Walk the Red Centre
5-Day Guided Walk the Red Centre
Pack-Free Adventure for Private Groups by Life’s An Adventure
Experience the awe-inspiring beauty of Australia's outback on our 5-Day Guided Walk the Red Centre, specially designed for private groups. This unforgettable journey takes you through the heart of Central Australia, showcasing some of the best walks and natural wonders the region has to offer.
Your adventure includes four incredible walks, featuring the iconic Kings Canyon Giles Track and the breathtaking Kings Canyon Rim Walk. You'll also explore the world-famous Uluru (Ayers Rock) and traverse the stunning Kata Tjuta (The Olgas). No matter how many photos you’ve seen of these majestic rock formations, experiencing their sheer size and beauty in person will leave you speechless.
This walk has been thoughtfully designed to minimize your travel time in the vast outback. On Day 2, enjoy a scenic flight from Alice Springs to Kings Canyon, saving nearly four hours of driving. Then, on Day 5, you'll fly out of Uluru, bypassing the five-hour return journey to Alice Springs. This efficient itinerary allows you to cover just 300 km, in contrast to the usual 1000 km circuit of the Red Centre, maximizing your walking experience.
As you explore, knowledgeable guides will share insights into the cultural significance and geological history of these iconic landmarks, deepening your connection to the land and its heritage. Each day of walking provides opportunities for stunning photography, reflection, and connection with nature.
With a Pack-Free approach, you'll enjoy the freedom of carrying only a light day pack with essentials, while we take care of all logistics, including accommodations and meals. Each night, relax in comfortable lodgings, allowing you to unwind and recharge for the next day’s adventures.
The 5-Day Guided Walk the Red Centre is a perfect opportunity for nature lovers, adventure seekers, and anyone looking to explore the remarkable landscapes of Central Australia. Join us for this incredible walking experience, where the beauty of the outback and the magic of the Red Centre come together for an unforgettable journey!
PRIVATE GROUPS ONLY!
Pack Free Walking Experience
Carry as little as your water and lunch
Our speciality is providing Pack -Free walking holidays so you can focus on enjoying the amazing landscapes, not the burden of carrying a heavy pack. Our guests won’t be asked to carry their clothes or overnight bags for the entire walk. With Life’s An Adventure, you will carry as little as your water bottle, camera and lunch each day!
Mercure Alice Springs Resort
1 night stay
Enjoy your first night at the Mercure Alice Springs Resort in Alice Springs. Situated on the banks of the Todd River, Mercure Alice Springs Resort offers modern rooms with free Wi-Fi, all just a 5-minute walk from the town centre. This award-winning resort features a swimming pool, a restaurant, and a seasonal bar.
Kings Canyon Resort
Set in an ancient rugged landscape
Set against a backdrop of rugged outback scenery, lies King Canyon Resort. Our guests enjoy resort rooms and superb dining in Carmichaels Restaurant, featuring contemporary menus inspired by local Northern Territory produce and complemented with Australian wines. Rooms are comfortable Standard Rooms featuring either two double beds or one queen bed with ensuite.
Ayers Rock Resort
Desert Gardens Hotel
During our stay at Uluru we spend 2 nights at the superb Voyagers Ayers Rock Resort, staying in the Desert Gardens accommodation within an oasis of native gardens. The resort features the Red Ochre Spa, shops, swimming pools and cafés. Our guests will stay in elegant guest rooms with 1 x Queen or 2 double beds.
Epic Scenic Plane Flight
From Alice Springs to King Canyon
The Red Centre is a vast area and covers huge distances. Most operators do this area as a circuit covering over 1000km in driving. Our journey has been specifically designed to minimise our travelling time with a direct 1 hour flight from Alice Springs to King Canyon saving almost 4 hours in driving time. See the vast outback from the comfort of your plane as you make your way to King Canyon.
We have also designed our tour to finish in Yulura near Uluru, where you can take advantage of booking direct flights home and again saving a lengthy 5 hour drive back to Alice Springs.
