6 guides, each rated 1 to 5 with the reason — and two lists per place, where you are comfortable and where to pay attention. Nowhere is called dangerous; the specific thing is what helps.
Heat is what actually hurts people here — walks close at 11am in summer for good reason, and three litres of water per person is the official minimum, not a suggestion. Climbing Uluru has been prohibited since 2019 out of respect for Anangu law, and it is enforced. Flies are relentless from September; buy the net hat and stop being proud about it.
Comfortable: Yulara · Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park
Walking the base in the middle of the day, which is why the park closes trails above 36°C
Carrying less than three litres of water per person, which is the park’s stated minimum
Driving between Yulara and Alice at dawn or dusk, when the camels and kangaroos are on the road
Very safe. The mountains make their own weather and it changes in an hour — people die on the Overland Track in summer clothes. Log your walk, carry layers, and watch for wildlife on the roads after dark, which is when most of it moves.
Comfortable: Hobart · Launceston · the east coast towns · the national parks in daylight
the Overland Track in summer clothes — the mountains make their own weather and people have died in it
driving at dusk and after dark — this is when the wildlife moves and the roads are unlit
the west coast surf — cold, powerful and unpatrolled
walking without logging your intentions — the registers at the trailheads are what a search starts from
A safe city. The usual late-night caution around King Street and the clubs on a weekend, and the trams take priority over everything — the hook turn, where cars turn right from the left lane, catches every visiting driver.
Comfortable: the CBD · Fitzroy · Carlton · St Kilda · Southbank
King Street late on a weekend — the one strip where the drinking turns into trouble
the trams — they stop in the middle of the road and passengers step out in front of cars
the sun in summer — the UV here burns in twenty minutes and the forecast gives an index for a reason
Safe and low-key. The sun is the real hazard — the UV index here is among the highest measured anywhere, and burning takes about fifteen minutes in the summer. Swim between the flags; the rips on the open beaches are strong.
Comfortable: the CBD · Northbridge by day · Fremantle · Cottesloe · Subiaco
Northbridge in the small hours — the city’s one late-night strip and where the drinking is
unpatrolled beaches — rips are strong on this coast and the flags mark the only watched water
the sun — among the highest UV measured anywhere; burning takes about fifteen minutes
driving north or east without water — the distances are enormous and the phone signal stops
Crime is not the issue here; the environment is. Do not swim in the sea between November and May without a stinger suit — irukandji and box jellyfish are genuinely dangerous. Never swim in rivers or estuaries anywhere in the far north, because saltwater crocodiles are present and the warning signs are not decorative. The sun is brutal, and reef trips burn people through cloud.
Comfortable: Cairns Esplanade · Palm Cove · Port Douglas · Trinity Beach
Swimming in the sea from November to May, when box jellyfish and irukandji make it unsafe — the stinger nets and the Esplanade lagoon are why
Crocodiles in every estuary and creek north of Rockhampton, including ones with no sign
Cairns Esplanade — and Lake Street at closing time
The ratings are this site's own, from the guides' authors and the corrections readers send in; they are not an index. Read the general advice in travel safety tips.
