Katherine tours help travellers compare day trips and flights. We compared 13 tours, with prices from $132, free cancellation, and the top tour rated 4.5 with 283 reviews. The money covers a 2-hour cruise through Nitmiluk National Park.
Price from
Ten-minute scenic flight$132
Today's lowest ten-minute scenic flight across all 13 tours
Average rating
All 13 tours46
486 verified reviews across 13 tours
Your day
Shortest to longest40min–14h
Shortest: Nitmiluk Gorge Helicopter
Longest: Katherine Gorge
Thirteen bookable tours
Tours in Katherine are three separate things: a 9-to-14-hour day out of Darwin, a 10-to-100-minute flight from inside the park, or a 4- to 5-day trip. Fares run from $132 for the ten-minute flight to $1,611 for four days.
★ 4.5 · 283 reviews
★ 4.4 · 74 reviews
★ 4.7 · 47 reviews
★ 5.0 · 3 reviews
★ 5.0 · 1 reviews
★ 4.8 · 6 reviews
★ 5.0 · 4 reviews
★ 5.0 · 2 reviews
★ 5.0 · 1 reviews
★ 4.9 · 9 reviews
★ 4.7 · 27 reviews
★ 4.7 · 3 reviews
★ 4.9 · 26 reviews
Two questions
Thirteen listings here, and they are three different things rather than three versions of one. Five are full days, thirteen to fourteen hours of them. Four are helicopter flights from inside the park, ten minutes to a hundred. Four run four or five days. Say which one you are after and we will point at one.
See it before you pay for it
There is no film here: we only publish video we can check, and for these thirteen listings there is none. Four pictures instead — two from a boat, two from a helicopter.
A flat-topped boat heading upstream, sheer walls on both sides. This is what the cruise listings put you on.
White water over a low ledge into a dark pool, seen at eye level from the water.
A light helicopter over the rim, rapids and red walls below. Ten minutes buys you this.
A timber deck on the sandstone, bush on every side. The longer flights land out here, away from the road.
Side by side
Thirteen listings, three different things to buy. These three show what that means: a full day out of Darwin, ten minutes in the air from inside the park, and four days that reach Kakadu and Arnhem Land. The row that decides it is the first one.
Swipe the table sideways →
| TOP PICKKatherine Gorge & Edith Falls Full-Day Tour from Darwin | Katherine Gorge Helicopter Scenic Flight | Darwin: 4-Day Kakadu Katherine & Arnhem Land Comfort Tour | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you are buying | A full day out of Darwin | Ten minutes in the air | Four days out of Darwin |
| Fare per person | $241 | $132 | $1,611 |
| How long the listing runs | 14 hours | 10 minutes | 4 days |
| Starts in | Darwin | Katherine | Darwin |
| Cruise or flight named | A two-hour cruise through Nitmiluk National Park | No boat — the flight itself | A cruise with an Aboriginal guide |
| Places the listing names | Katherine Gorge, Nitmiluk National Park, Edith Falls | Jedda’s Rock, Butterfly Gorge, Lilypond | Kakadu, Katherine Gorge, Arnhem Land |
| Rating | 4.5 out of 5 | 4.8 out of 5 | 4.9 out of 5 |
| Reviews | 283 | 6 | 26 |
| Best for | The gorge and the falls in one day | The lowest fare, from inside the park | Seeing the Top End over four days |
| Book this one→ | Check dates | Check dates |
Free cancellation · Reserve now, pay later
Verdict
At $241 it holds 283 reviews against 74 for the next listing, and that is the clearest evidence on this page. Its description names a two-hour cruise through Nitmiluk National Park, and the day runs 14 hours out of Darwin. The $132 fare here is a ten-minute helicopter flight from inside the park, not a day out.
Check dates and availability→Before you book
Five listings are whole days out of Darwin, 9 to 14 hours long. Four are helicopter flights from inside the park, 10 to 100 minutes in the air. Four more run four or five days and add Kakadu, Litchfield or Arnhem Land, which are separate places from Katherine. Nitmiluk and Katherine Gorge are two names for one gorge. Departure times, meeting points and group size are absent from these descriptions.
Two-minute check
The thirteen split into full days, helicopter flights and trips of four or five days. Answer three questions and this page points at one of them.
Where does your day start?Nine listings leave Darwin, four start in Katherine
How much time can you give it?From ten minutes in the air to five days
What do you want most?This is what really separates the thirteen listings
You’ll get the one that fits your answers, and the thing about it that catches people out.
What the ratings say
Thirteen bookable listings and 486 reviews between them, and more than half of that sits on one tour. Here is what each of the six below actually is.
