Visitor Information

Tourism Top End runs the official visitor center, 6 Bennett St. (at Smith St.), Darwin, NT 0800 (tel. 1300/138 886 in Australia or 08/8980 6000; www.tourismtopend.com.au). There is also a visitor center at Darwin Airport (tel. 08/8927 7071). They can make bookings and provide you with maps, national park notes, and information on Darwin and other regions throughout the Northern Territory, including Arnhemland, Katherine, and Kakadu and Litchfield national parks.

City Layout

The city heart is the Smith Street pedestrian mall. One street over is the Mitchell Street Tourist Precinct, with backpacker lodges, cheap eateries, and souvenir stores. Two streets away is the harborfront Esplanade. The Wharf Precinct underwent a massive redevelopment in 2009, with a new swimming lagoon with a wave pool and artificial beaches, new apartment and retail blocks, a convention center, and two new hotels. The Medina Grand Darwin Waterfront and its neighboring sister property, Vibe Darwin Waterfront, are linked by a covered walkway right into the heart of the city, just minutes away. The precinct, which also encompasses a couple of preexisting tourist attractions, a jetty popular with fishermen, and a working dock, is now linked to the city center by an elevated walkway from the top of one of the hotels. Cullen Bay Marina is a hub for restaurants, cafes, and expensive boats; it's about a 25-minute walk northwest of town. Northwest of town is Fannie Bay, where you'll find the Botanic Gardens, the sailing club, a golf course, a museum and art gallery, and the casino.

Tours of Darwin

The Tour Tub bus (tel. 08/8985 6322; www.tourtub.com.au) does a loop of major city attractions and hotels between 9am and 4pm daily. Hop on and off all day for A$40 for adults, A$15 for children 4 to 7, or A$90 for a family of four (which includes entry fee to the World War II oil storage tunnels). A 2-day pass is A$55 adults. Your ticket will also get you discounts to some attractions. The bus departs the Knuckey Street end of Smith Street Mall every 70 minutes. Buy your tickets on board (cash only). The bus does not run in December or on Good Friday and New Year's Day.

By Taxi -- Darwin Radio Taxis (tel. 13 10 08) is the main cab company. Taxi stands are at the Knuckey Street and Bennett Street ends of Smith Street Mall.

Getting Around

By Car

For car and four-wheel-drive rentals, call Avis (tel. 08/8936 0600), Budget (tel. 08/8981 9800), Europcar (tel. 08/8941 0300), Hertz (tel. 08/8941 0944), or Thrifty (tel. 08/8924 0000).

By Bus

Darwinbus (tel. 08/8924 7666; www.buslink.com.au) is the local bus company. A A$2 adult or A50¢ child bus fare gives unlimited travel for 3 hours. A Show&Go ticket gives unlimited bus travel for 1 day for A$5 or for a week (valid for 7 days from purchase) for A$15. The city terminus is on Harry Chan Avenue (off Smith St., near Civic Sq.). Get timetables there, or from the Tourism Top End visitor center.

Darwin Day Tours (tel. 1300/721 365 in Australia, or 08/8923 6523; www.darwindaytours.com.au) also has a range of sightseeing tours.

Getting There

Qantas (tel. 13 13 13 in Australia; www.qantas.com) serves Darwin daily from Alice Springs, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, Sydney, and Canberra, either direct or connecting through Alice Springs. Virgin Blue (tel. 13 67 89 in Australia; www.virginblue.com) flies direct to Darwin from Brisbane, Melbourne, and Perth with connections from other cities and regional centers. Jetstar (tel. 13 15 38 in Australia; www.jetstar.com.au) flies from Melbourne, Cairns, Brisbane, Sydney, and Adelaide. Tiger Airways (tel. 03/9335 3033; www.tigerairways.com.au) flies from Melbourne. Airnorth (tel. 1800/627 474 in Australia, or 08/8920 4000; www.airnorth.com.au) flies from Broome and Kununurra in Western Australia and from Mount Isa in Queensland. Skywest Airlines (tel. 1300/660 088 in Australia or 08/9477 8301; www.skywest.com.au) flies from Broome.

Darwin Airport Shuttle Services (tel. 08/8981 5066; www.darwinairportshuttle.com.au) meets every flight and delivers to any hotel between the airport and city for A$12 one-way or A$18 round-trip adults, or A$8 one-way, A$14 round-trip for children aged 5 to 12. Bookings are only necessary for city-airport transfers. A cab to the city is around A$35. Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz, and Thrifty have airport desks.

Greyhound Australia (tel. 1300/473 946 in Australia; www.greyhound.com.au) makes a daily coach run from Alice Springs. The trip takes around 22 hours, and the fare is A$366. Greyhound also has a daily service from Broome via Kununurra and Katherine; this trip takes around 27 hours and costs A$378.

The Adelaide-Alice Springs-Darwin railway line is the Top End's only rail link. Great Southern Railway's Ghan (tel. 13 21 47 in Australia; www.gsr.com.au) runs a twice-weekly round-trip, leaving Adelaide on Sundays and Wednesdays at 12:20pm and Alice Springs on Mondays and Thursdays at 6pm. The return trip leaves Darwin on Wednesday and Saturday mornings. The adult one-way fare is A$716 for a "day-nighter" seat, A$1,372 for a sleeper, A$1,973 for a first-class sleeper, more for Platinum Class, which has cabins around twice the size of standard Gold Twin Cabins, each with a double bed, en-suite bathroom, and 24-hour room service.

Darwin is at the end of the Stuart Highway. Allow at least 2 long days, 3 to be comfortable, to drive from Alice. The nearest road from the east is the long and dull Barkly Highway, which connects with the Stuart Highway at Tennant Creek, 922km (572 miles) south. The nearest road from the west is Victoria Highway, which joins the Stuart Highway at Katherine, 314km (195 miles) to the south.

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