Climbing Uluru has been prohibited since 26 October 2019.
The Anangu, the traditional owners, had asked visitors not to climb for decades. The route crossed a path of spiritual significance associated with ancestral beings, people had died on it — at least thirty-seven — and the Anangu felt responsible for each death on their country. When the park board, which has an Anangu majority, voted unanimously to close it in 2017, the closure was set for the anniversary of the 1985 handback of the title deeds.
The date matters. The chain that used to run up the face has been removed and the scar of the route is slowly weathering. What replaced it is a ten-kilometre base walk, which takes three or four hours, passes waterholes, caves and rock art, and shows you far more of the rock than the top ever did.
Ask before photographing certain sections. Signs mark the areas where the Anangu ask that no images be taken, because the sites relate to knowledge restricted by gender or initiation, and the request is straightforward to honour.
One company, one town
There is nowhere else to stay. Yulara, the township twenty kilometres from the rock and just outside the national park boundary, is the only settlement, and every hotel, shop, restaurant, petrol pump and campsite in it belongs to a single operator — Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia, owned since 2011 by the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation.
So the choice is not between locations. It is between four properties in one village, at price points set by one owner, and there is no alternative within hundreds of kilometres.
Several well-known options here are tented camps, which this guide excludes as a category. That removes the most expensive accommodation at Uluru from the list below.
The rock and the domes
Uluru is a sandstone inselberg rising 348 metres, and most of it is underground — the formation continues for kilometres below the surface. The colour change at sunrise and sunset is iron oxide in the surface layer catching low-angle light.
Kata Tjuta, thirty-five kilometres west, is a group of thirty-six conglomerate domes, the tallest around 546 metres, and the Valley of the Winds walk through them is better than anything at Uluru itself and far less visited.
Kings Canyon, three hours north, has a rim walk around a 100-metre sandstone gorge.
The four below are all in Yulara.
Yulara
The only township.
Sails in the Desert occupies the largest property in the village with a pool, a spa, several restaurants and the only rooms with a view of the rock from some of them.
Sails in the Desert
Yulara · 4★ · $$$$
The fullest property in the village, some rooms facing the rock
Check availabilityDesert Gardens Hotel sits among native gardens with a pool and a lookout, at a lower rate and with a quieter tone.
Emu Walk Apartments occupies a set of self-contained apartments with kitchens, which works for families and longer stays.
The Lost Camel Hotel sits as the simplest of the four with a pool, straightforward rooms and the best value in the village.
The Lost Camel Hotel
Yulara · 4★ · $$$
The simplest of the four, at the village's best rate
Check availabilityWhat we have left off
The tented camps outside Yulara are excluded as a category, along with the campground. Between them they hold the most expensive and the least expensive beds at Uluru.
What to do
Walk the base of Uluru, all ten kilometres, starting at first light. Most visitors see the rock from a sunset car park and never touch it.
Go to Kata Tjuta and do the Valley of the Winds, which is harder, emptier and more striking than the base walk.
See sunrise at Uluru and sunset at Kata Tjuta, rather than the reverse, which is what everyone does.
Take a guided walk with an Anangu guide through the cultural centre, which is the only way to hear the Tjukurpa accounts of the sites from the people they belong to.
Look up. The park sits under some of the darkest skies on earth and the Milky Way is startling.
Practical notes
Ayers Rock Airport at Yulara has direct flights from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Cairns and Alice Springs. Alice Springs is about four and a half hours by road.
May to September is the season, with cold nights and warm days. Summer regularly exceeds 40 degrees and walks close by mid-morning. Flies are constant in the warmer months; a head net costs very little and is worth it.
Park entry is a separate ticket valid for three days.
Every hotel bookable at Uluru
Can you climb Uluru?
No. The climb closed permanently in October 2019 at the request of the traditional owners, after decades of asking.
Why is there only one place to stay?
Yulara is the only township and every business in it is owned by one operator. There is no alternative nearby.
Is Kata Tjuta worth it?
The Valley of the Winds walk is better than anything at Uluru and considerably quieter.
How many nights?
Three. One for Uluru, one for Kata Tjuta, one for Kings Canyon or a rest.