Where the Australian Traveller team think you should travel in 2025

Buckle up for an unforgettable Aussie adventure.

The Australian Traveller team has, unsurprisingly, travelled all around Australia. From sun-drenched coastal havens to the rugged outback, the team has traversed the continent and been in awe of the diverse destinations. There are so many beautiful places to discover, but knowing where to start can be overwhelming. So where should you put on your map for 2025?

Below, the team are using their expert knowledge to highlight where we think you should head this year—the special spots that embody Australia’s beauty and spirit.

Adelaide, SA

Quentin Long, Co-founder

Adelaide Fringe Festival — Adelaide Fringe transforms the city into a cultural playground (Image: joeyjoenes)

Adelaide is the forgotten, overlooked and flown-over Australian city no more. The place that has quietly promised so much for so long is tweaking my antennae as the next Tassie. Known for its embarrassing abundance of food and wine, it’s the kind of place where every pub has a wine list the envy of any Sydney or Melbourne restaurant but a lot is going on beyond just the plethora of gluttony opportunities.

With the incredible success of events like Gather Round, LIV Golf, and the Adelaide Fringe regaining its mojo, Adelaide is just one MONA away from becoming the top destination for Aussies seeking a great, indulgent long weekend away. I want to be part of this before the chattering classes of Melbourne and Sydney arrive and inflate prices by an extra 10-15 per cent.

Sunvale Lodge, Capertee, NSW

Katie Carlin, Head of Content

I’m continuing to lean into off-grid getaways in 2025 and a standout from my travels last year was a couple of nights spent just beyond the Blue Mountains in Capertee at Sunvale – a luxe eco-retreat nestled within the 2428-hectare Turon Gates property.

It’s perfect for group getaways (it sleeps eight people) and is nearly 100 per cent solar-powered (except for the gas stove) and features a large deck with a wood-fired hot tub.

I find being surrounded by the sights and sounds of the Aussie bush such a refreshing experience and the bifold doors in the living area, bedrooms and main bathroom made it so easy to bring the outside in.

Aside from the gorgeous accommodation you get to spend your time kayaking, horse riding and hiking – it’s truly the mid-year refresher you need! I recommend booking in autumn so you can take full advantage of the fireplace and hot tub.

Kakadu National Park, NT

Imogen Eveson, Print Editor

Yellow Water Cruises sunset Kakadu — Join a sunset cruise with Yellow Water Cruises.

A vast living landscape in the Northern Territory’s Top End, Kakadu is Australia’s largest national park. Here, waterfalls tumble over soaring escarpments, floodplains stretch to the horizon, wildlife proliferates and at least 65,000 years of First Nations culture is felt vividly through age-old rock art and contemporary storytelling. It’s a bucket-list-worthy destination in our own backyard. And many of us don’t even realise it.

A cruise of the Yellow Water (Ngurrungurrudjba) wetlands encapsulates all that is magical here: water birds dance in a choreographed ballet. Buffaloes pad along the banks of the billabong. Saltwater crocs lurk in the shallows.

And, with Territory fresh in our minds (scenes from the Netflix hit were filmed here) and ever-expanding ways to experience Kakadu (from new cultural tours to accommodation), now is the time to go. Opt for a dry season adventure (May–October), when most of the top attractions are accessible, or a tropical summer sojourn (November–April), when rains turn the landscape lush and green and scenic flights offer windows over thundering cascades.

The icing on the cake? Kakadu is easily accessible from Darwin – which we’ve recently pegged as Australia’s coolest capital. Get there before the rest of the country cottons on.

Kangaroo Island, SA

Lauren de Sousa, Art Director

If getting back to nature and travelling slowly is high on your list for 2025, a trip to Kangaroo Island is a must for anyone seeking pristine landscape and an abundance of wildlife. Over a third of the island is protected national park, so be prepared for rolling green hills, white sandy beaches, crystal clear water, and plenty of koalas, kangaroos, and sea lions. In fact, it’s the most I’ve seen in the wild anywhere in Australia.

Looking to experience a more adventurous stay? I recommend trying out one of the many great walking trails and hikes on the island (we checked out Remarkable Rocks on the south-west coast of the island). If a little luxury is more your pace, why not stay, dine or relax at the Southern Ocean Lodge, which celebrates local and native products and ingredients.

Be prepared to end each day with a vibrant sunset, enjoying a drink around an outdoor fire pit and sleeping to the sounds of the wild. Overall, total serenity.

