Road Trips That Have The Best Swimming Holes in Australia

We’ve done the Big Lap twice in a 1993 Toyota Coaster, and swimming holes are some of our best memories.

These are the 7 road trips we’d build around the best swimming holes in Australia, from croc-managed plunge pools in the Top End to outback waterholes and rainforest falls.

1. Darwin to Litchfield (NT)

Distance: 280km loop
Time needed: 2 to 3 days
Best time: May to October
Vehicle: 2WD (4WD for side trips)
Good for: Anyone who wants plunge pools close together without a huge drive

Florence Falls is our favourite swim in the whole NT, and Buley Rockhole and Wangi Falls aren’t far behind. They’re all signed and croc-managed, which makes Litchfield the easiest swim-focused loop out of Darwin.

We went in November and DO NOT recommend it, because the heat and humidity before the rains were oppressive. You need to aim for the the dry season for the best experience.

Highlights

• Florence Falls, a double waterfall that drops into a monsoon forest plunge pool at the bottom of 135 steps.
• Buley Rockhole, a cascade of deep and shallow rock pools that suits kids, though the small car park fills by mid morning so use the overflow at Florence Falls.
• Wangi Falls, Litchfield’s postcard double-drop waterfall with a huge plunge pool, a café and a 2WD campground with hot showers.
• Tolmer Falls Lookout, an easy 20 minute loop to one of the most dramatic lookouts in the park, with no swimming allowed.
• Florence Falls Shady Creek Walk, a 1km (30 to 45 minute) stroll through monsoon forest that’s the scenic way into the falls.
• Magnetic termite mounds, hundreds of them, some up to 8m tall, all lined up north to south.

Heads up: Swim areas close in the wet season or when crocs turn up, so check Parks NT before you go. Wangi often stays shut from the wet until around May, and Lost City and Tjaynera Falls need a 4WD.

Want the day by day plan with a map? Grab our Darwin to Litchfield road trip itinerary before you leave!

2. Perth to Karijini (WA)

Distance: 1,600km one way
Time needed: 10 to 14 days
Best time: April to September
Vehicle: 2WD
Good for: Gorge swimmers happy to drive a long way for crocodile-free pools

Karijini’s gorge pools are crocodile-free, and it’s honestly one of the most memorable places we’ve been in more than 5 years on the road.

The falls are fullest early in the season, so go earlier if you want them flowing. Bring a floatie too, because fresh water doesn’t hold you up like salt does and we learnt that the hard way.

Highlights

• Hamersley Gorge and Spa Pool, our favourite gorge in Karijini, with folded rock formations you won’t see anywhere else in the park.
• Fern Pool and Fortescue Falls at Dales Gorge, the most accessible swim in Karijini, on a sealed road with Circular Pool right beside them.
• Handrail Pool in Weano Gorge, a short hike with a steep descent and spider-walking through narrow, slippery sections, so it’s not for young kids.
• Hancock Gorge and Kermit’s Pool, a rock-scrambling gorge walk that ends at one of the more adventurous swims in Karijini.
• Ningaloo Reef at Turquoise Bay, where you snorkel with turtles and manta rays minutes after parking, no boat needed.
• Kalbarri National Park, with gorge scenery that rivals Karijini and is far more accessible, plus Nature’s Window, the Skywalk and the Z Bend river trail.

Heads up: Never enter a gorge in rain, because flash floods hit fast, and summer is extremely hot. Fuel up in Carnarvon, Nanutarra Roadhouse and Tom Price, and bring 3 to 4 litres of water per person per day because the park has none.

Every stop, stay and fuel top up is mapped in our Perth to Karijini road trip itinerary, ready for your own drive north!

3. Gibb River Road (WA)

Distance: about 660km one way
Time needed: 7 to 10 days
Best time: May to September
Vehicle: 4WD
Good for: Confident 4WD drivers who want remote Kimberley gorge swims

Bell, Manning and Galvans are the classic Kimberley swims, and they all sit along one iconic red dirt track. The corrugations are real, so tie everything down in your rig.

