Alice Springs travel tips

Australia is the sixth-largest country in the world, with very different regions and climates. Deciding where to go – and how to get there – requires some major planning.

One person was killed on Monday night and more than 30 were injured after a Singapore Airways flight from London to Singapore was rocked by severe turbulence.

Whether Uluru is the largest monolith in the world really isn’t that important. What matters is that this immense, gorgeous rock in Australia’s Northern Territory, considered sacred by the local Aboriginal people, was formed hundreds of millions of years ago, and that today it stands isolated and beautiful in the desert. The best part is that you can see it with your own eyes, walk around its base, and learn more about what makes it special to the people who own the land on which it rests.

Close to the geographical heart of Australia, Alice Springs feels like a true desert town. Red earth laps its edges. The ocher walls of the West MacDonnell Ranges crowd its southern fringe. Pink-chested galahs wheel and screech overhead, and, lining the streets, gum trees give off the faintest smell of eucalyptus.

Unlike the Eurostar that takes passengers from London to cities on the European continent in record time, The Ghan, one of Australia’s four luxurious trains, is not something you book because you need to get from point A to point B. It may sound like the biggest travel cliché there is, but in this case it’s true: Riding The Ghan is all about the journey and not really about the (albeit lovely) destination. You go on the Ghan because you want to see and experience parts of Australia you’d never get to go to otherwise, at a slow pace, and in the comfiest, most lavish setting you could find.

Australia is a vast country, though most visitors stay on the same tried and tested track, ticking off well-touristed pitstops along the way. But, of course, there's plenty more to see beyond the usual Sydney, rock and reef holiday triangle. Here’s our pick of the best places to escape the crowds Down Under.