Lisa

Where is the best place to stay when visiting Uluru and the surrounding area? <BR>Should we camp or stay in one of the resorts? <BR>We want accomodation that gives the best experience of this special area and luxury os not a priority

marg

The only place to stay near Uluru is at the township of Yulara which is about 20 minutes drive from Uluru. Yulura is pretty small - you can walk around it easily. It has a camping ground (which I think has some cabins) and a good range of accommodation ranging from five star (Sails in the Desert) to apartments and a three star hotel, plus restaurants, shops etc. There is no other accommodation for miles and miles. <BR>While you are there, make sure you go to the Olgas (Kata Juta) - the walk through the Valley of the Winds is great. Also in the vicinity is Kings Canyon - the walk around the canyon rim is spectacular. Both of these walks take about three hours - make sure you take some water, sunscreen and a hat. You could try these websites - www.ntholidays.com.au or www.nttc.com.au <BR>

Gary

Agree with posted remarks above. <BR> <BR>I was there in August last year and Boy is that rock HUGE when you get close. Allow yourselves plenty of time ( 2 - 3 hours) to climb - look , rest and come down again. PS Belive it or not even though its Cntral Australia and gets hot - when we were there I shivered as the winds felt like coming out of a fridge. E N J O Y

tina

hi lisa, <BR>agree with marg. i think it's best to take a camping safari. it'll give you a really good taste of the area, plus it'll keep the cost of traveling to that area down. lodging and car rental in yulara is really expensive, even for basic accomodations. kings canyon was also great, a beautiful hike with a chance to go swimming in the garden of edens (couldn't tell you how clean that water is, but that's another story...). we went with sahara outback tours. they were fine. i would fly to ayers rock airport and start the tour from there, as it's a 6 hour ride from alice springs, plus most tours end in alice springs anyway. <BR>cannot recommend the hike up uluru though. it's disrespectful to the aboriginal people to climb it and i have to respect that. we did the base walk and that gave me a better idea of the sheer size of the rock, plus we got to see all the different, interesting textures of the rock. very cool.