★★★★★
Based on 486
verified reviews
All thirteen Katherine and Nitmiluk listings, with the ratings left by the people who booked them.
Read all 486→Katherine Gorge & Edith Falls Full-Day Tour from Darwin
From $241 · 283 reviews
★★★★★
283 of the 486 reviews on this page sit on this one, rated 4.5; the next listing has 74. Fourteen hours out of Darwin, with a two-hour cruise through Nitmiluk National Park and a stop at Edith Falls.
Darwin: Katherine Two Gorge Cruise Edith Falls Full Day Tour
From $222 · 47 reviews
★★★★★
47 reviews, rated 4.7. Thirteen and a half hours from Darwin for Katherine Gorge, Nitmiluk National Park and Edith Falls — $19 less than the listing above, on a smaller pile of reviews.
Katherine Gorge Helicopter Scenic Flight
From $132 · 6 reviews
★★★★★
$132 is the lowest fare on this page, and it buys ten minutes in the air rather than a day. A flight from inside the park over the first three gorges and Jedda’s Rock. Rated 4.8 across six reviews.
Katherine Gorge 70 Min Helicopter Tour with remote landing
From $494 · 4 reviews
★★★★★
Rated 5 across four reviews — too few to lean on. Seventy minutes from inside the park over Katherine Gorge and Leliyn Falls, with a remote landing written into the listing, at $494.
Darwin: 4-Day Kakadu Katherine & Arnhem Land Comfort Tour
From $1,611 · 26 reviews
★★★★★
Rated 4.9 across 26 reviews. Four days from Darwin through Kakadu, Katherine Gorge and Arnhem Land — three different places, and only the gorge is Katherine. At $1,611 it is the highest fare here.
Before you trust the stars
All thirteen · worth knowing
★★★★☆
Seven of the thirteen listings carry between one and six reviews each, and five of those show a flat 5. A score standing on one review is not evidence. The 4.6 above is the average across all 486.
What it really costs
Thirteen listings, and not thirteen versions of one trip: minutes in the air above the gorge, a full day out of Darwin, or four to five days across the Top End.
Swipe sideways →
| What you book | Price | How long | What the listing names |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ten minutes in the air | $132 | 10 minutes | The first three gorges, from inside the park |
| A longer flight, with a landing | $305 to $494 | 40 to 100 minutes | Sunset, the falls, or a landing at rock art |
| A full day out of Darwin | $222 to $254 | 13.5 to 14 hours | The gorge by boat, Edith Falls, the drive back |
| The day built around thermal pools | $418 | 13 hours | Thermal pools, the park, a guided boat trip |
| A flight and a boat in one day | $1,102 | 9 hours | A flight out of Darwin, then the gorge by boat |
| Four or five days from Darwin | $1,042 to $1,611 | 4 to 5 days | Kakadu, Litchfield or Arnhem Land, Katherine inside |
The honest answer
Thirteen listings, 486 reviews between them, weighted to 4.6. One listing holds 283 of those reviews; seven hold six or fewer. So the question is less whether to go than which of three very different things you are booking.
Hour by hour
Thirteen listings, three shapes: ten to a hundred minutes in the air, a full day of thirteen to fourteen hours, or four to five days. The fare is the clearest signal of which.
The full-day listings run 13.5 to 14 hours and are written out of Darwin. No description names a departure time or a meeting point, so the booking page is the only authority.
One listing names a two-hour cruise through Nitmiluk National Park. Nitmiluk is the park's name in the language of the Jawoyn people, and the gorge is the same place under both.
Flights leave from inside the park itself: ten minutes over the first three gorges, seventy minutes adding Leliyn Falls, or forty that land at sunset. They are not part of the Darwin days.
Two of the full-day descriptions name Edith Falls, and one of them writes time to relax in the natural plunge pool there. The other listings do not mention it at all.
Five listings name rock art, and the hundred-minute flight lands at a site to see five rock faces with the pilot. One day listing writes learning about ancient Aborigine culture.
The days out of Darwin run 13 to 14 hours door to door. Whichever listing you pick, this is the day rather than something you fit around another plan.
Best time of day
None of these descriptions names a departure time, a month or a season, so the slot you are offered at booking is the slot you travel. The one thing they do fix about the clock is that a sunset flight exists — one of the helicopter listings is sold as a sunset tour that lands inside Nitmiluk National Park. Everything else is decided by which of the three things on this page you buy: a day out of Darwin runs 9 to 14 hours, a flight from inside the park runs 10 to 100 minutes, and the longest trips run four or five days. Read the length before the fare.
