Things to do in Kakadu National Park
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Kakadu National Park
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Yegge into Wurrgeng: the dry season builds, tracks progressively open, and a Taste of Kakadu runs in May.
Wurrgeng peak dry: most sites open including Jim Jim and Twin Falls, coolest nights, biggest crowds and highest prices.
Gurrung build up: heat rises, Cahills Crossing crocodiles and Mamukala geese peak, and southern sites close from about October.
Wet season and tropical summer: flooding closes most 4WD tracks, heat and humidity are extreme, and the park runs on the access report.
What's on
- A Taste of Kakadu 23 to 25 May 2025
Indigenous food and culture festival with a ground oven feast at Bowali, bush tucker walks and a dinner under the stars.
- Mahbilil Festival Late August or early September
Mirarr led music, dance, bush food and art festival in Jabiru, held with the Kurrung Sports Carnival.
Best things to do in Kakadu National Park
Ubirr
Layered rock art galleries an easy walk from the car park, topped by Kakadu's best sunset lookout over the floodplain.
Burrungkuy (Nourlangie)
The essential sealed road rock art circuit, with the Lightning Man gallery and strong interpretation throughout.
Bowali Visitor Centre
The correct first stop in Kakadu, for landscape and culture displays, park passes and what is actually open today.
Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre
Traditional Owner led interpretation of Bininj and Mungguy culture that makes the rock art sites mean far more.
Yellow Water Cruises
Kakadu's signature wetland cruise from Cooinda, with crocodiles, jabiru and lotus lagoons, best at dawn or sunset.
Guluyambi Cultural Cruise
A Bininj guided cruise on the East Alligator River, with a guided stop on the Arnhem Land bank in the dry season.
Cahills Crossing
Watch saltwater crocodiles ambush fish at high tide, but only from the elevated viewing platforms, never the causeway.
Mamukala Wetlands
A shaded bird hide and easy walk where tens of thousands of magpie geese gather in the late dry season.
Where to stay in Kakadu National Park
Jabiru
services, Ubirr and the East Alligator River
The park town, with the supermarket, bakery, fuel and Bowali Visitor Centre, and the closest base for Ubirr and Cahills Crossing.
Cooinda
Yellow Water and the southern waterfalls
A lodge and campground on the Kakadu Highway at the Yellow Water departure, and the practical base for Burrungkuy and the south.
Mary River floodplains, western edge
luxury floodplain safari
Private station country west of the park, home to Bamurru Plains and its airboat and wildlife program, far from the rock art sites.
Best restaurants in Kakadu National Park
Mimi's Restaurant
Cooinda Lodge's sit down restaurant and the closest thing to a special dinner on the Cooinda side of the park.
Manjmukmuk Restaurant and Bar
The Crocodile Hotel restaurant in Jabiru, the default cooked dinner in town without getting back in the car.
Barra Bistro and Bar
Cooinda's casual bistro by the pools, doing pub style meals for lodge guests, campers and passing day visitors.
Kakadu Bakery
Jabiru's working bakery and the best cheap eat in the park, for pies, rolls and coffee before a long drive.
Outdoor things to do in Kakadu National Park
Jim Jim Falls
Kakadu's biggest waterfall and plunge pool, reached by a long corrugated 4WD track and a boulder walk, dry season only.
Twin Falls
A boat shuttle and boardwalk into a sheer gorge, dry season and 4WD only, with no swimming in the gorge itself.
Maguk
A clear plunge pool under a small fall, via a 4WD track and monsoon forest walk, and Kakadu's best loved swim when open.
Gunlom Falls
Lower plunge pool and upper infinity pools above an 85 metre fall, reopened in July 2025 after a six year closure.
Nawurlandja Lookout
A short steep climb to sunset over Anbangbang Billabong, Burrungkuy rock and the Arnhem Land escarpment.
Best hotels in Kakadu National Park
Mercure Kakadu Crocodile Hotel
Jabiru's main hotel, crocodile shaped with a pool and art gallery, the practical top end in town rather than luxury.
Anbinik Kakadu Resort
Aboriginal owned resort in tropical gardens, with suites, cabins and bush bungalows walking distance from Jabiru plaza.
Aurora Kakadu Lodge and Caravan Park
Jabiru's budget workhorse, with powered and unpowered sites, cabins, a lagoon pool and a bistro under the trees.
Cooinda Lodge Kakadu
The base that makes Yellow Water work, with lodge rooms, villas and ensuite glamping tents beside the cruise departure.
Cooinda Lodge Campground
Powered and unpowered camping beside Cooinda Lodge, the best cheap base for a sunrise Yellow Water Cruise.
Bamurru Plains
Kakadu's one genuine luxury stay, an all inclusive safari lodge on private Mary River floodplains west of the park.
Is Kakadu National Park expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | A$140 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | A$320 a person |
| Splurge | A$950 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Yellow Water Cruises: a few days ahead
- Guluyambi Cultural Cruise: a few days ahead
- Kakadu Air Scenic Flights: a few days ahead
- Mercure Kakadu Crocodile Hotel: weeks ahead
- Anbinik Kakadu Resort: weeks ahead
- Aurora Kakadu Lodge and Caravan Park: a few days ahead
- Cooinda Lodge Kakadu: weeks ahead
- Cooinda Lodge Campground: a few days ahead
- Book dry season rooms, glamping, powered sites, Yellow Water sunrise and sunset cruises and scenic flights weeks ahead.
- Bamurru Plains is a small seasonal lodge and needs booking months ahead.
Is Kakadu National Park safe?
- Saltwater crocodiles live throughout Kakadu: never swim in billabongs, rivers or crossings, and keep back from every water's edge.
- Swim only at a designated managed plunge pool that is open and signed that day, and obey all crocodile warning signs.
- Never touch rock art, follow photography signage, keep alcohol out of restricted areas, and accept cultural closures without argument.
- Carry at least 1 litre of water per person per hour of walking, start at first light, and avoid driving at dawn, dusk or night.
Kakadu National Park travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- A day trip from Darwin shows almost none of Kakadu: stay at least 3 nights and split them between Jabiru and Cooinda.
- Do not build a wet season day around a 4WD waterfall: Jim Jim, Twin Falls, Maguk and Gunlom are normally road closed then.
Getting around Kakadu National Park: public transport and more
- You need your own vehicle or a tour: there are no taxis, buses or trains inside Kakadu, and Darwin is about 2.5 to 3 hours away.
- Fill up in Jabiru or at Cooinda whenever you pass a bowser, and never start the Jim Jim, Gunlom or Maguk tracks on a partial tank.
- Assume no reliable mobile coverage outside Jabiru, and check the Kakadu Access Report every morning before setting out.
Who Kakadu National Park suits
| Solo travellers | OK |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Kakadu National Park your trip
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