Australia Vacation Guide: Costs, Visas and Where to Go

Australia is the sixth largest country on Earth with a population of about 27.8 million, which means the distances are continental and the people are concentrated on the coastal edges. That single fact should shape your whole trip: pick two states, not six, and let the flights you skip pay for the days you add.

This guide covers the entry rules, the seasons, the states, the transport and the costs, and then points you at the pages that go deeper on the places we have actually driven through.

Australia quick facts

The facts you need before booking are listed below.

• Currency: Australian dollar (A$)
• Capital: Canberra, not Sydney
• Size: 7,692,024 km² (2,969,907 sq mi)
• Population: about 27.8 million, recorded at 27,801,023 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics at the end of 2025
• Government: federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy
• National day: 26 January, Australia Day
• Time zones: three. Australian Western Standard Time is UTC+8, Australian Central Standard Time is UTC+9:30 and Australian Eastern Standard Time is UTC+10. Some states observe daylight saving in summer and some do not, which means Australia can run five different clocks at once.
• Language: English
• Religion: the 2021 census recorded 43.9 per cent Christian and 38.9 per cent no religion, with the no-religion share rising fast
• Power: 230V, plug type I. If that does not match your devices, pack a universal adapter.
• Driving side: left. An International Driving Permit is accepted alongside your home licence.
• Phone code: +61
• Emergency number: 000
• Tap water: drinkable across the country, so bring a reusable water bottle rather than buying plastic.

Do you need a visa for Australia?

Yes. Almost every non-citizen needs a visa or travel authorisation before boarding a flight to Australia, and there is no visa on arrival. The good news is that the two relevant ones are cheap and online.

• eVisitor (subclass 651) is for most European passport holders. It is free, allows stays of up to three months at a time within twelve months, and is applied for online.
• Electronic Travel Authority (subclass 601) is for passport holders from the US, Canada, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and several others. It carries an A$20 service charge and works on the same three-month basis. It is applied for through the Australian ETA app.
• Visitor visa (subclass 600) covers everyone else and costs considerably more.

Apply well before you fly, not at the airport, and apply through the Australian Department of Home Affairs or its official app rather than a third-party site that adds a fee for the same form.

The states and territories of Australia

Australia has six states and three internal territories, and the difference between them is how much self-government each holds. What matters to a visitor is that each one has a different reason to go.

New South Wales

New South Wales is the most populous state and the home of Sydney, which is where most long-haul flights land. The Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and Bondi Beach are all here and all worth the cliché.

Outside the city, the Blue Mountains are an hour and a half west and give you sandstone escarpments, eucalypt forest and long walks. South down the coast, Jervis Bay is known for extraordinarily white sand, and Hyams Beach in particular has a long-running claim to the whitest sand in the world, which locals repeat and Guinness no longer certifies.

Queensland

Queensland is where to go for reef, rainforest and warm winters, and it is the state our Australian coverage knows best. The Great Barrier Reef is the headline, along with the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast and the Daintree.

Brisbane is the state capital, a river city that will host the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games and is rebuilding itself accordingly. Further inland, Boodjamulla National Park has gorges you can kayak through, and the Undara lava tubes are among the longest in the world.

We drove Queensland from Brisbane to Port Douglas. The stops worth your time are below.

• Things to do on Magnetic Island in 3 days or more
• Spotting platypus at Eungella National Park
• An easy walk at Mossman Gorge
• Fun things to do at Cape Hillsborough, including kangaroos and wallabies
• Visiting Paronella Park, where dreams come true
• Top things to do in Port Douglas

Victoria

Victoria sits in the south-eastern corner and is built around Melbourne, Australia’s second city and its coffee, laneway and live-music capital. The Block Arcade and Royal Arcade are the shopping set pieces; the laneways are the reason to walk.

The Great Ocean Road runs along the state’s south coast and is the country’s best-known drive, past the limestone stacks of the Twelve Apostles. The Grampians inland give you walking and rock art, and the Yarra Valley gives you wine an hour from the city.

South Australia

South Australia is underrated and cheap, with Adelaide as a manageable capital and wine regions in every direction. The Barossa, Clare and McLaren Vale sit within two hours of the city.

Kangaroo Island is the wildlife trip, with sea lions, kangaroos and koalas in the wild. The Murray River and Coorong National Park are for slow water and birds, and cage diving with great white sharks runs off the Eyre Peninsula.