Flexible Walking Itineraries
Choose what suits you
We understand when you are travelling with friends and family that your fitness level and abilities may differ from each other. That’s why we offer a flexible walking itinerary offering shorter and more challenging days to suit different levels. With two guides on our walks of 8 or more people, we have the freedom to cater for a range of needs. You also have the option to sit out any day’s walking and enjoy the facilities at your accommodation. You design a schedule that’s right for you!
Personalised Tours
Make new friends on the trail
Our tours are designed to be personal and intimate. We love the clients we attract on a Life’s An Adventure walking experience. Happy, down to earth people, who are passionate about walking and simply excited to be on holidays. We find our guests often form lifelong friendships on tour as they are travelling with wonderful like-minded people.
Great meals featuring local produce
Served with Australian wines
On tour you will enjoy fine a la carte dining accompanied with Australian wines. At Kings Canyon Resort dine in Carmichael Restaurant featuring contemporary menus inspired by local Northern Territory produce. At Ayers Rock Resort we dine at both Ikari Restaurant on the first night and Arnguli Grill our final night.
Guest also have the option to upgrade their dining experience on night 3 with a special experience at the award-winning Sounds of Silence (additional costs apply).
Our CEO guides
Chief Experience Officers
We call our guides CEOs – Chief Experience Officers and it’s their job to ensure your walking tour lives up to to your expectations. Our chief guides have a fun-loving and caring nature as well as being passionate and knowledgable.
Genuinely all-inclusive
All tours are genuinely inclusive. From restaurant meals perfectly matched with Australian wines, to a scenic flight and park fees.
21 Tourism Awards of Excellence
including Australia's best Adventure Tourism Company
Life’s an Adventure have won 21 Tourism Awards of Excellence including the Qantas Australian Tourism Award for Australia’s Best Adventure Company. Awards are great, but our biggest accolade which we value even more, is that our clients come back and travel with us time and time again.
NEW Flexiwalk Add-On
Cancel for any reason option
FlexiWalk is a new optional Add-On that allows passengers to cancel their tour last minute and not be penalised. Exclusively designed by Life’s An Adventure, this product gives our guests certainty in a time of uncertainty. Click here to find out more details
To find out more click on any of the below links:
Why should you choose us?
Tour Itinerary
- Pack-Free Walking – no overnight packs to carry
- Scenic Flight/Air Transfer from Alice Springs to Kings Canyon
- 4 x 2 course a la carte dinners
- Australian wines served with all evening meals
- 1 night at the Mercure Alice Springs Resort
- 1 night Kings Canyon Resort
- 2 nights at Voyagers Ayers Rock Resort – Desert Gardens
- 3 x delicious lunches to enjoy whilst walking
- 4 x continental breakfasts
- Fresh fruit and trail mix to enjoy while walking
- Professional Guides – our guides are passionate, well-trained and enthusiastic, with the ability to bring to life a depth of information
- Transfers from Alice Springs and to Yulara airport at the start and end of your tour
Optional Sounds of Silence dinner available at Uluru at an additional cost.
FLIGHTS: Book your flights to arrive in Alice Springs any time during the day.
ITINERARY: Fly to Alice Springs. Make your way to your accommodation at the Mercure Alice Springs Resort. Today is at leisure to explore Alice Springs on your own. You may like to visit the many indigenous Art galleries in the city centre or take a short taxi-ride out to the impressive Araluen Arts Centre or Desert Park wildlife park . The Olive Pink Botanic Garden in Alice Springs is also an easy walk or for great views try Billy Goat Hill or ANZAC Hill.
Tonight meet the group at 7.30pm for a welcome dinner at the Mercure Alice Springs Resort with the chance to meet your guide, who will entertain you with stories of the adventures that lie ahead on your 5 day Red Centre experience.
TRAIL NOTES: 12kms. Grade moderate to hard. Some flat sections.
