How Long Does It Take To Walk Around Uluru? [We Did It]

The base walk around Uluru is 11km (including side paths to caves and waterholes) which means at a gentle walking pace of 5km/h it will take around 2 hours and 12 minutes to complete the walk. Fitter walkers (6 km/h) should complete in 1 hour and 50 minutes.

Before completing the Uluru base walk, we had lots of questions about how difficult it was, especially given we had a toddler with us as extra weight!

In this post, I set out to answer all the questions we had before walking around Uluru, using the research I did before we set out.

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About the Uluru Base Walk

How Far is the Uluru Base Walk?

The walk around Uluru’s base is almost exactly 11km, adding in some extra offshoots to visit caves and waterholes along the route.

The route can also be extended to 13.5km (as we did) to finish at the Uluru-Kata Tjuta Cultural Centre, where there are displays about there are, some stunning Aboriginal are galleries and curio shops and a café (which we needed after a few hours in the heat!).

How Long Does the Uluru Base Walk Take?

Walking the Uluru base walk should take someone of average fitness around 2 hours and 12 minutes, or 2 hours and 42 minutes if you continue on to the Cultural Centre.

Above you can see our splits from the walk (whilst wrangling a 16kg toddler!) and below I have created a table for some approximate times.

Speed/Fitness	Base Walk (11km)	Base Walk Plus Cultural Centre (13.5km)
Slow (4km/h)	2 hr 45 min	3 hr 22 min
Moderate (5km/h)	2 hr 12 min	2 hr 42 min
Fast (6km/h)	1 hr 50 min	2 hr 15 min
Rapid! (7km/h)	1 hr 34 min	1 hr 55 min

Is the Uluru Base Walk Hilly?

No, the Uluru base walk is not hilly.

We walked up 50 metres of elevation over the entire 13.5 kilometre route.

You can see from the graph above how little change there was, with a slight uphill from the car park, then a long dip over a 7 km distance.

Where Should You Start the Uluru Base Walk?

You can start the base walk anywhere you want to, but my suggestion would be to start it at the Mala car park, on the western side of Uluru.

I suggest the Mala car park as it is closest to the Cultural Centre, which makes it the easiest way to extend your walk to finish at the Cultural Centre.

Can You Walk Around Uluru On Your Own?

Yes, you can walk around Uluru on your own, you will just need to get to one of the car parks, either via a tour bus, hop on hop off bus or (if you have a car) by driving yourself.

To get into Uluru-Kata Tjuta park, you will need to buy a pass which costs $38 each per adult, or $50 for an annual pass.

How to Get to the Uluru Base Walk?

There are three options to get to the Uluru base walk:

• Take a tour (see options below)
• Drive yourself
• Use the hop on hop off bus

We used the hop on hop off bus (timetable and cost here), which was cheaper than a scheduled tour and gave us more flexibility than hiring a car (as we could be dropped off and picked up from different locations).

Uluru Base Walk Tours

There are lots of ways you can take a tour around the base of Uluru, but here are a couple of the best

Uluru Base Walk FAQ

Can You Climb Uluru?

No, you cannot climb Uluru.

Out of respect for the traditional owners of the land, the Anangu people, climbing Uluru was stopped on 26th October 2019.

Uluru is an important sacred site for the Anangu, and they have made their home here for thousands of years. The climb was closed to respect their traditions, but also their belief that their role as owners of the land to protect the people on it. Around 37 people had been killed doing the Uluru climb, something that did not sit well with Anangu elders.

What to Pack for the Uluru Base Walk

The most important things to pack for the Uluru base walk are:

• Sturdy footwear
• Clothing that will protect you from the sun (such as a long-sleeved t shirt)
• A hat
• Sunglasses
• A fly net (the flies can get bad around Uluru at certain times of year)
• A water bottle
• Sun screen

Check out my full post >>> A Complete Guide of What to Pack for Uluru

Taking Photographs on the Base Walk

It may surprise you (it did us) that you cannot take photographs everywhere on the Uluru base walk.

There are signs around the walk, indicating areas which are so sacred that they are not allowed to be viewed elsewhere, only in their original form.

This is not something I’d come across in an outdoor area before, only in places such as cathedrals, which is a good comparable, as both are being done for sacred purposes.