We drove from Derby to Kununurra in 7 days, late in the season, and some spots had already shut. Go earlier if you want every gorge open and the waterfalls still flowing.

Highlights

• Bell Gorge, a multi-tiered waterfall above a big plunge pool, about 2km return from Silent Grove campground, so go first thing.
• Manning Gorge, where a dinghy ferries your gear across the river before a 3km walk to deep pools below a big waterfall.
• Galvans Gorge, a flat, shady walk of about 1km return to a horseshoe-shaped pool with a small waterfall and a rope swing.
• Windjana Gorge, with limestone walls up to 30m high, a gorge over 3.5km long and freshwater crocs sunbaking on the sandbanks, so it’s for looking, not swimming.
• Tunnel Creek (Dimalurru), a 750m cave under the Napier Range that you wade through past bats and freshwater crocs, where Jandamarra made his last stand.
• Adcock Gorge, a quieter, shaded green pool down a short rough 4WD track and a rocky walk, so it’s often far less crowded than Bell.

Heads up: The road closes in the wet season, usually from around November to April. Freshwater crocs live in some gorges and saltwater crocs live in rivers such as the Pentecost, so only swim at signed spots.

If the Gibb is on your list, our full Gibb River Road itinerary covers camps, fuel and a free map for the 7 and 14 day versions!

4. Kakadu National Park (NT)

Distance: 620km loop
Time needed: 3 to 5 days
Best time: May to September
Vehicle: 2WD (4WD for side trips)
Good for: Swimmers who also want rock art and wild crocs on the same trip

We spent over a week in Kakadu, and while Chris still prefers Litchfield, it’s Bec’s favourite of the two.

Maguk and Gunlom have signed, managed swim spots, and Jim Jim opens later in the dry, so the swimming here takes some planning.

Highlights

• Jim Jim Falls and plunge pool, a 1km rocky rainforest walk to massive red cliffs and one of the best plunge pools in the NT, where we spotted barramundi below.
• Maguk (Barramundi Gorge), a monsoon rainforest gorge with a year-round waterfall, plus a hidden upper pool just beyond the main one.
• Yellow Water Billabong Cruise, a wetland cruise near Cooinda with loads of birdlife and wild saltwater crocs, so book ahead from June to September.
• Ubirr rock art and sunset lookout, with galleries over 1,000 years old and a floodplain view often rated the best sunset spot in the NT.
• Cahills Crossing, one of Australia’s best places to watch saltwater crocodiles hunt, best from the three platforms around high tide.
• Burrungkuy (Nourlangie Rock), a 1.5 hour loop through a former Aboriginal shelter with painted stories, finishing at Gunwarrdehwarrde Lookout.

Heads up: Maguk, Jim Jim and Twin Falls need a 4WD, and access can stay closed well into the dry season, so check the Kakadu Access Report. Only swim in signed croc-safe areas.

Kakadu is huge, so the route matters, and our Darwin to Kakadu weekend road trip splits it up for both 2WD and 4WD!

5. Darwin to Katherine (NT)

Distance: 480km one way
Time needed: 3 to 4 days
Best time: May to September
Vehicle: 2WD
Good for: Anyone who’d rather float in warm water than brave a cold plunge

Warm thermal pools are a very different kind of swimming hole, and our pick is Bitter Springs for how natural it feels.

We spent a couple of days around each spring and still wished we had longer. Mataranka’s water is so clear that snorkelling feels like looking through glass.

