Mount Isa to Alice Springs road trip: Distance, drive time & stops
The Mount Isa to Alice Springs drive covers a 1,169km distance, with a driving time of around 12 hours. The best road trip stops are Camooweal, Tennant Creek and the Devils Marbles.
The drive from Mount Isa to Alice Springs connects the biggest town in north-west Queensland to the capital of the Northern Territory’s Red Centre. It’s a drive that most visitors are unlikely to take. But for serious roadtrippers, it’s a critical leg on the journey from Brisbane to Alice Springs or Cairns to Uluru.
Mount Isa has a surprising amount to offer visitors, including an eerie uranium mine and ghost town tour, outback scenic flights and sunset drinks overlooking Lake Moondarra.
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.
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.
Mount Isa to Alice Springs distance
The distance from Mount Isa to Alice Springs is 1,169km. You can expect a driving time of around 12 hours.
7 great Mount Isa experiences you really ought to know about
- Hard Times underground mine tour – led by a miner.
- Riversleigh Fossil Discovery Centre tickets – with optional laboratory tour.
- Combo ticket for Isa Experience Heritage Display, Outback Park and Rodeo Hall of Fame.
- Small group scenic flight – flying over the vast mines.
- Lake Moondarra sunset tour – with drinks and food platter.
- Pay a visit to the bizarre World War II era Underground Hospital.
- Mary Kathleen abandoned mine and ghost town tour.
Oh, and don’t expect many road trip attractions along the way – this is a tough old slog through the big empty.
The first part of the Mount Isa to Alice Springs drive is along the Barkly Highway towards Camooweal, which is the gateway to Boodjamulla National Park. It’s best to stock up on fuel here. It’s 661km from Mount Isa to Tennant Creek, and there are only two other fuel stops along the way – Barkly Homestead in the middle of nowhere and Threeways Roadhouse at the junction of the Stuart Highway.
Click through to next section: Tennant Creek.