Broome, WA

Kassia Byrnes, Native Content Editor

Before heading to Broome, all I really knew about the place was its small size, affinity with camels and pearling history – but there’s so much more to discover. Don’t get me wrong, Cable Beach at sunset is truly magical with classic reds, whites and blues of the land. But add to that actual dinosaur footprints, an ever-growing number of delicious cafes and restaurants, a unique Indigenous history (and a vibrant town that is very open about it) and, of course, a Matso’s Mango Beer and this is hands down the best place in Australia.

The Tweed, NSW

Rachael Thompson, Evergreen Editor

If you’re a foodie, I can’t recommend heading to The Tweed enough. Lush green valleys meet the sparkling coastline in this underrated region, also a culinary destination thanks to its subtropical climate and fertile soils.

There is an abundance of brilliant places to eat and drink, but a few highlights are: Husk Distillery, known for its colour-changing Ink gin; Harvey Cheese, a dairy lover’s dream; and Bistro Livi, which has been recognised as one of Australia’s best regional restaurants. For something special, book an Indigenous Lunch Cruise where you will cruise down the Tweed River while tucking into a two-course bush foods-inspired lunch with local Indigenous flavours.

It’s also worth heading to the region for the Savour The Tweed festival which is slated to run during October/November and will celebrate local produce, chefs, distillers, brewers, and First Nations storytellers.

K’gari, Qld

Emily Murphy, Social Media Manager & Writer

Illumina uses cutting-edge light and sound technology to illuminate the island’s landscape. (Image: Tourism and Events Queensland)

K’gari has always been a favourite destination of mine, with visits in both 2023 and 2024 igniting my love for this special place. But 2025 is the perfect year to rediscover this World Heritage-listed paradise. The launch of Illumina last year has reimagined the island, inviting both first-timers and past visitors to see it in a whole new light – much like Uluṟu after Field of Light. This immersive, storytelling installation, paired with the island’s Butchulla heritage, feels like stepping into a living legend. Add to that the magic of swimming with humpback whales and spotting marine life along its pristine shores, and K’gari is an adventure I can’t wait to revisit.

Red Centre, NT

Elizabeth Whitehead, Senior Writer

At Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park, 550 million years of geological history meet the spiritual landscape of the Anangu people. (Image: Tourism NT)

Most Australians I speak to have travelled all over the world, but comparatively few have been to the Red Centre! I was in this demographic until last year when a last-minute trip to Uluṟu and the Red Centre completely blew me away. This journey to Australia’s spiritual heart was a truly transformative experience and I regret not taking it sooner. I know all the excuses. Yes, it’s far away and remote, but if you can get to Fiji or Bali, you can get to the Red Centre. If you haven’t been yet, no more excuses in 2025!

The Tarkine, Tas

Taylah Darnell, Editorial Assistant

The spectacular Trowutta Arch. (Image: Sean Scott Photography)

If you’re looking for somewhere to rest and recharge amongst nature, you should definitely be heading down to Tassie – particularly the stunning (and mostly crowdless) Tarkine/Takanya region in the state’s north-west. It’s around a three-hour drive from Launceston, which is an adventure in itself thanks to the pit stops along the way. I’d recommend dropping by the Ashgrove Cheese Dairy Door (think a winery, but for cheese). It’s 100 per cent Tasmanian-owned and run by a local family – truly the definition of fresh, hyperlocal produce.

Step out of the car once you reach the Tarkine and you’ll immediately understand why I love this place. With its ancient rainforests, crisp fresh air, craggy coastline and peaceful solitude, it’s a soul-healing kind of place. During my time in the Tarkine, I based myself in the tiny town of Stanley, known for its famed seafood restaurant , cosy BnBs and millennia-old rocky bluff called The Nut. Whether you trek it solo or go with a guide, I can almost guarantee you’ll leave a little piece of your heart here.

Video credit: Visit Victoria/Tourism Australia

The Grampians just might be the ultimate antidote for the metropolis, writes one returning Aussie ready to disconnect from the modern world and reconnect to the Great outdoors.

There are no kangaroos back in Chicago: they’re all here in the Grampians/Gariwerd . In the heart of the Grampians National Park’s main gateway town, Halls Gap, pods of eastern greys are eating grass beside my parked rental car beneath the stars. Next morning, when I see the backyard of my rented villa on the edge of town for the first time, there are kangaroos feeding beside a slow-moving creek, lined with river red gums.

Five hundred metres up the road, 50 or so of them are eating by the side of the road in a paddock. I pull over to watch and spot three emus. Yellow-tailed black cockatoos fly overhead towards the tall green mountains just beyond town.

