tours: Uluru from Alice Springs | Kata Tjuta from Uluru | Kings Canyon from Uluru | West MacDonnell Ranges from Alice Springs.

Coober Pedy to Alice Springs attractions

On the South Australian leg of the Coober Pedy to Alice Springs drive, there’s really not much to see or do. The main highlight is the Breakaways, a collection of multi-coloured mountains that rise from the desert just north of Coober Pedy.

The Breakaways near Coober Pedy, South Australia. Photo by Amanda Bowden.

But the most important thing to realise about the Coober Pedy to Alice Springs drive is that you shouldn’t do it. Especially as a tourist wanting to see Uluru, the main reason for visiting the Red Centre. Drive from Coober Pedy to Uluru first, then come back to Alice Springs.

The turnoff for the Lasseter Highway is at the Erldunda Roadhouse, 200km south of Alice Springs. It makes no sense to drive to Alice Springs, then double back for such a distance on the Alice Springs to Uluru drive.