What time do Uluru tours start and finish?
Most of our Uluru trips leave Alice Springs at 5:30am, or pick you up at Ayers Rock between 1pm and 2pm. Finish times are the part that catches people out — they run from 9am at Yulara to about 6:30pm back in Alice Springs.
Checked on 5 October 2026.
Nearly everyone asking us this is really asking one thing: which flight can I book? So here are the actual times, and then what they mean for the flight you are about to pay for.
Start and finish times, trip by trip
| Trip | Starts | Finishes | Length | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Day Uluru Safari | Yulara / Uluru, 1–2pm | Yulara / Uluru Airport, approx 12pm | 2 days, 1 night | $679 |
| 3 Day Uluru Budget | Alice Springs or Ayers Rock | Alice Springs, 6:00–6:30pm | 3 days, 2 nights | $729 |
| 3 Day Uluru Adventure | Alice Springs 5:30am, or Ayers Rock 1–2pm | Alice Springs, approx 6pm | 3 days, 2 nights | $759 |
| 4 Day Uluru Adventure | Alice Springs 5:30am, or Ayers Rock 1–2pm | Yulara, 9am | 4 days, 3 nights | $819 |
Times for the remaining Uluru trips are on their own pages — ask us and we will check them against the operator's run sheet before you book a flight.
So which flight can you book?
Flying out of Ayers Rock Airport (AYQ)
- The 4 Day Uluru Adventure finishes at Yulara at 9am. There are free airport shuttles from the Desert Gardens Hotel, so a mid-morning flight works — but a 9:55am departure leaves under an hour from finish to gate. If there is a later flight that day, take it.
- The 2 Day Uluru Safari finishes at Yulara or the airport itself at about 12pm, so anything from early afternoon is comfortable.
Flying out of Alice Springs
- The 3 Day Uluru Adventure gets back about 6pm and the 3 Day Uluru Budget between 6:00 and 6:30pm. Both are too late for a same-day flight — book the next morning and a bed for the night.
Flying in on the day the trip starts
- Joining at Ayers Rock, pick-up is between 1pm and 2pm, so you need to be on the ground by about 1pm.
- Joining at Alice Springs, departure is 5:30am — that means arriving the night before. There is no flight that gets you there in time.
If your flight lands inside the pick-up window rather than before it, tell us the flight number when you book and we will check it against the operator's run sheet rather than guessing.
The trips these times belong to
People also ask
- Where do you sleep on an Uluru tour — a swag or a tent?
- What meals are included on an Uluru tour?
- What is the difference between the Uluru Adventure, Safari, Budget and Tour?
- Where exactly is the Alice Springs pick-up point?
Where these times come from. Each operator's own departure and finish sheet, as held on that trip's page here. Prices are the current from price and update on their own. Times can change with the season — the date at the top is the last time we checked them.