Adelaide to Alice Springs road trip: Distance, hours & best stops
Adelaide to Alice Springs road trip: Stuart Highway attractions
There are a few places worth stopping on this outback road trip, however. Start with the once-secret military town of Woomera, which has missiles piled up outside the primary school.
From there, stop for a photo at Lake Hart, the easiest of the South Australian outback’s salt lakes to access. The hugely weird opal mining town of Coober Pedy is next up. There, you can visit underground homes, try rummaging in spoil heaps for opals and stay in an underground hotel. If you want to avoid night driving – and you should – Coober Pedy is a logical overnight stop. The Adelaide to Coober Pedy drive takes just over nine hours.
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.
Click through to the next section: Into the Northern Territory.