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Australia & New Zealand

Australia

A whole continent for one trip — reef, rock, cities and kangaroos

Flight from India
12 hrs
Currency
AUD
Best months
Sep – Mar
Visa
e-Visa

The place

Australia is the only trip on our list where the destination is an entire continent, and it behaves like one. Sydney and Melbourne could be two different countries — one built around the most photographed harbour on earth, the other around coffee, laneway art and an obsession with sport. Fly three hours north and you are floating over the Great Barrier Reef, the largest living structure on the planet. Fly three hours inland and Uluru turns deep red at sunset in the middle of a desert the size of Western Europe.

The practical surprise is the seasons: they are upside down. When India is heading into winter, Australia is heading into summer, which is exactly why September to March is the window — beach weather in Sydney, warm evenings on the Gold Coast, and the reef at its clearest before the northern wet season peaks. It is also a long-haul trip that does not feel like one once you land: English everywhere, superb roads, and cities that are genuinely easy with children.

It is not a cheap country, and we will not pretend otherwise — a flat white costs what a full lunch costs in Bangkok. What you get for the money is a trip with no compromises: clean, safe, spectacular, and different every single day. Budget honestly, use the visa timelines we give you, and Australia rewards every rupee.

Best months

Best time to visit

The months in gold are when Australia is at its best — weather, crowds and price together.

  • January: high 27°C, low 19°C. Light showers. Recommended month to travel.
  • February: high 27°C, low 19°C. Wet. Recommended month to travel.
  • March: high 25°C, low 17°C. Wet. Recommended month to travel.
  • April: high 23°C, low 14°C. Light showers.
  • May: high 20°C, low 11°C. Light showers.
  • June: high 17°C, low 9°C. Wet.
  • July: high 17°C, low 8°C. Light showers.
  • August: high 18°C, low 9°C. Light showers.
  • September: high 20°C, low 11°C. Light showers. Recommended month to travel.
  • October: high 22°C, low 13°C. Light showers. Recommended month to travel.
  • November: high 24°C, low 16°C. Light showers. Recommended month to travel.
  • December: high 26°C, low 18°C. Light showers. Recommended month to travel.

Gold = best months to travelDroplets = how wet the month isHigh / low °C

Holiday Packages

Holidays here

See all
A tree-covered coastline meeting clear blue-green reef water, seen from above on the Queensland coastNew10N / 11D · Flights included

Grand East Coast: Sydney, Reef & Melbourne, 10 Nights

Sydney 3N · Cairns 3N · Melbourne 4N

The full east coast in one sweep — Sydney’s harbour and the Blue Mountains, three nights in Cairns with a day on the outer Great Barrier Reef and the Kuranda rainforest railway, then Melbourne for the Great Ocean Road, the Phillip Island penguin parade and a free day in the laneways. International and both internal flights included, private transfers throughout.

from₹2,91,935per personView details

*Indicative — final price confirmed on live availability.

The white sail roofs of the Sydney Opera House beside the blue water of Sydney Harbour in daylightNew5N / 6D

Australia Taster: Sydney & Gold Coast, 5 Nights

Sydney 3N · Gold Coast 2N

Australia in one honest first bite — the Opera House and a harbour cruise, a day up in the Blue Mountains, then a short flight north to the Gold Coast for surf beach mornings and a full day at Movie World. Land package: international flights are priced separately so you can burn miles or catch a fare sale.

from₹86,451per personView details

*Indicative — final price confirmed on live availability.

Worth your days

What to do

  • Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House photographed from the air, with ferries crossing the harbour

    Sydney Harbour, done properly

    The Opera House and the Harbour Bridge are the postcard, but the harbour itself is the attraction — take the public ferry to Manly for the price of a bus ticket and you get the skyline, the heads and a surf beach in one ride. Book the Opera House interior tour rather than just photographing the outside; the concert hall is the point.

  • A tree-covered coastline meeting clear blue-green reef water, seen from above on the Queensland coast

    The Great Barrier Reef from Cairns

    Day boats run from Cairns to pontoons moored on the outer reef, where the coral is healthiest. Snorkelling is included and needs no experience; an introductory dive can be added on the boat. Pick the outer-reef operators over the cheaper inner-reef ones — the extra hour of sailing buys dramatically better coral.

  • The limestone sea stacks of the Twelve Apostles rising out of the surf along the Great Ocean Road

    The Great Ocean Road and the Twelve Apostles

    A full-day run from Melbourne along a coast road built by returned soldiers after the First World War, ending at the limestone stacks of the Twelve Apostles. Go clockwise to be on the ocean side of the road, and time the stacks for late afternoon when the light hits them side-on. Koalas doze in the gum trees at Kennett River on the way.

  • A kangaroo sitting on open ground in the warm light of sunset

    Kangaroos and koalas, in the wild

    Skip the sad roadside zoos. Kangaroos graze wild at dawn and dusk on golf courses and headlands all along the east coast, and sanctuaries like Currumbin on the Gold Coast rehabilitate injured animals rather than performing with them. Phillip Island near Melbourne has the penguin parade — hundreds of little penguins waddling ashore at sunset, every single night.

  • The Blue Mountains

    Ninety minutes west of Sydney, a sandstone plateau split by eucalyptus valleys whose oil haze really does turn the air blue. Echo Point looks straight at the Three Sisters rock formation, and Scenic World runs the steepest passenger railway in the world down into the rainforest. Cooler than Sydney by several degrees — carry a layer even in summer.