TRANSFERS: Early morning 1 hour flight from Alice Springs to Kings Canyon
ITINERARY: This morning enjoy breakfast before we transfer to Alice Springs airport for an early morning flight over the stunning desert ranges and gorges to Kings Canyon saving us almost 4 hours in driving. Today we walk a section of the Giles Track named after Ernest Giles the 19th-century explorer, the first European to visit this area. The track is one of the hidden gems of the area. We enter a labyrinth of amazing beehive rock formations that remind one of the Bungle Bungles in Western Australia. Domes of layered rock stand up to 15 metres high and the Giles Track weaves its way through these through stunning gullies. After our walk, we make our way to our accommodation at the superb Kings Canyon Resort. Enjoy drinks at their Sunset Viewing Platform as the nearby cliffs glow red and the stars emerge in a brilliant, vast sky. In the evening we enjoy a superb dinner served with wine at Carmichaels Restaurant and share our newly acquired knowledge and experiences of the Red Centre.
TRAIL NOTES: Kings Canyon Rim Walk. 6kms. 4 hours. Moderate to Hard Grade. Or optional shorter walk walk to Kings Creek. 2.6kms. 1 hour walk. Easy
TRANSFERS: Afternoon 3 hours drive from Kings Canyon to Ayers Rock Resort
TERRAIN: This walk climbs steeply to the canyon rim. The path is rocky with many steps. There are unfenced cliff edges on the entirety of the walk. On the canyon rim the track is rocky and uneven underfoot and undulating. The final descent back to the car park is steep with some formed steps.
FLEXIBLE WALKING: A shorter Kings Canyon walking option is also available today to Kings Creek for those not wanting to do the Rim walk.
WALK ITINERARY: After an early breakfast, we lace up our hiking boots and head off to make our way to the rim of the dramatic Kings Canyon. This 6km loop walk starts with its most challenging difficult section, a steep climb from the canyon floor to the rim. But, once up on the rim you will find yourself amongst an amazing landscape of weather-sculpted sandstone pagodas known as the Lost City. From here the track winds around the rim of the canyon above sheer and colourful cliffs that will take your breath away with their grandeur. The walk also passes through the picturesque Garden of Eden, a sacred waterhole filled with lush greenery. The track continues to the southern rim before descending again to the car park. From here we travel to Uluru. Enroute you will stop for a view of the impressive, but less famous, Mount Conner, known locally as ‘Fool-u-ru‘ as its towering silhouette, rising out of the desert horizon, is the first thing you see as you travel west towards its more famous neighbours, Uluru and Kata Tjuta. No brochure or photo can prepare you for the grandeur of the world’s most iconic monolith as it comes into view.
Your next two nights are spent at the beautiful Ayers Rock Resort in the Desert Gardens guest rooms. This resort features a wonderful swimming pool and a diversity of modern dining and bar options. Tonight enjoy a superb dining at Ikari Restaurant showcasing the finest Australian produce with notes of bush tucker flavours throughout perfectly matched with Australian wines.
TRAIL NOTES: Valley of the Winds Walk, 7.4km circuit, 3.5 hours. Moderate to Difficult Grade.
TERRAIN: The Valley of the Winds Walk starts on a well-formed, smooth dirt track. There are some short climbs and descents in and out of each valley. Further within the walk, you will encounter sections of loose rock, sand, and uneven ground underfoot. The Walpa Gorge Walk is mostly flat with some uneven, rocky sections.
FLEXIBLE WALKING: For those after an easier day, skip the morning Valley of the Winds walk and join the group to visit the Cultural Centre. Alternatively, our guests have the freedom to do the Walpa Gorge 2.6km morning walk and skip the afternoon walk and relax at the resort. 1 hour walk.
