Alice Springs weather by month
The best time to visit Alice Springs is April, May and August — 93/100 in August, 24°C and 1 rainy day. The best season is winter, June to August (88/100 on average).
The worst month is January at 55/100 — sweltering, a little rain, clean air. See January →
Updated September 2026 · climate normals from ERA5 reanalysis
Planning the wider trip? Best time to visit Australia →
Best season: June to August (88/100 on average) · worst January (55/100)
- Days
- 24°C
- Nights
- 6°C
- Wet days
- 1
- Sun
- 10 h
- Humidity
- 34%
- Daylight
- 11 h
Alice Springs, month by month
Comfort score out of 100 for the kind of trip Alice Springs is best for, the average high, rainy days and hours of sun a day from the climate normals, and how busy it tends to be.
What's on in Alice Springs through the year
Festivals, natural spectacles, holidays and the seasons to watch out for — curated and sourced. The month pages carry the detail.
- April
- Parrtjima festival of light10–19 AprFestival
- Larapinta walking season1 Apr – 30 SepSeason
- June
- Finke Desert Race4–9 Jun (usually)Festival
- July
- Camel Cup8–20 Jul (usually)Festival
- August
- Henley-on-Todd Regatta14–22 Aug (usually)Festival
- December
- Christmas and Boxing Day24 Dec – 1 JanHoliday
- The heat closes the walking1 Dec – 28 FebSeason
Crowds in Alice Springs in August
How busy the place itself is — school and mass holidays, the months an editor tagged, and how sought-after the weather makes them. Never part of the comfort score.
Busyschool holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, one of its best months for weather(estimated)
Peak crowdsBusyShoulder seasonQuiet
Good to know before you go to Alice Springs
Real experiences from travellers' own write-ups, quoted with a link to the original.
Visas & entry
A budget guide to driving from Alice Springs to Uluru recommends stocking up on food and supplies in Alice Springs before setting out, since prices in Central Australia climb noticeably once you're closer to Uluru itself, with the roughly 440km drive taking about 5.5 hours. Their practical tip given how patchy mobile coverage gets in the outback: download offline maps before leaving town, and make regular stops along the drive both to stretch your legs and to avoid fatigue on the long, straight highway.
Traveller notes on Alice Springs
What people who have been say about the place — the year-round notes first, then month by month.
Forum posters describe February as genuinely hot around Alice Springs, warning that nights in a campervan can be uncomfortable even after the sun goes down, and that heat waves can push highs into the mid-to-high 40sC on the worst days, though typical daily highs run distinctly cooler than that extreme. Posters describe rain reaching the Red Centre as genuinely variable, with some years seeing monsoon moisture push this far south and other years missing it almost entirely - though the full 12-month climate record shows January, not February, is actually Alice Springs' wettest month on average, with February a step drier. Posters warn that hiking trails can be closed by rangers on the hottest days, and that a self-drive out to Uluru in peak summer heat isn't something posters generally recommend attempting. Posters generally rate February as hot, occasionally extreme, and better suited to short outdoor stints between air-conditioned breaks than a Red Centre visit centered on hiking.
August is late winter in the Red Centre, and the forum calls it the right time precisely because the desert is unbearable in summer. Days sit near 23°C with clean, crisp air and effectively no rain. The figure that catches people out is the night: an average low of 8°C, and early August can drop to zero or below — campers at Uluru ask about this constantly, and the honest answer is that it is very doable with the right gear rather than that it is mild. One bonus regulars mention: after a wet winter, wildflowers come up right across August to October.
Add your own note from Alice Springs's card on the map.