  • Melbourne’s laneways and coffee

    Melbourne hides its best addresses down alleys: street art in Hosier Lane, espresso bars in Degraves Street, bookshops and bars stacked up vertical arcades. There is no single monument to tick off — the city itself is the attraction, best covered on the free City Circle tram with stops wherever something smells good.

Indicative

What it costs

Spending money on the ground, per person per day — food, local transport and entry tickets outside your package.

Shoestring

₹5,500

a day, per person

Street food, public transport, one paid sight

Comfort

₹12,000

a day, per person

Sit-down meals, taxis, a tour or two

Luxury

₹32,000

a day, per person

Fine dining, private car, premium experiences

Visa

Visa snapshot

Visa type
e-Visa
Fee
₹11,500
Processing
25 working days
Stay up to
90 days
Entry
Multiple
Documents you need
6 items
The Visitor visa (subclass 600) is applied for entirely online through ImmiAccount — there is no sticker in the passport and no embassy visit for most applicants, though biometrics at a VFS centre can be requested. Processing is genuinely variable: many applications clear in two to three weeks, some take six or more in the Indian holiday rush, so apply at least six weeks before travel. The grant is usually multiple entry over one year with 90 days per stay. The fee shown includes our service charge and is indicative — the AUD government fee moves with the exchange rate.
Full visa detail

Practicalities

Know before you go

What to eat

Vegetarian or Jain? Safe picks here: Vegetarian is easy, and labelled, Lamingtons, pavlova and Tim Tams, For a Jain traveller.
  • The Aussie brunch

    Australia’s real national cuisine is breakfast: smashed avocado on sourdough, ricotta hotcakes, and coffee taken more seriously than anywhere outside Italy. A flat white was arguably invented here. Cafés close by mid-afternoon, so do as the locals do and make brunch the big meal.

  • Fish and chips by the water

    Barramundi or flathead, battered, with chips, eaten on a harbour wall while defending it from seagulls — this is the country’s honest fast food. Doyles at Watsons Bay in Sydney is the famous version; every coastal town has a cheaper one just as good.

  • Vegetarian is easy, and labelledVegetarian

    Every menu in the big cities marks vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free by law-abiding habit, and the standard is high — this is one of the easiest long-haul countries for a vegetarian family. Indian restaurants are everywhere; Harris Park in Sydney is effectively a Gujarati-Punjabi food street.

  • Lamingtons, pavlova and Tim TamsVegetarian

    The sweet canon: sponge cubes rolled in chocolate and coconut, a meringue cake piled with cream and fruit that New Zealand also claims, and the chocolate biscuit every returning traveller is ordered to bring home. All three are vegetarian; supermarket Tim Tams are the standard gift.

  • For a Jain travellerJain friendly

    Big-city Indian restaurants cook Jain with a day’s notice, and self-catering is genuinely practical — serviced apartments are common and supermarkets stock everything from paneer to theplas in the world-foods aisle. The reef day and the Great Ocean Road day are the two to pack for; we arrange Jain meal boxes on both.

Set a meal preference — vegetarian, Jain or halal — when you book and we brief every hotel and restaurant on your itinerary.

What to bring home

  • Tim Tams, Vegemite and macadamias from any Woolworths or Coles — the standard gifts, at supermarket prices
  • Aboriginal art bought ethically: look for the Indigenous Art Code logo and a certificate naming the artist and community
  • Merino wool and UGG boots — check the label, the name is not protected and imports abound
  • Australian skincare and sunscreen; the local SPF 50+ standard is stricter than most countries
  • Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne and The Rocks weekend market in Sydney for one-off souvenirs
  • Opals from the outback fields — buy solid stones with certification, not cheaper doublets, if it is an investment

Getting around

Distances are the thing to respect: Sydney to Cairns is further than Delhi to Chennai, so internal legs are flown, not driven, and the domestic network — Qantas, Virgin, Jetstar — is frequent and reliable. Inside the cities, Sydney runs on the Opal card across ferries, trains and buses, and Melbourne on Myki trams, with a free tram zone covering the city centre. Taxis are expensive; Uber and Didi work everywhere. Hiring a car is only worth it for the Great Ocean Road or the hinterland — they drive on the left, Indian licences are accepted with an English printout, and speed cameras are merciless.

Good to know

  • The sun is the real hazard, not the wildlife. The UV index hits extreme on days that feel mild — SPF 50+, a hat and rash vests for children are daily equipment, not beach equipment.
  • Swim only between the red-and-yellow flags on patrolled beaches. Rips carry away confident swimmers, and the flags mark where lifeguards have already checked the water.
  • In North Queensland, marine stingers make the sea unswimmable outside netted enclosures roughly November to May, and estuaries there are crocodile habitat — obey every sign, however casual the locals seem.
  • Wildlife is genuinely dangerous only if handled: do not feed kangaroos, do not touch anything in a rockpool, and shake out shoes in the outback. Snake and spider incidents among tourists are vanishingly rare.
  • Distances kill more visitors than animals do. On a self-drive, fuel up before every long leg, avoid driving at dawn and dusk when kangaroos cross, and never push on tired — towns can be two hours apart.
  • Australia’s biosecurity checks are the strictest you will meet: declare every food item including packaged snacks, theplas and spices. Declaring is free; not declaring is a fine that starts at several hundred dollars.

Travel Guide

Read the full travel guide

Month-by-month weather, money, plugs, food, shopping and the small things nobody tells you.

Australia travel guide
Australia holidays — packages, visa and best time to go · Dreamvacaa