Get FREE email communications from Fodor's Travel, covering must-see travel destinations, expert trip planning advice, and travel inspiration to fuel your passion.
Shopping in Alice Springs is all about Aboriginal art and artifacts. Central Australian Aboriginal paintings are characterized by intricate patterns of dots—and are commonly called sand paintings because they were originally drawn on sand as ceremonial devices.
From bush poetry and traditional bush tucker recipes to anthropological texts on Indigenous people and their culture, Red Kangaroo Books has has an excellent selection of fiction and nonfiction books that encompass the region’s history, arts, flora, fauna, and geology, as well as a range of travel offerings.
Supporters of the Aboriginal artists of Central Australia since 1987, the Mbantua Art Gallery’s shop houses some of the best samples of Indigenous art in Alice Springs. Learn more about this fascinating culture at the Gallery’s Cultural Museum, where you can see boomerangs, spears, paintings, and other artifacts and objects.
This Indigenous-owned and governed art center represents 150 artists from the remote Walungurru (Kintore) and Kiwirrkura communities. Founded in Papunya in 1971, the the pioneering artists of Papunya Tula brought national and international acclaim to Australian Aboriginal art. The flagship gallery continues to showcase a curated selection of artworks by the Western Desert’s finest.
Stop by the gallery to explore two floors full of artwork by local painters, who typically work from the on-site studio. Finished pieces can also be purchased online through the website.
Held every second Sunday from 9 am until 1 pm from March to December, these markets feature more than 100 stalls of local arts, crafts, and food, which are displayed while musicians entertain.