On the ground
Five listings name it; one flight lands at a site.
Flights leave from inside the park, not from Darwin.
Ten minutes buys the first three gorges from the air.
One flight is written as a landing at sunset.
What it's like
Thirteen listings are bookable on this page and the fares run from $132 to $1,611. That spread is not thirteen versions of one trip: it is three separate things. Minutes in a helicopter above the gorge, a full day out of Darwin, or four to five days across the Top End. Reading the duration before the price is the fastest way to know which one you are looking at.
The full day out of Darwin is what most people here book. Three of those listings hold 404 of the 486 reviews on this page: 283 at 4.5, 74 at 4.4 and 47 at 4.7. They run 13.5 to 14 hours, and the drive is inside that number. No description names a departure time or a meeting point, so the booking page settles that part.
Nitmiluk and Katherine Gorge are one place, not two. Nitmiluk is the name of the national park in the language of the Jawoyn people, and the gorge running through it is the gorge the listings sell. When a description says Nitmiluk National Park and another says Katherine Gorge, they are describing the same red-walled stretch of river.
Water is the centre of it. One listing names a two-hour cruise through the park; another is written around a two gorge boat trip with what it calls inspiring views. A third day is built on thermal pools and a guided boat trip, and one listing flies you out of Darwin and then puts you on the water. Seven of the thirteen descriptions name a boat.
Edith Falls is named in two of the full-day descriptions, and one of them writes time to relax in the natural plunge pool there. The others do not mention it. That is the difference between two listings that look the same on a results page, and it is worth reading before you choose between them.
The flights are a different purchase entirely. They leave from inside the park rather than from Darwin, and run from ten minutes over the first three gorges to seventy minutes that takes in Leliyn Falls. One flies the full thirteen gorge system and lands at sunset; another lands at a rock art site, where the pilot walks you along five rock faces.
The four and five day listings reach well beyond this gorge. They are written around Kakadu, Litchfield and Arnhem Land, with Katherine as one stop inside a longer loop, and they name rock art, plunge pools and camping. If what you want is this gorge, the long trips are the wrong shape; if what you want is the Top End, the day trips are.
Then the evidence, which is thinner than the ratings make it look. Across the thirteen there are 486 reviews, weighted to 4.6, and one listing holds 283 of them. Seven listings carry between one and six reviews each, and four of those show a 5.0. Read the number beside the rating before you let it decide anything.
While you're here
Two more full days out of Darwin, carrying the most reviews after the top one, and the ten-minute flight that is the lowest fare on this page.
13.5 hours · ★ 4.4 (74)
$254See dates 13.5 hours · ★ 4.7 (47)
$222See dates 10 minutes · ★ 4.8 (6)
$132See datesPractical
Three decisions do most of the work here: whether you are giving this a whole day, a few minutes in the air or most of a week, how thin the evidence behind your listing is, and what the description quietly leaves unsaid.
The $241 day pairs the gorge with Edith Falls and names a two-hour cruise. It carries 283 reviews at 4.5.
The $254 listing is written around a two gorge boat trip and time in the plunge pool at Edith Falls. 74 reviews at 4.4.
The $222 listing names the gorge, the national park and Edith Falls over 13.5 hours, with 47 reviews at 4.7.
The $1,102 day flies out of Darwin, puts you on the water in the gorge, and runs 9 hours. One review so far.
Thirteen to fourteen hours door to door. The drive sits inside that, and no description names where the day begins.
The $132 flight covers the first three gorges, Jedda's Rock, Butterfly Gorge and Lilypond. Six reviews at 4.8.
The $305 flight covers the full thirteen gorge system and lands at sunset somewhere no road reaches. Two reviews.
The $494 flight takes in the gorge and Leliyn Falls in one run. Four reviews.
The $473 flight lands at a rock art site, where the pilot walks you along five rock faces. One review.
All four depart from inside the national park, not from Darwin. Getting yourself there is not covered by any description.
The $1,170 trip is a 4WD camping run through the Top End and Kakadu, naming waterfalls, wetlands and rock art. 27 reviews at 4.7.
The $1,611 trip covers Kakadu, this gorge and Arnhem Land, and names an Aboriginal guide and ancient rock art. 26 reviews at 4.9.
The $1,042 trip runs through Kakadu, Katherine and Litchfield with boat trips and swims, at what it calls a relaxed pace. Nine reviews.
The $1,391 trip adds Arnhem Land and Litchfield, with hiking, rock art and camping under the stars. Three reviews.
These reach Kakadu, Litchfield and Arnhem Land, which are other places. No day listing on this page goes anywhere near them.
