SA destination named one of world’s best for 2026
A remote and spectacular destination in South Australia’s far north has made a prestigious list of the world’s top 25 places for travel. See the pictures and watch the video.
The state’s Ikara-Flinders Ranges and outback took out fourth spot on the Lonely Planet list, revealed on Thursday.
It is the only Australian destination to make the cut for 2026.
“There’s an otherworldly beauty to the Ikara-Flinders Ranges that is unlike anywhere else in the Australian outback,” the travel publisher writes in its new Best of Travel 2026 guide.
It points out that the region five hours north of Adelaide is often bypassed in favour of the better-known Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park or Western Australia’s Kimberly.
“Located at the heart of this treasured national park, the impressive Ikara (Wilpena Pound) – a vast natural amphitheatre of mountains, with a cratered rim measuring a staggering eight times the size of Uluru – begs to be explored by air or on foot,” the publisher writes.
The Flinders Ranges were nominated for a tentative listing as a World Heritage in 2022 and the bid features the region’s Nilpena Ediacara National Park which is home to 550-million-year-old fossil beds, some of the oldest in the world.
The South Australian Government invested $4 million in the 2025-26 state budget to expand the Nilpena Ediacara National Park.
The traditional owners, the Adnyamathanha people, tell stories of how the area’s ancient landscape was created through their strong ties to the land. More recent history includes its oldest town, Melrose, and the Prairie Hotel at Parachilna.
SA’s Tourism Minister Zoe Bettison said the coveted listing confirms what South Australians already know.
“South Australians know the Flinders Ranges & Outback is one of the world’s best destinations, and now it’s official,” she said.
“Being named a top destination by Lonely Planet brings Ikara-Flinders Ranges global recognition on a monumental scale and comes as it moves one step closer to a UNESCO World Heritage listing.”
Prairie Hotel owner Ross Fargher’s family arrived in the Flinders Ranges in the 1860s, and he says the multi-generational stories from families like his, along with the rich history, Aboriginal custodianship and pastoral heritage, make the top spot “memorable”.
“Sharing the ancient and rugged beauty of this incredibly diverse landscape has always been important to me, as well as my commitment to the protection of the fossils and the significance of the Nilpena site,” Ross says.
“I have always felt it imperative to share my passion for the Ikara Flinders Ranges both locally and internationally.”
Lonely Planet also spotlight that the area “offers the Aussie outback on a plate” – on show through the Prairie’s famous pub fare.
Ross and his wife Jane have run the Parachilna pub since 1991, also bringing the flavours to the city in a North Adelaide venue and spotlighting the region through the Tasting Australia festival in recent years.
The much-loved pub celebrates native ingredients and seasonal produce, such as Kangaroo fillet, emu mignon and camel sausage with red wine native pepper leaf jus – also known as the famous FMG (feral mixed grill).
“[It] offers the Aussie outback on a plate – literally. The feral and native bush food (kangaroo, camel and goat) are spun into wild outback pub classics that can be washed down with a cold one from their onsite brewery,” Lonely Planet writes.
Lonely Planet goes on to describe the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park as a “patch of South Australia [that] delivers drama and awe in equal measure”.
“Emus and kangaroos outnumber humans here, and sunrises and sunsets hit differently as pink, red and purple hues dance and skip across the dramatic landscape, creating an incredible intensity of shape and colour,” the guide says.
In 2022, the Flingers Ranges was nominated for a tentative listing as a World Heritage on behalf of the South Australian government and the area’s traditional owners, the Adnyamathanha people.
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It is home to significant fossil deposits, and was dubbed “one great outdoor museum” by 20th-century explorer and geologist Douglas Mawson.
“More than 600 million years old, the Flinders Ranges is one of Australia’s magnificent landscapes,” SA environment minister Susan Close said in 2022.
“The fossils and geology of the region are particularly fascinating, displaying the history of our planet and the evolution of life on Earth.
“Some of this critical evidence includes the world’s finest example of the Ediacaran explosion of life when the earliest forms of complex multicellular animal life evolved.”
The wider region is also home to the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary, an official International Dark Sky Sanctuary.
“Other stargazers travel by 4WD to Streitberg Range, where they’re guided through the night sky by telescope before falling asleep under the stars in swags, uniquely Australian tents,” Lonely Planet says.
Wilpena Pound is a magnificent natural amphitheatre and the centrepiece of the Flinders Ranges National Park. Photo: Getty
Top spot on the annual list went to Botswana, which the travel publisher said promised “dramatic wildlife sightings that serve as your own personal theatrical event”.
“You’ll see tonnes of wildlife no matter what time of year you choose to visit,” it writes.
“The Okavango Delta is often touted as Botswana’s must-see attraction – and it is an awesome natural spectacle to be present during the annual flooding of the world’s largest inland delta … a huge part of the appeal is the sheer wonder and beauty of the delta, though there’s plenty of game here, too.”
Botswana’s Okavango Delta is a haven for wildlife. Photo: Pexels
Peru – described as “ancient ruins and modern cities; it is deep traditions and pioneering cuisines” – rounded out the top three.
“No place in South America seems to be racing so fast toward the future while also carving out space and time to honour its illustrious past quite like Peru,” Lonely Planet says.
“Visit in 2026 to appreciate updated infrastructure, mind-bending meals, time-warping citadels and newly protected wild-lands.”
While the SA destination is the only Australian spot on the annual list, there are plenty of other Aussie favourites in Asia and the Pacific.
They include Phuket in Thailand, Siem Reap in Cambodia and Qui Nhon in Vietnam. Others that don’t require a marathon flight to reach include the Solomon Islands and the entire North Island of New Zealand.