‘Kee-ow, keee-oww’… their calls fuse with the maniacal cackle of a kookaburra (or 10). Gawd, how I’ve missed the sound of them. Far above, a wedge-tailed eagle watches, and there you go: the ‘great birds of Australia’ trifecta, all half a kay from the town limits.

Exchanging city chaos for country calm

kangaroos near Halls Gap, Grampians National Park — The park is renowned for its significant diversity of native fauna species. (Image: Visit Victoria/Robert Blackburn)

I’ve come to the Grampians to disconnect, but the bush offers a connection of its own. This isn’t just any bush, mind you. The Grampians National Park is iconic for many reasons, mostly for its striking sandstone mountains – five ridges run north to south, with abrupt, orange slopes which tumble right into Halls Gap – and for the fact there’s 20,000 years of traditional rock art. Across these mountains there are more than 200 recorded sites to see, created by the Djab Wurrung, Jardwadjali and Gunditjmara peoples. It’s just like our outback… but three hours from Melbourne.

I’ve come here for a chance at renewal after the chaos of my life in America’s third-largest city, Chicago, where I live for now, at the whim of a relative’s cancer journey. Flying into Melbourne’s airport, it only takes an hour’s drive to feel far away from any concept of suburbia. When I arrive in Halls Gap two hours later, the restaurant I’m eating at clears out entirely by 7:45pm; Chicago already feels a lifetime ago.

The trails and treasures of the Grampians

sunrise at Grampians National Park /Gariwerd — Grampians National Park /Gariwerd covers almost 2000 square kilometres. (Image: Ben Savage)

Though the national park covers almost 2000 square kilometres, its best-known landmarks are remarkably easy to access. From my carpark here, among the cockatoos and kangaroos on the fringe of Halls Gap, it only takes 60 seconds’ driving time before I’m winding my way up a steep road through rainforest, deep into the mountains.

Then it’s five minutes more to a carpark that serves as a trailhead for a hike to one of the park’s best vantage points, The Pinnacles . I walk for an hour or so, reacquainting myself with the smells and the sounds of the Aussie bush, before I reach it: a sheer cliff’s edge lookout 500 metres up above Halls Gap.

walking through a cave, Hollow Mountain — Overlooking the vast Grampians landscape from Hollow Mountain. (Image: Robert Blackburn)

There are hikes and there are lookouts and waterfalls all across this part of the park near town. Some are a short stroll from a carpark; others involve long, arduous hikes through forest. The longest is the Grampians Peaks Trail , Victoria’s newest and longest iconic walk, which runs 160 kilometres – the entire length of Grampians National Park.

Local activities operator Absolute Outdoors shows me glimpses of the trail. The company’s owner, Adrian Manikas, says it’s the best walk he’s done in Australia. He says he’s worked in national parks across the world, but this was the one he wanted to bring his children up in.

“There’s something about the Grampians,” he says, as he leads me up a path to where there’s wooden platforms for tents, beside a hut looking straight out across western Victoria from a kilometre up in the sky (these are part of the guided hiking options for the trail). “There are things out here that you won’t see anywhere else in Australia.” Last summer, 80 per cent of the park was damaged by bushfire, but Manikas shows me its regrowth, and tells me of the manic effort put in by volunteers from town – with firefighters from all over Australia – to help save Halls Gap.

wildflowers in Grampians National Park — Spot wildflowers. (Image: Visit Victoria)

We drive back down to Halls Gap at dusk to abseil down a mountain under the stars, a few minutes’ walk off the main road into town. We have headlamps, but a full moon is enough to light my way down. It takes blind faith to walk backwards down a mountain into a black void, though the upside is I can’t see the extent of my descent.

Grampians National Park at sunset. (Image: Wine Australian)

The stargazing is ruined by the moon, of course, but you should see how its glow lights up the orange of the sandstone, like in a theme park. When I’m done, I stand on a rocky plateau drinking hot chocolate and listening to the Aussie animals who prefer nighttime. I can see the streets of Halls Gap off in the distance on this Friday night. The restaurants may stay open until 8pm tonight.

What else is on offer in The Grampians?

a boat travelling along the Wimmera River inDimboola — Travelling along the Wimmera River in Dimboola. (Image: Chris McConville)

You’ll find all sorts of adventures out here – from rock climbing to canoeing to hiking – but there’s more to the Grampians than a couple of thousand square kilometres of trees and mountains. Halls Gap may be known to most people, but what of Pomonal, and Dimboola, and Horsham? Here in the shadow of those big sandstone mountains there are towns and communities most of us don’t know to visit.