Western Australia

Western Australia covers a third of the continent and has Perth at its southern end, which is closer to Jakarta than to Sydney. Fremantle, half an hour away, has the arts scene, the markets and the coffee.

The beaches in Western Australia are the reason people fly this far. Turquoise Bay at Ningaloo, Hamelin Bay and Cable Beach in Broome are the famous ones, and Ningaloo Reef is where you can swim with whale sharks between March and July.

Tasmania

Tasmania is Australia’s smallest state, an island about 240 km (150 mi) south of Victoria, and it is the one people go to for wilderness rather than beaches. Cradle Mountain and Lake St Clair National Park is the centrepiece, and the Overland Track crosses it.

Hobart is the capital. MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art, is a genuinely strange private museum reached by ferry, and Salamanca Market fills the waterfront every Saturday. The Table Cape tulip fields flower in October.

Northern Territory

The Northern Territory is the outback, and the thing to know before you go is that climbing Uluru has been prohibited since 26 October 2019, at the request of the Anangu traditional owners. Guides written before then still describe the climb.

You walk around the base instead, which takes a little over three hours and is the better experience. Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon are nearby, and Kakadu in the far north has rock art, wetlands and waterfalls. Darwin is the capital, good for markets and a base rather than a destination. Temperatures sit in the high 20s to low 30s °C (80s to low 90s °F) and climb past 40°C (104°F) in the build-up to the wet season.

Australian Capital Territory

The Australian Capital Territory exists because Sydney and Melbourne could not agree which should be the capital, so Canberra was built between them. It is a planned city and it feels like one.

The Australian War Memorial is genuinely moving and free. Parliament House, the National Gallery and the National Museum are all worth a half day, and Lake Burley Griffin is the walk. One or two days is enough.

Jervis Bay Territory

Jervis Bay Territory is a small enclave on the New South Wales coast, under 70 km² (27 sq mi), administered federally so that the landlocked ACT has access to the sea. It is tiny and almost nobody plans a trip around it.

Booderee National Park and a run of white-sand beaches are the reason to detour, and it is an easy add-on if you are already driving the New South Wales south coast.

How do you get to Australia?

You get to Australia by air. There are no road or rail routes in, and no scheduled passenger ferries, because the nearest landmass of any size is a very long way off.

Expect long-haul fares to be the largest single line in the budget. From Europe a return runs from about €1,000 per person and rises steeply in the Australian summer, and finding the lower end means being flexible on dates and booking months out. Check here for flight options and prices to Australia.

Australia’s busiest airports are Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. Sydney and Melbourne take the most long-haul traffic; Perth is the shortest hop from Europe and Asia and is worth checking if the west is your destination.

How do you get around Australia?

You get around Australia by domestic flight for the long hops and by hire car or campervan for everything within a state. The distances defeat almost every other plan: Sydney to Perth is further than London to Moscow.

By car or campervan. Self-drive gives you the national parks, the coastal roads and the small towns, and a campervan folds your accommodation into the same cost. This is how we did Queensland and it is what we would do again. Look here for the best prices on rental cars.

By plane. Domestic flights are not cheap but they buy back days. A budget flight across the country costs less than the fuel to drive it.

By coach. Greyhound Australia runs the long-distance network and remains the cheapest way to cross the country, with hop-on hop-off passes aimed at backpackers. It is slow and scenic in equal measure.

By train. The network is limited and long-distance trains such as the Ghan and the Indian Pacific are holidays in themselves rather than transport, priced accordingly.

By public transport in cities. Worth one note: Queensland charges a flat 50 cents for any journey on its Translink network, covering buses, trains, ferries and trams across the state. That fare was made permanent, and it makes Brisbane and Townsville dramatically cheaper to move around than Sydney or Melbourne.

When is the best time to visit Australia?

The best time to visit Australia depends entirely on which half you are going to, because the north and the south have opposite seasons in practice. Australia sits in the southern hemisphere, so Christmas falls in high summer and July is the cold month.

• September to November and February to May are the safest all-round windows for the southern states, avoiding both the summer heat and the winter chill.
• The tropical north, meaning Queensland above Rockhampton, the Top End and the Kimberley, has a dry season from roughly May to October and a wet season from November to April. Go in the dry. The wet brings heat, humidity, road closures and stingers in the water.
• Winter, June to August, is the best time to be in north Queensland and the worst time to be in Tasmania.
• Summer, December to February, is beach season in the south and bushfire season everywhere. Check current fire warnings if you are driving in rural areas.

