Top 10 Iconic Walks in Australia

Any list of Australia’s ten best walks will start an argument. The country is too large and too varied for a definitive ranking, and everyone who hikes here has strong opinions. This isn’t a ranking — it’s a selection of ten walks that between them represent the full range of what Australian hiking offers. Desert, alpine, coastal, rainforest, remote, and accessible. If you’re serious about hiking in Australia, these are the routes worth knowing.

1. Overland Track, Tasmania

The Overland Track is the walk most serious Australian hikers put at the top of their list, and it earns that reputation. The 65km route through Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area takes six days through alpine moorland, ancient rainforest, and glacial valleys of a scale you don’t find anywhere else on the continent. Cradle Mountain at the northern end and Lake St Clair, Australia’s deepest lake, at the southern end bracket a route that changes character daily. Permits are required and numbers are capped during the peak season. Book well in advance.

2. Larapinta Trail, Northern Territory

The Larapinta Trail runs 223km through the West MacDonnell Ranges west of Alice Springs, tracing the ancient spine of Central Australia through gorges, over ranges, and along dry riverbeds that have shaped this country for millions of years. The scale and silence of the desert landscape here is unlike anything on the east coast. The trail is divided into 12 sections and can be walked in stages. Walk it during the dry season between April and October — summer temperatures make it genuinely dangerous. Water management is the central planning challenge; waterholes vary significantly by season and year.

3. Tomaree Coastal Walk, New South Wales

The Tomaree Coastal Walk covers 27km along the coastline of Tomaree National Park in Port Stephens, connecting a series of headlands, beaches, and forest sections that showcase the variety of the NSW coast at its best. The walk passes through several distinct sections, each with its own character. The headland climbs offer wide ocean views, the beach sections are genuinely beautiful, and the forest corridors between them provide enough contrast to keep the walk interesting throughout. Wildlife sightings including dolphins, whales during migration season, and koalas in the coastal scrub are common.

4. Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail, South Australia

The Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail is a 61km five-day walk through Flinders Chase National Park at the western end of Kangaroo Island. It covers some of the most dramatically eroded coastal scenery in South Australia — sheer cliffs, boulder beaches, and the extraordinary rock formations of Remarkable Rocks and Admirals Arch. Wildlife on the island is unusually dense and approachable. Kangaroos, echidnas, sea lions, and fur seals are all regularly encountered. The trail is well designed with good facilities and suits walkers who want a serious multi-day experience without the logistical complexity of more remote routes.

5. Cape to Cape Track, Western Australia

The Cape to Cape Track runs 135km along the coastline of the Margaret River region between Cape Naturaliste and Cape Leeuwin, where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet. The route alternates between clifftop walking with long ocean views, beach sections with heavy sand underfoot, and inland forest passages through karri and jarrah. The 13 sections can each be walked as a day walk or combined into a multi-day through-hike. Spring wildflowers and whale sightings during migration season add to the appeal. Best walked in spring or autumn — the exposed coastal sections are punishing in summer heat.

6. Freycinet Peninsula Circuit, Tasmania

The Freycinet Peninsula Circuit is a 30km multi-day walk that takes in the full character of one of Tasmania’s most recognisable landscapes. The pink granite of the Hazards, the arc of Wineglass Bay seen from the lookout, the secluded beaches of the eastern coastline, and the option to summit Mount Freycinet for views across the peninsula combine to make this a walk that rewards properly rather than just ticking a famous landmark. The circuit is achievable over two to three days and suits a wide range of experience levels. Book campsites in advance during peak season.

7. Great South West Walk, Victoria

The Great South West Walk is a 250km loop beginning and ending in Portland, covering the coastal and river landscapes of Victoria’s far southwest. The route passes through Lower Glenelg National Park, Discovery Bay Coastal Park, and Cape Nelson State Park, taking in the gorge country of the Glenelg River, long stretches of isolated Discovery Bay beach, and the dense forests of the Cobboboonee. It’s one of Victoria’s longest and most varied walks and one of the least crowded. The full loop takes around two weeks. Individual sections can also be walked as day or overnight trips.

8. Jatbula Trail, Northern Territory

The Jatbula Trail is a 62km one-way walk through Nitmiluk National Park, following the western edge of the Arnhem Land escarpment from Nitmiluk Gorge to Leliyn (Edith Falls). The trail passes through sandstone plateau country, monsoon forest, and open woodland, connecting a series of permanent waterholes and cascades that make swimming a genuine part of the experience. The trail carries significant cultural weight — it follows routes traditionally travelled by the Jawoyn people, and is named after Peter Jatbula, a Jawoyn Traditional Owner central to the land rights history of the region. Walk it during the dry season. The wet season makes several sections impassable.

9. K’gari Great Walk, Queensland

The K’gari Great Walk covers 90km through the interior of K’gari (Fraser Island), the world’s largest sand island and a UNESCO World Heritage site. The six to eight day route traverses rainforest growing directly from sand, passes perched freshwater lakes including the extraordinary Lake McKenzie, and crosses the sand blows and coloured sand cliffs of the island’s eastern flank. The Butchulla people have lived on K’gari for thousands of years and the walk passes through country with deep cultural significance. It’s a genuinely unusual walk — the combination of sand, rainforest, and fresh water lakes in one landscape exists nowhere else on Earth.

10. Bibbulmun Track, Western Australia

The Bibbulmun Track runs 1,000km from Kalamunda in the Perth Hills to Albany on the south coast, passing through the karri and jarrah forests of the South West, granite outcrops, coastal heath, and some of the most biodiverse plant communities in Australia. Most people walk sections rather than the full end-to-end, which takes six to eight weeks. A well-maintained network of three-sided shelters spaced roughly a day’s walk apart makes logistics manageable without carrying heavy camping loads. The spring wildflower season transforms the heathland sections into something remarkable. It’s one of the great long walks of the world, not just Australia.

These ten walks cover most of what makes Australian hiking distinctive — the scale, the remoteness, the variety of landscape, and the cultural depth of country that has been walked for tens of thousands of years. They’re a starting point. For the full range of Australian trails by state, difficulty, and duration, the Trail Hiking Australia trail directory has more than 3,800 listings to explore.