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When is the best time to visit Darwin and Kakadu?

Q: When is the best time to visit Darwin and Kakadu?

May to September, the dry season, is the time to visit Darwin and Kakadu. Darwin averages 1.1mm of rain in July against 432mm in January. The dry means open roads and swimmable waterfalls; the wet means closed tracks and dramatic empty country.

May to September — the dry season — and the difference is extreme. Darwin gets 1.1mm of rain in July and 432mm in January. The dry means open roads, every waterfall swimmable and comfortable nights; the wet means closed tracks and spectacular, empty country.

Checked on 6 October 2026.

The Top End has two seasons and they could not be more different. The temperature barely moves all year — it is between 30 and 33°C every single month — so the thing that changes is the water, and it changes everything.

Darwin month by month

Month	Average top	Average overnight	Rain	What it gives you
January	31.8°C	24.9°C	432.1 mm	The heart of the wet — storms, waterfalls in flood, country at its greenest.
February	31.5°C	24.8°C	372.2 mm	Still monsoonal. Scenic flights over flooded Kakadu are extraordinary.
March	32.0°C	24.6°C	310.7 mm	The wet easing. Everything is still green and still running.
April	32.8°C	24.1°C	102.4 mm	The turn. Roads reopening and the falls still full.
May	32.1°C	22.2°C	20.2 mm	The dry arrives. Falls still flowing, tracks open, nights cooler.
June	30.8°C	20.0°C	1.7 mm	The pick of the year. Dry, 20°C nights, everything accessible.
July	30.7°C	19.3°C	1.1 mm	Driest and coolest. Peak season, and it earns it.
August	31.5°C	20.3°C	4.5 mm	Excellent — still dry, warming slightly, good swimming.
September	32.7°C	23.0°C	16.8 mm	Warm and dry, with the crowds starting to thin.
October	33.4°C	25.0°C	69.7 mm	The build-up — hot and humid, with the first storms.
November	33.4°C	25.4°C	146.5 mm	Dramatic storm skies and the start of the big rain.
December	32.8°C	25.4°C	255.5 mm	Green, wet and the quietest and cheapest time to go.

Bureau of Meteorology averages for Darwin Airport, over 84 years.

What the seasons do to Kakadu

The dry, May to September

Everything is openthe gorges, the 4WD tracks, Jim Jim and Twin Falls.
Swimming holes are checked and openwhich in this heat is the whole point.
Nights drop to around 20°Cso camping is comfortable rather than endurance.
It is peak seasonso book earlier than you otherwise would.

The wet, December to March

The waterfalls are at full forceand a scenic flight over a flooded Kakadu is something almost nobody sees.
Everything is greenand the birdlife is at its densest.
Some tracks closethe deeper 4WD routes especially — so the itineraries work around them.
Far fewer people and better pricesand the storms themselves are worth watching.

So when would we book?

June or Julyif you can pick freely — dry, cooler nights, and everything accessible.
Mayfor the best of both: the falls still running and the tracks already open.
August or Septemberif you want the dry with slightly fewer people.
December to Marchfor green country, dramatic skies and the lowest prices — just expect some tracks to be shut.