Kings Canyon to Alice Springs: Mereenie Loop, Giles Road or Lasseter Highway?
Of the three routes from Kings Canyon to Alice Springs, the Lasseter Highway is sealed and safest. The Mereenie Loop is quickest and most scenic, and the Ernest Giles Road is the happy medium.
The drive from Kings Canyon to Alice Springs is usually undertaken at the end of a few days in the Northern Territory’s Red Centre. Itineraries generally involve a few days at Uluru and Kata-Tjuta, then completing the trio at Kings Canyon.
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.
There are three main routes from Kings Canyon to Alice Springs – via the Mereenie Loop, Lasseter Highway or Giles Road. Which one you pick will depend on the paperwork you’ve filled out, what car you’re driving and weather conditions.
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.
Don’t fancy driving? Then book a Kings Canyon to Alice Springs coach transfer here.
Kings Canyon to Alice Springs via the Mereenie Loop
The quickest, and most scenic route, from Kings Canyon to Alice Springs is along Larapinta Drive. Also known as State Route 6, this Red Centre road leads north of Kings Canyon, then west along the northern side of the Finke Gorge National Park and Owen Springs Reserve.
Sort out your Red Centre transport now
The problem is the unsealed section known as the Mereenie Loop. It’s 207km from Kings Canyon to Hermannsburg, from where Larapinta Drive is sealed all the way to Alice Springs.
It is billed as the Mereenie Loop Tourist Drive, although very few tourists actually tackle it. This is partly due to road conditions, which are variable, and partly due to the paperwork. The Mereenie Loop passes through Aboriginal land, and you need to obtain a Mereenie Loop transit permit from the Central Land Council in advance.
The essential Kings Canyon checklist
- Book your transfer to Uluru (or from Uluru).
- Or fix up your bus to Alice Springs.
- Book your accommodation at Discovery Parks – Kings Canyon or Kings Creek Station.
- Reserve your place on the guided Kings Canyon Rim Walk.
- Consider doing the easier canyon floor walk with a guide.
- Maybe add the Karrke Aboriginal cultural experience to your trip.
Either way, a 4WD vehicle is strongly recommended before driving from Kings Canyon to Alice Springs via the Mereenie Loop. If the dirt track has not been graded recently, that 4WD becomes essential. Check locally – staff at the Kings Canyon Resort are probably the most convenient choice – on road conditions before embarking on the Mereenie Loop.
According to Google Maps, the drive from Kings Canyon to Alice Springs via the Mereenie Loop is 332km long, with a driving time of three hours and 29 minutes. That’s somewhat optimistic, and relies on good road conditions.
Book a Kings Canyon to Alice Springs coach transfer here.