What is Coober Pedy like, and how do you visit?
It is a town where people live underground to escape the heat, and the opal capital of the world. You visit it on the way between Adelaide and Uluru rather than as a destination — the seven-day runs stop overnight and you sleep in an underground dorm. From $1,305.
Checked on 6 October 2026.
Coober Pedy sits on the Stuart Highway about halfway between Adelaide and the Red Centre, in country so hot that much of the town is dug into the hillsides. It is not somewhere you fly to — it is the reason the overland run between Adelaide and Uluru is worth doing by road.
What is actually there
- Underground homes. Original dugouts you can walk through, built by miners who worked out that living in a hole was cooler than living on top of one.
- The opal. It is the opal capital of the world, and the trips include learning how opals form and going noodling — fossicking through the mine tailings for stray gems.
- An underground bunkhouse to sleep in, which is the part people remember. Five-share dorms cut into the rock.
- The landscape around it — salt flats and the Breakaways, which look like nowhere else on earth and have stood in for other planets in films.
The trips that stop there
| Trip | Length | Route | Where you sleep | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 Day Uluru to Adelaide Tour | 7 days, 6 nights | Uluru / Adelaide | Real bush camping | $1305 |
| 7 Day Adelaide to Uluru Tour | 7 days, 6 nights | Adelaide / Yulara | Real bush camping | $1505 |
Both include a night at Coober Pedy. Prices update on their own.
These two seven-day runs are the ones built around the drive. They also take in the Flinders Ranges, Wilpena Pound, Kings Creek Station and Uluru itself — Coober Pedy is day three or day five depending on the direction.
The shorter Adelaide to Uluru runs
Five and six day trips make the same journey faster, using an overnight coach for part of it. They are cheaper and quicker; they do not give you the night underground.
| Trip | Length | Route | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 Day Adelaide to Uluru | 5 days, 4 nights | Adelaide / Alice Springs | $1039 |
| 5 Day Uluru to Adelaide | 5 days, 4 nights | Alice Springs / Adelaide | $1039 |
| 6 Day Adelaide to Uluru | 6 days, 5 nights | Adelaide / Yulara or Uluru airport | $1300 |
| 6 Day Uluru to Adelaide | 6 days, 5 nights | Alice Springs or Uluru / Adelaide | $1149 |
Is it worth the stop?
- If you are driving between Adelaide and Uluru, yes — it is the only town of any size on that road and the most interesting thing on it.
- It is not a destination in itself. Nobody flies to Coober Pedy for a holiday, and we do not sell a trip that treats it as one.
- The underground night is the point. If that appeals, take one of the seven-day trips rather than the faster coach runs.
The trips
People also ask
- What trips go from Adelaide?
- How do I get from Alice Springs to Uluru?
- Uluru itinerary — 2, 3, 4 and 5 days
- Where should I go in Australia?
Where this comes from. Each trip's own itinerary and accommodation sheet, as held on its page here. Prices are the current from price and update on their own.