Australia
A continent-sized country with a reef you can see from space, a red desert monolith at its heart, two of the world's most liveable cities and wildlife found nowhere else — Australia rewards travellers who fly between its parts rather than trying to drive them.
A country you fly across,
not drive through
Australia is roughly the size of the mainland United States with a population smaller than Mumbai's metropolitan region, and almost all of it lives on the coast. That single fact explains the shape of every good Australian itinerary: the cities are on the edges, the icons are thousands of kilometres apart, and the distance between them is a domestic flight rather than a road. Sydney to Uluru is about the same as Delhi to Chennai; Cairns to Perth is further than Delhi to Dubai.
What you get for that scale is variety no single European country can offer. Sydney has a harbour city built around an opera house and a steel bridge. Melbourne is laneways, coffee and sport. Queensland has the Great Barrier Reef, the oldest surviving rainforest on earth and the white sand of the Whitsundays. The Red Centre has Uluru, which is not a rock so much as a presence. Tasmania is cool, green and wild; Western Australia is empty beaches, quokkas and whale sharks; the Top End is crocodiles, waterfalls and Aboriginal rock art that is older than the pyramids.
For Indian travellers the practicalities are unusually easy. Non-stop flights run from Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru to Sydney and Melbourne. English is the language. Cards work everywhere. Vegetarian food is straightforward in every city, and Indian food in particular is everywhere in Sydney and Melbourne. The seasons are reversed, which means the Indian summer holiday falls in Australia's winter — and Australia's winter is exactly when the Reef, Uluru and the tropical north are at their best.
When is your Australia?
Australia is in the southern hemisphere, so its seasons are the reverse of India's — and it is large enough that the tropical north and the temperate south are at their best at opposite times of the year.
How to Explore the World
Six ways to find your next journey — by map, by moment, or by the feeling you are chasing.
Explore the world continent by continent, country by country — every place mapped to the right season.
The landmarks that define a journey, from ancient sites to natural marvels worth crossing the world for.
Beyond the headline sights — the quiet streets and local secrets our specialists know first-hand.
Each destination timed to its finest moment, so you arrive when it is at its very best.
Direct routes, visa-on-arrival and e-Visa options that make the world more reachable than you think.
Use any destination as a starting point — every journey is shaped entirely to your taste.
Australia visa — what you need to know
Indian passport holders need a visa before travelling to Australia. For a holiday, a cruise, or to visit family and friends, the visa is the Visitor visa (subclass 600) in its Tourist stream, applied for online through ImmiAccount while you are outside Australia. It is decided by the Department of Home Affairs in Australia; there is no embassy interview and nothing is stamped in your passport.
Australia has two quick electronic visas — the Electronic Travel Authority (subclass 601), applied for in an app, and the free eVisitor (subclass 651). Both are limited to listed passports, and India is on neither list. The department's own ETA page says other passport holders may be eligible for a Visitor (subclass 600) visa. So if a website offers Indian travellers an "Australia ETA", it is not the official channel; the correct route is the subclass 600 through ImmiAccount.
This is a temporary visa and the department decides the stay period case by case. In its own words: "Generally, we grant a stay period of 3 months. We might grant a stay of up to 12 months in certain circumstances." It can be granted with single or multiple entry, and only the grant letter and VEVO tell you which. You cannot extend it from inside Australia; you would have to apply for another visa. A round-trip cruise from an Australian port counts as time spent in Australia and does not reset the stay period.
If you are the parent or step-parent of an Australian citizen or permanent resident and meet all the visa criteria, the department may grant a visa valid for more than 12 months. It considers these case by case. Such a visa allows multiple entries, but you cannot stay more than 12 months in total in any 18-month period, and you must have made adequate arrangements for health insurance. Say in the application that you are requesting a longer visa, and provide proof that your child is an Australian citizen or permanent resident.
You must be outside Australia when you apply and when the visa is decided, and the department's instruction is explicit: "Do not arrange to travel to Australia until we let you know, in writing, that we have granted you the visa." It may decide your application without asking you for anything further, which is why the file should be complete when you submit it. You may be asked to provide biometrics or to have a health examination; the department will tell you if so.
For all Australia journeys we design, we prepare your complete visa documentation package — the forms, the supporting documents, the sequence of submission. Our visa specialists help travellers prepare complete applications with careful document guidance. Final visa decisions always remain with the relevant authorities.
You are liable for all your healthcare costs while in Australia, and the department strongly recommends adequate health insurance. India has no reciprocal healthcare agreement with Australia, so travel insurance with medical cover is the practical answer. On this visa you cannot work; you can study or train for up to three months.
Travel Australia intelligently
Australia is safe, orderly and easy — the mistakes travellers make are about distance, sun and what they carry through customs.
Australia travel FAQ
The questions Indian travellers ask most often before booking Australia.
Australia for every kind
of traveller
The country divides naturally into regions that are each a flight apart. A first trip picks three; a second trip comes back for the rest.
The harbour city almost every trip starts in — the Opera House, the bridge, the ferry to Manly, the coastal walk from Bondi to Coogee — with the Blue Mountains and the Hunter Valley vineyards within a day.
Laneways, street art, serious coffee and the country's sporting capital, with the Twelve Apostles along the Great Ocean Road and the penguin parade at Phillip Island as the two classic day trips.
Cairns and Port Douglas in the north for the outer reef and the Daintree rainforest together; the Whitsundays further south for Whitehaven Beach, Hill Inlet and island resorts.
Sunrise and sunset over Uluru, the base walk around it, the Valley of the Winds through the domes of Kata Tjuta, and Kings Canyon's rim walk if you have a third day.
Australia's island state — cool, green and half wilderness. Cradle Mountain, Wineglass Bay in the Freycinet peninsula, the Bay of Fires, Port Arthur and MONA, the underground art museum in Hobart.
Kangaroos, koalas, wombats, platypus, quokkas and the little penguins are all found only here, and most can be seen in the wild rather than behind glass.
Perth on its river, Fremantle, Rottnest Island, the Margaret River wine and surf region to the south, the Pinnacles desert, and Ningaloo and the Kimberley far to the north.
Darwin, then Kakadu's wetlands, waterfalls and Aboriginal rock art galleries at Ubirr and Nourlangie, with Litchfield's swimming holes closer to the city.
The classic honeymoon is Sydney, a Whitsundays island and Uluru. The classic family trip is Sydney, the Gold Coast theme parks or Cairns, and Melbourne with Phillip Island.
Tell us how many nights you have, whether children are travelling, and whether the Reef, the desert or the cities matter most, and our travel designers will shape the route around the flights.
How far in advance
should you book Australia?
The visa has no published processing time, so it sets the clock. After that, the Reef islands, Uluru and Tasmania are the parts of the country with the least capacity.
Apply for the Visitor visa (subclass 600) through ImmiAccount with a complete file. No processing time is published, so start early.
Non-stop to Sydney or Melbourne from Delhi, Mumbai or Bengaluru. Fly into one and out of the other to avoid backtracking.
Reef island resorts, Uluru accommodation and Tasmania's lodges sell out first, especially in the dry season and the Indian summer holidays.
Sydney and Melbourne have deep hotel capacity and can be added later; then thread the domestic flights between the three.
What to pack
for Australia
A reef morning, a desert night and a Melbourne winter evening can all fall in one fortnight, so pack in layers and pack for the sun before anything else.
Australian voltage is the same as India's but the plug is different — a flat three-pin Type I. One adapter with a multi-socket board charges everything. And leave the homemade snacks at home; anything you do carry must be declared at the border.