Transfers from Alice Springs Airport
 

Hi, can someone please tell me how far (in minutes) is the Alice Springs Airport from town and how much does it cost? If I'm travelling with a party of 5, will it be more economical to take a taxi? Also, has anyone stayed in Desert Rose Inn in Alice? Any comments?

We're going to Alice Springs for the first time next month. So I don't claim to be any kind of expert on local transportation but I will tell you what we are doing. We have a family of six and our travel agent arranged for a private van of some kind to pick us up at the Alice airport. I don't know the cost as it was lumped in with some other expenses. Most regular taxis can't handle five people. Especially with luggage but even without. Unless Alice Springs has London size taxis or lots of minivan taxis, you may be stuck taking two cabs. In which case, another transportation method might work out cheaper. Hope someone else with more local knowledge can help you out.

Hi Hsu,
check with Desert Rose.
Most motels/hotels supply or at least can arrange airport transfers.
Enjoy,
Mike

Hi Hsu,
The last time we were in Alice we hired hire cars rather than taxi's. They are much the same price (hard to believe) we found the service to be better & cars do not come with plastic coverings on the seats.
We had some wonderful drivers who would go out of their way to suggest things for us to see. Make sure you visit the Panaroma Gaff (something like this) a wonderful art gallery & we are not into art. The airport is quite a way out of Alice. Maybe a 15 minute drive, there is very little traffic on the roads.
A good idea is to catch the tourist bus which runs around Alice. You hope on & off at verious points of interest throughout the day. The desert park is worth a 1/2. day visit .Enjoy

Hi Hsu,

The current shuttle bus transfer from the airport to town is A$13.00 for adults. It can be rather frustrating if there is a full bus as it can take a long time to get to your accommodation depending on where it is.

I believe the shuttle buses are economical for single travellers but for a group of 5 you would be better off hiring a private hire car or even two private hire cars the cost is usually in the A$28.00 range. Definitely aviod using the taxi's in Alice Springs they are predominantly used by less than desirable people with quite disgusting personal hygiene.
That is why the taxi seats are covered in clear plastic.

The Desert Rose is a moderate class motel basically at the base of Anzac Hill, not much else to say about it really.

Cheers

Paul_S

I second Paul's remarks about not using the taxi's in Alice. Our experience was that the driver's personal hygiene was lacking as well.

We used a car service for the rest of the trip. Our driver, "Tiny," was at least 6'6" and 300 lbs. He drove a Holden (Chrysler) sedan that easily held 4 of us. He was a young guy, very knowledgable about the area and full of laughs. My kids are still talking about how cool he was.

Alice is a small place and it won't take more than 5 or 10 minutes to get from one side of town to the other.