Can you travel Australia without a car?
YesNearly everything we sell picks you up from your accommodation.
Yes, and it is the normal way to do most of what people come for. 21 of the 25 Tasmanian trips we sell pick you up from your accommodation, and 13 of 16 in Western Australia. The Red Centre, Kakadu, the Great Ocean Road, the reef and the Whitsundays are all reached without driving. Where a car helps is the quiet corners — the Flinders Ranges, the far south-west, stopping where nobody else does. Where it is no use at all is K'gari, the Gibb River Road and anything unsealed.
Checked on 6 October 2026.
People assume Australia needs a car because it is big. The size is exactly why it doesn't: the distances are too long to drive for most trips, so the whole industry is built around collecting you and bringing you back.
Where it works without any compromise
- Tasmania.21 of our 25 trips there include accommodation pick-up in Hobart or Launceston. Port Arthur, Bruny Island, Wineglass Bay and Cradle Mountain are all day trips that collect you.
- The Red Centre.Uluru, Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon are 450km from Alice Springs and there is no public bus. Everyone takes a trip, drivers included.
- The Top End.Kakadu, Litchfield and Katherine Gorge all run from Darwin with transfers.
- Melbourne and Sydney.The Great Ocean Road, the Blue Mountains, Phillip Island and the Hunter Valley all pick up from city accommodation.
- The reef and the Whitsundays.Boats, which a car doesn't help with.
- The east coast.Bus passes between the towns, with the big days run by boat and 4WD — see bus pass or campervan.
Tasmania without a car
This is the one people ask about most, and the answer is that it barely changes the trip. Twelve day trips leave Hobart and every one collects you. The multi-day loops drive the island for you. The only thing you lose is stopping on a whim: which on an island this size matters less than you would think.
| Trip | Length | Starts and finishes | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 Day Tasmania Tour | 5 days, 4 nights | Hobart / Hobart | $939 |
| 2 Day Best of Tasmania Tour | 2 days, 1 night | Hobart / Hobart | $299 |
| 3 Day Best of Tasmania Tour | 3 days, 2 nights | Hobart / Hobart | $449 |
| 1 Day Launceston to Hobart | 1 day | Launceston / Hobart | $209 |
| 1 Day Bruny Island Tour | 1 day | Hobart / Hobart | $175 |
The one-way day between Hobart and Launceston is the clever one — it replaces a transfer with a day out.
Perth and Western Australia without a car
13 of our 16 Western Australian trips include Perth CBD pick-up, including every run north to Exmouth and Broome. Within Perth itself, Rottnest is a ferry from Fremantle and Fremantle is a train from the city. The gap is the far south-west. Margaret River is three hours away and the day trip is the only way to reach it without driving.
| Trip | Length | Starts and finishes | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Day Margaret River, Chocolate, Nougat, Wine and Coastal Tour | 1 day | Perth / Perth | $259 |
| 1 Day Pinnacles & Star Gazing Tour | 1 day | Perth / Perth | $169 |
| 4 Day Perth to Monkey Mia | 4 days, 3 nights | Perth / Perth | $1299 |
| 7 Day Perth to Exmouth & Return | 7 days, 6 nights | Perth / Perth | $1699 |
| 6 Day Margaret River & Esperance Tour | 6 days, 5 nights | Perth / Perth | $1299 |
Where a car is no use
- K'gari.No sealed roads, and standard hire agreements exclude the island. You need a 4WD trip or a tag-along convoy either way.
- The Gibb River Road.600km unsealed with river crossings. Not a hire car road.
- Karijini.Gorge country on unsealed approaches.
- The reef and the Whitsundays.Boats.
- Uluru.You can drive, but the park walks start before dawn and the only accommodation is Yulara — there is more on that on our Alice Springs to Uluru page.
Where a car does help
the quiet corners. The Flinders Ranges, the far south-west of WA, the back roads of Tasmania, and anywhere you want to stop for an hour because it looked good. If that freedom is the point of your trip, hire one — and there is an honest comparison of driving against the alternatives on our do you need a 4WD page.
The practical checklist
- Check the pick-up list.Most trips collect from named hotels and hostels; if yours is not on it, the meeting point is usually a short walk.
- Pick-ups are early.Six to seven in the morning is normal, and that is how a day trip covers 450km.
- Cities have good public transport.Sydney's ferries, Melbourne's trams and Perth's trains are all normal fares, not tourist services.
- Internal flights do the long legs.Nobody drives Sydney to Perth.
Where this comes from. Pick-up arrangements, start and finish points, trip lengths and prices are each trip's own details as held on its page here, and prices update on their own. The counts of trips including pick-up are taken across every trip we sell in each state.