And who knew that the Grampians is home to Victoria’s most underrated wine region ? My disconnection this morning comes not in a forest, but in the tasting rooms and winery restaurants of the district. Like Pomonal Estate, barely 10 minutes’ drive east of Halls Gap, where UK-born chef Dean Sibthorp prepares a locally caught barramundi with lentil, pumpkin and finger lime in a restaurant beside the vines at the base of the Grampians. Husband-and-wife team Pep and Adam Atchison tell me stories as they pour their prize wines (shiraz is the hero in these parts).

dining at Pomonal Estate — Dine in a restaurant beside vines at Pomonal Estate. (Image: Tourism Australia)

Three minutes’ drive back down the road, long-time mates Hadyn Black and Darcy Naunton run an eclectic cellar door out of a corrugated iron shed, near downtown Pomonal. The Christmas before last, half the houses in Pomonal burnt down in a bushfire, but these locals are a resilient lot.

The fires also didn’t stop the construction of the first art centre in Australia dedicated to environmental art in a nature-based precinct a little further down the road (that’s Wama – the National Centre for Environmental Arts), which opened in July. And some of the world’s oldest and rarest grape vines have survived 160 years at Best’s Wines, outside the heritage town of Great Western. There’s plantings here from the year 1868, and there’s wines stored in century-old barrels within 150-year-old tunnels beneath the tasting room. On the other side of town, Seppelt Wines’ roots go back to 1865. They’re both only a 30-minute drive from Halls Gap.

Salingers of Great Western — Great Western is a charming heritage town. (Image: Griffin Simm)

There’s more to explore yet; I drive through tiny historic towns that barely make the map. Still part of the Grampians, they’re as pretty as the mountains behind them: full of late 19th-century/early 20th-century post offices, government offices and bank buildings, converted now to all manner of bric-a-brac stores and cafes.

The Imaginarium is one, in quirky Dimboola, where I sleep in the manager’s residence of an old National Australia Bank after a gourmet dinner at the local golf club, run by noted chef and teacher, Cat Clarke – a pioneer of modern Indigenous Australian cooking. Just south, I spend an entire afternoon at a winery, Norton Estate Wines, set on rolling calico-coloured hills that make me think of Tuscany, chit-chatting with owners Chris and Sam Spence.

Being here takes me back two decades, when I lived here for a time. It had all seemed as foreign as if I’d driven to another planet back then (from Sydney/Warrane), but there seemed something inherently and immediately good about this place, like I’d lived here before.

And it’s the Australian small-town familiarity of the Grampians that offers me connection back to my own country. Even in the better-known Halls Gap, Liz from Kerrie’s Creations knows I like my lattes with soy milk and one sugar. And while I never do get the name of the lady at the local Ampol station, I sure know a lot about her life.

Kookaburras on a tree — Kookaburras are one of some 230 bird species. (Image: Darren Donlen)

You can be a local here in a day; how good is that? In Chicago, I don’t even know who my neighbour is. Though each day at dusk – when the kangaroos gather outside my villa, and the kookaburras and the black cockatoos shout out loud before settling in to sleep – I prefer the quieter connection I get out there in the bush, beneath these orange mountains.

A traveller’s checklist

Staying there

Sleep beside the wildlife on the edge of Halls Gap at Serenity .

Playing there

abseiling down Hollow Mountain — Hollow Mountain is a popular abseiling site.

Go abseiling under the stars or join a guided hike with Absolute Outdoors . Visit Wama , Australia’s first environmental art centre. Check out Dimboola’s eccentric Imaginarium .

Eating there

steak, naan bread and beer at Paper Scissors Rock in Halls Gap — Paper Scissors Rock in Halls Gap serves a great steak on naan bread.

Eat world-class cuisine at Pomonal Estate . Dine and stay at much-revered icon Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld. The ‘steak on naan’ at Halls Gap brewhouse Paper Scissors Rock , can’t be beat.

Dunkeld Arboretum in Grampians National Park — The serene Dunkeld Arboretum.

For Halls Gap’s best breakfasts head to Livefast Cafe . Sip local wines at Great Western’s historic wineries, Best’s Wines , Seppelt Wines and Norton Estate Wines .

two glasses of beer at Paper Scissors Rock in Halls Gap — Sink a cold one at Paper Scissors Rock.