ITINERARY: After breakfast, we head out on our day’s walk. Today you visit Kata Tjuta meaning ‘many heads’. The enormous domes, 36 in total, rise out of the rolling sand dunes and desert plains to the west of Uluru. Weathered over millions of years, the tallest, Mt Olga, is actually higher than Uluru! Today‘s walk takes you through the heart of these domed monoliths along the Valley of the Winds walk, which winds its way into the shady depths of narrow passages beneath the imposing heads of Kata Tjuta. The Valley of the Winds also features unparalleled views of the spectacular desert landscape from two lookout points along the track.
After experiencing the remote beauty of Kata Tjuta you have free time this afternoon at the Cultural Centre, to deepen your understanding of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. Here you can learn about Anangu culture and the park’s natural environment through the exhibits. There are also Aboriginal art galleries and several community-owned shops and facilities.
You return to your accommodation today for a relaxing dinner experience at Arnguli Restaurant enjoying a wonderful menu, that incorporates signature dishes enlivened by indigenous flavours and complemented by Australian fine wines.
OPTIONAL DINING EXPERIENCE: Alternatively our guests have the option of upgrading their dining experience tonight at the amazing ‘Sounds of Silence’ dinner at an additional cost of $130. This unique and award-winning dinner extravaganza begins with canapes and chilled sparkling wine overlooking the National Park and includes didgeridoo performances and an interactive chef’s station where you will be served your choice of meal from a bush tucker inspired menu. Then settle back and listen to a presentation decoding the southern night sky and constellations. This is a 4 hour experience. Please note this experience is on request at time of booking.
OPTIONAL ULURU SUNSET: Alternatively our guests have the option of being taken to see sunset at Uluru instead of the Sounds of Silence dinner.
TRAIL NOTES: Uluru Base Walk, 10km circuit, 3.5 hours. Easy Grade.
TERRAIN: The walk is on a well-formed, smooth and flat, wide dirt track.
ITINERARY: Today you get up close and personal with the Rock and follow in the footsteps of the ancestral beings that shaped the landscape. The Uluru Base Walk is the best way to connect with the rock and learn its stories. The walk is about 10 km and that takes you around the whole circumference. The sheer scale of Uluru, when up close and personal, is really quite extraordinary. As you walk you will pass through acacia woodlands and grassed claypans and encounter bloodwoods, native grasses and waterholes. This is a beautiful and intimate way to end your Red Centre experience.
After the walk, we transfer you to the Ayers Rock (Yulara) airport for your return flight home (2 minute transfer) at the end of a grand journey to the heart of Australia. Book flights from 1.30pm onwards.
NOTE: This walk can be added to our Larapinta walk to create a 10-day walking experience. Click here to view.
Tour Availability
& On Sale Prices
AVAILABLE FOR PRIVATE GROUPS
Prices in AUD (Australian Dollars)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
* Prices are per person in Australian dollars and include GST.
* A deposit of $300 per person is required to secure your booking. (unless taking advantage of Earlybird or Spot Specials in which full payment is required at time of booking).
* Note: If you are booking within 90 days of your departure date – we will require full payment at the time of booking
* Prices are based on twin share of rooms. If you are travelling solo you may be required to share with someone of the same gender. If this is not suitable you can request to pay a single supplement, however, limited single rooms are available per trip so are on a request basis.
* Credit Card fees apply or contact us for bank transfer payment options. The following fees apply. Australian Credit Cards including Visa and Mastercard 1% +$0.20 per transaction, International Credit Cards including Visa and Mastercard 3.4% + $0.30 per transaction (payments in AUD).
* Payments must be made online via our NAB (National Australia Bank) secure payment page via credit card (Visa or Mastercard) or over the phone.
* We advise taking our Travel Insurance to cover items such as cancellation of tour due to minimum numbers not met, or adverse weather conditions, injury, evacuation, delayed flights, illness, etc. Click here
* Credit for cancelled activities. If a tour activity has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances a credit for this missed activity can be applied to any future tour with us. Click here.
* FlexiWalk Option – Cancel for any Reason Click here for full conditions on our FlexiWalk Option.
