What is there to do at Uluṟu?

In my blog ‘Is Uluṟu worth it?’ I rave about how impressed I was by Uluṟu. I initially wasn’t too fussed about visiting but in the end I’m so glad we did. We stayed for two nights and had two and a half days in the area. 

Staying at the Outback Hotel and Lodge meant we had access to a pool, but we only spent a couple of hours here as the weather was cloudy and cool enough that we were able to spend a full day exploring. If the sun is out and it’s over 36ºC, this isn’t possible and you’ll be very grateful for the pools in the Ayers Rock Resort.

We didn’t do the Field of Lights trip and we didn’t visit the Gallery of Central Australia. But we did take multiple trips to the sunset points, walk around the full base of Uluṟu, and drove out to Kata Tjuṯa for part of the Valley of the Winds walk.

Sunrise and Sunset points

These marked areas are the best places to see the sun rise and set over Uluṟu. You can’t stop on the roads nearby and when the weather is good the car parks get very busy. So get there early. During our stay in March it was cloudy and much quieter so we had no problem finding a space. 

The car parks are located so that you see the sun rise shining onto Uluṟu rather than coming up behind it (and vice versa). For silhouette shots of the light around the rock, go to the opposite spot at the corresponding time of day. 

Uluṟu Base Walk

The walk around the base of Uluṟu is flat and even but long and high temperatures could make it much harder. 

There are short routes off the main track to the Kantju Gorge at the Muṯitjulu waterhole which meant our walk was 11.25km, and took 2 hours 40 minutes including stops for photos. 

You can hire bikes from Outback Cycling near the cultural centre to make this faster and easier. We wanted to do this but the hire shop was closed when we got there. So book in advance!

If you want to do a much shorter walk, or it’s really hot and doing the whole route will be too much, park at Mala car park, head clockwise and check out Kantju Gorge. Then head back in the other direction and walk along to the Muṯitjulu waterhole near the start of the Kuniya Walk. 

These were the highlights of the trail for us, and are about 3.2km from each other (making the total walk around 5km long rather than +10km). You could also do this as an out-and-back walk from the car park for the Kuniya Walk. 

Kata Tjuṯa

It’s crazy that everyone knows about Uluṟu but the nearby Kata Tjuṯa is largely unheard of. This set of rocks separated by valleys is just as (if not more) imposing than Uluṟu. And it can be seen in the distance from most of the Uluṟu viewing spots. 

There are a few walks you can do here including Valley of the Winds, which is a harder 7km walk that can only be done if the forecast is below 36°c and you can complete it before 11am. 

After our long Uluṟu walk we didn’t feel like another 2 hours of hiking so we just went to the Kura lookout which was 30 minutes out and back (15 min each way) and easy but rocky. If we had time we would have liked to do the Walpa Gorge walk too. 

On your way back, stop at the Kata Tjuṯa sunset lookout point and the Kata Tjuṯa dunes viewing area to see the amazing mountains from different perspectives.