Highlights

• Bitter Springs, where you drift downstream on a floatie through crystal clear thermal water, with little caves near the top where we spotted long-necked turtles.
• Mataranka Thermal Pool, a clear, warm pool with steps and concrete edges inside Elsey National Park, easy to reach but busy with tour buses by mid morning.
• Katherine Hot Springs, natural thermal pools in tropical forest right in town, free to enter, with picnic areas, BBQs, toilets and a playground.
• Nitmiluk Gorge canoe tour, a half-day paddle that shows you just how vast the Katherine Gorge system is.
• Edith Falls (Leliyn), a couple of waterfalls and natural pools linked by a walking trail, with easy swimming in the lower pool.
• Baruwei Lookout, a good viewpoint over the Nitmiluk gorges if you don’t have time for a canoe tour.

Heads up: Check Parks NT for closures and water levels, because the springs can shut for floods or crocodiles. Swim only in signed areas.

Prefer your swimming warm? The Top End hot springs weekend itinerary maps every float, stay and drive between them!

6. West MacDonnell Ranges (NT)

Distance: 280km loop
Time needed: 3 days
Best time: April to October
Vehicle: 2WD
Good for: Swimmers who’d take red cliffs over crocs and don’t mind the cold

These are some of the best waterholes Australia’s Red Centre has to offer, and none of them hold crocs. They’re all a short drive apart, so you won’t spend much time behind the wheel.

Every one is freezing even in warm weather. When we visited Ellery Creek the water was so low that we used it as a picnic stop instead.

Highlights

• Ormiston Gorge waterhole, a waterhole sitting under massive red gorge walls, with a campground, hot showers and a kiosk right beside it.
• Ellery Creek Big Hole, a permanent waterhole ringed by red cliffs, about 40 minutes from Standley Chasm, with BBQs, a campsite and the 3km Dolomite Walk nearby.
• Glen Helen Gorge, one of the few permanent waterholes in the West Macs, just 10 minutes from Ormiston.
• Ormiston Pound Walk, a loop from the gorge with a shadeless middle section, so start before 9am.
• Standley Chasm (Angkerle Atwatye), an 80m high narrow chasm whose orange walls glow when the midday sun sits directly overhead.
• Tyler’s Pass Lookout, a sunset lookout with sweeping views over Tnorala / Gosse Bluff, ideal for a picnic as the colours change.

Heads up: The waterholes are very cold all year, not just in winter, and summer from December to February is brutally hot. Mobile reception drops out beyond Alice Springs, so download offline maps first.

Heading to Alice? Our West MacDonnell Ranges weekend road trip has the day by day route and a free map to follow!

7. Cairns to Atherton Tablelands (QLD)

Distance: 200km loop
Time needed: 2 to 3 days
Best time: May to November
Vehicle: 2WD
Good for: Families and anyone who’d rather swim under waterfalls than think about crocs

The Waterfall Circuit sits in upland country, so there are no saltwater crocs to worry about at Millaa Millaa or Little Millstream.

Millaa Millaa is one of the most photographed waterfalls in Australia, so go early and you’ll share that wide plunge pool with far fewer people.

Highlights

• Millaa Millaa Falls, a near-perfect 12m curtain of water that drops into a wide, swimmable plunge pool.
• Lake Eacham, a deep, clear volcanic crater lake with a swimming platform, a 3km track around the rim and no crocodiles.
• Little Millstream Falls, a broad, horseshoe-shaped fall in Wooroonooran National Park near Ravenshoe, a short rainforest walk from the car park.
• Zillie Falls and Ellinjaa Falls, two more Waterfall Circuit stops, each a short walk from the road with a viewing platform or a spot to cool off.
• Curtain Fig Tree National Park, a giant strangler fig near Yungaburra with aerial roots hanging in a curtain about 15m tall, reached by boardwalk.
• Yungaburra platypus viewing area, where Peterson Creek is a reliable place to see wild platypus at dawn and dusk.

Heads up: The falls run heavy and can close after wet-season rain, so check Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service alerts. Take care with currents and slippery rocks.

FAQs

Before you go

If the Top End and the Red Centre have you sold, our roundup of 14 must-see NT swimming spots has plenty more places to cool off.

See you on the road, Chris and Bec