Where should you stay in Australia?

Book accommodation in advance in school holidays and on the coast, because Australian domestic tourism fills the good places first. Prices swing hard between seasons.

Booking.com is my go-to for hotels and guesthouses, because the filters let me cut straight to places with what I actually want, free Wi-Fi and a good location in my case. If you are looking for accommodation in Australia, check there. When I want an apartment with a kitchen and more space, I look on Vrbo.

Caravan parks are the underrated option. They are everywhere, they take campervans and tents as well as renting cabins, and they are usually in better locations than the motels.

What should you pack for Australia?

Pack for sun first and for the season second, because the Australian sun is stronger than almost anywhere visitors come from. The country spans the tropics to the cool temperate zone, so look up the forecast for the specific region rather than the country.

Items that earn their place wherever you go are listed below.

• Sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat
• High-factor sunscreen, applied more often than you think you need to
• Light layers, because a hot day turns into a cool evening away from the coast
• A light rain jacket
• Trainers or walking shoes, plus something you can wear in water
• A reusable water bottle
• Insect repellent, particularly for the tropical north
• Swimwear, and a rash vest if you are swimming in the north in stinger season

What should you eat in Australia?

Eat the counter food first, because Australia’s best-known dishes are bakery, pub and barbecue food rather than restaurant food. The list below is the short version.

• Meat pie: minced beef and gravy in flaky pastry, with tomato sauce. The national snack.
• Vegemite: a salty yeast-extract spread. Scrape it thin on buttered toast or you will hate it.
• Chicken parmigiana: crumbed chicken, tomato sauce and cheese, the default pub dinner.
• Tim Tams: chocolate biscuits, best used as a straw for hot chocolate.
• Lamington: sponge cake in chocolate icing and coconut.
• Pavlova: meringue, cream and fruit, and the Christmas dessert.
• Kangaroo: very lean red meat, and it must be cooked rare.
• Barramundi: the national eating fish, best grilled with the skin on.
• Moreton Bay bug: a slipper lobster, split and grilled with butter.
• Aussie burger: beef with beetroot, tinned pineapple and a fried egg.
• Snags at a sausage sizzle: a sausage in folded white bread with onions and sauce.

Want the full list? Read our guide to popular Australian food.

Famous events in Australia

The events below are the ones people plan trips around, and most of them fall in the first half of the year.

• Australia Day, 26 January, marked nationwide with barbecues, fireworks and, increasingly, protest and debate about the date itself
• Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, February and March, one of the largest pride events in the world
• Adelaide Fringe, February and March, the southern hemisphere’s biggest arts festival
• Moomba Festival, Melbourne, March
• Melbourne International Comedy Festival, March and April
• Rip Curl Pro, Bells Beach, Victoria, over Easter, the longest-running professional surfing event in the world
• Anzac Day, 25 April, with dawn services across both Australia and New Zealand
• Melbourne Cup, the first Tuesday in November, a public holiday in Melbourne and a national fixation
• New Year’s Eve fireworks, Sydney Harbour, 31 December

Public holidays in Australia

The days below are public holidays nationwide, when banks and most businesses close.

• New Year’s Day, 1 January
• Australia Day, 26 January
• Good Friday
• Easter Monday
• Anzac Day, 25 April
• King’s Birthday, on a date that varies by state
• Christmas Day, 25 December
• Boxing Day, 26 December

Each state and territory adds its own days on top, including Labour Day and various show days and cup days, so check the state you are in rather than assuming.

Is Australia safe?

Australia is a very safe country for visitors, with low crime rates and rare violent crime. The genuine hazards are environmental, not criminal.

• Swim between the flags. Rips, not sharks, are what drown people on Australian beaches. Patrolled beaches mark a safe zone with red and yellow flags, and lifesavers are watching it.
• Marine stingers are the northern problem. Box jellyfish and Irukandji are present in tropical waters from roughly November to May, which is why locals wear stinger suits and why net enclosures exist.
• Sun. Australia has among the highest skin cancer rates in the world. Hat, shirt, sunscreen, shade.
• Heat and distance. Breaking down on a remote road is more dangerous than anything with teeth. Carry water, tell someone your route and do not rely on mobile coverage outside towns.
• Snakes and spiders are genuinely dangerous but very rarely encountered. Wear boots in long grass, check your shoes and do not put your hands where you cannot see.
• Wildlife on the road. Kangaroos are a serious collision risk at dawn and dusk. Most rental agreements ban night driving on country roads for exactly this reason.

Cash, cards and getting online in Australia

Cards work everywhere in Australia and cash is increasingly optional. Contactless payment is near-universal, including on public transport, and a card will cover you in the smallest country bakery. Carry a little cash for markets and remote roadhouses.

For data, an eSIM is the simplest fix if your plan does not cover Australia. It installs on your phone before you fly, with no shop visit and no physical card. Check out Airalo here. Use code HARRY5578 for €3 off your first eSIM. An eSIM suits one phone; if several of you are sharing one connection, a pocket Wi-Fi device is the better shape of product. Note that mobile coverage drops away quickly outside towns, so download offline maps before any long drive.

Do you tip in Australia?

No, you do not need to tip in Australia, because hospitality staff are covered by a statutory minimum wage and do not depend on gratuities. Ten per cent for good service in a city restaurant is generous rather than expected, and nobody will react badly if you pay the bill as printed. Read our full guide to tipping in Australia, Fiji and New Zealand for who to tip what.

A short history of Australia

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have lived in Australia for at least 65,000 years, which makes theirs the oldest continuous cultures on Earth. Archaeological evidence from Madjedbebe in the Northern Territory pushed that date back well beyond the 50,000-year figure older guides still print, and hundreds of distinct language groups lived across the continent before Europeans arrived.

Britain claimed the east coast in 1770 and established a penal colony at Sydney Cove in 1788. Around 162,000 convicts were transported over the following eighty years, and colonisation was catastrophic for Aboriginal people through violence, dispossession and introduced disease.

The gold rushes of the 1850s brought migrants from Britain, Ireland, China and elsewhere and remade the colonies. On 1 January 1901 the six colonies federated into the Commonwealth of Australia, becoming one country with a shared parliament while remaining within the British Empire; full legal independence came gradually across the twentieth century rather than in a single declaration. Australia suffered heavy losses in both world wars, dismantled the White Australia policy after 1945, and rebuilt itself through post-war migration into one of the most multicultural countries in the world.

Frequently asked questions

How long do you need in Australia?

Three weeks is a realistic minimum for a first trip from Europe or North America, and it covers one or two states rather than the country. Two weeks works if you fly into one city and stay in that region.

Is Australia expensive?

Yes, by most standards. Accommodation, alcohol and domestic flights are the painful ones; fuel, supermarket food and public transport in Queensland are cheap. Cooking in a campervan or an apartment is the single biggest saving.

Do you need a car in Australia?

Not in the cities, where public transport is good. Yes for national parks, coastal routes and anywhere outside a metropolitan area, because nothing else reaches them.

Can you climb Uluru?

No. Climbing Uluru has been prohibited since 26 October 2019 at the request of the Anangu traditional owners. The base walk is open and takes a little over three hours.

What side of the road does Australia drive on?

The left. An International Driving Permit is accepted alongside a valid home licence, and rental companies will want both.

WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips

Five things we would tell a friend planning a first trip to Australia are listed below.

1. Do not try to see the whole country. Sydney to Perth is further than London to Moscow, and domestic flights will eat a third of a three-week budget. Pick two states and go deep.
2. Queensland public transport costs 50 cents a journey. The flat Translink fare is permanent and covers buses, trains, ferries and trams statewide. It changes the maths on staying central in Brisbane and on using the Sunbus on Magnetic Island.
3. Swim between the flags, every time. Rip currents are what actually kill people on Australian beaches, and the red and yellow flags mark the patrolled stretch. An unpatrolled beach with nobody on it is a warning, not an opportunity.
4. Book the campervan before the flights if you are driving Queensland in the dry season. June to October is peak and vans sell out months ahead. We drove Brisbane to Port Douglas in one and would not do that trip any other way.
5. Apply for the eVisitor or the ETA weeks early, on the official site. There is no visa on arrival in Australia and airlines will not board you without one. eVisitor is free and the ETA costs A$20; anything charging you more is a middleman selling the same form.

About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, who drove Queensland from Brisbane to Port Douglas in a campervan and wrote up the stops along the way. The team covers Australia for independent travellers, including the tours, hotels, campervans and packing gear worth booking, and updates this page when visa rules, fares and prices change.