No description names a meeting point, a pick-up or a departure time, on a day that can run fourteen hours.
Not one of the thirteen descriptions says whether a meal is part of the fare. The booking page is the only place that answers it.
Nothing in the thirteen descriptions says whether entry to Nitmiluk National Park sits inside the price you pay.
None of the descriptions sets out how many people travel together, or which language the day is run in.
One listing writes its thermal pools as May to November. Beyond that, no description names a month, a season or the weather.
Best time
No description here names a season, a month of weather or a temperature, so there is no best one to recommend. What you can decide is which day of your trip this takes, and how early you fix it.
May to November
One listing writes its thermal pools as open May to November. That is the only date range in any of the thirteen descriptions, and it is about the pools rather than the gorge.
Sunset
A single flight is written as a sunset landing deep inside the park. No other listing names a time of day, and none of them says what the light will do.
A whole day
The days out of Darwin run 13 to 14 hours, so give them a day you were not counting on. The flights take 10 to 100 minutes, but you have to be at the park already.
Early
One listing holds 283 of the 486 reviews here. If that is the day you want, settle its date before the rest of the trip gets built around it.
Worth knowing
Three purchases, one page. Fares run $132 to $1,611 because these are minutes in the air, a full day out of Darwin, or four to five days across the Top End. Read the duration first.
The lowest fare is ten minutes. The $132 listing is a ten-minute scenic flight over the first three gorges, departing from inside the park. It is not a day, and it is not out of Darwin.
Read the number beside the rating. One listing holds 283 of the 486 reviews here at 4.5. Seven listings carry between one and six reviews each, and four of those show a 5.0.
Nitmiluk is Katherine Gorge. One is the park's name in the language of the Jawoyn people, the other the name of the gorge inside it. Descriptions use both, and they mean the same river.
Kakadu is somewhere else. Kakadu, Litchfield and Arnhem Land appear only in the four and five day listings. No day trip on this page reaches them, whatever the long trips name.
The full days are the whole day. Thirteen to fourteen hours with the drive inside it. No description names a departure time, so treat the booking page as the only authority on that.
Round out the trip
These are a different purchase. Four or five days out of Darwin that are written around Kakadu, Litchfield and Arnhem Land, with this gorge as one stop inside the loop rather than the point of it.
5 days · ★ 4.7 (27)
$1,170View 4 days · ★ 4.9 (26)
$1,611View 4 days · ★ 4.9 (9)
$1,042ViewGo deeper
Common questions
The thirteen listings here run from $132 to $1,611, but they are not the same thing. $132 buys ten minutes in a helicopter; a full day out of Darwin is $222 to $254; four and five day trips across the Top End go up to $1,611. Read the duration before the fare.
From inside the national park itself, not from Darwin. There are four: ten minutes over the first three gorges, forty that land at sunset, seventy that take in Leliyn Falls, and a hundred that land at a rock art site. Getting yourself to the park is not covered by any description.
Thirteen and a half to fourteen hours, with the drive inside that number. The shorter day on the page is the nine-hour listing that flies you out and brings you back by boat. No description names a departure time or a meeting point, so the booking page is the only place that settles it.
On some listings. One full day names a two-hour cruise through the national park, another is written around a two gorge boat trip, a third names a guided boat trip with thermal pools, and one flies out of Darwin and returns you to the water. Seven of the thirteen descriptions name a boat.
Yes. Nitmiluk is the name of the national park in the language of the Jawoyn people, and Katherine Gorge is the gorge running through it. Listings use both names, sometimes in the same sentence, and they mean one stretch of red-walled river.
Only the four and five day ones. Those are written around Kakadu, Litchfield and Arnhem Land, with this gorge as one stop inside a longer loop. No day trip on this page goes to any of them, whatever a longer listing names.
By the numbers, the $241 full day that pairs the gorge with Edith Falls: 283 of the 486 reviews on this page sit against it, rated 4.5. The $254 day holds another 74 at 4.4, and the $222 day 47 at 4.7. The remaining ten share 82 between them.
Nothing on this page names one. Of the thirteen descriptions, one writes its thermal pools as open May to November and one flight is written as a sunset landing. No description names a season, a month of weather or a temperature, so the live calendar is the only place the open dates show.
No account needed
One PDF on all thirteen bookable trips: what each fare covers, how long it runs, and whether it is a day out of Darwin, a flight from inside the park or a trip of several days. Built from the live listings and the prices on this page.
The plan is on its way. If it isn't there in a minute, look in Promotions.
Why trust this page
Every fare, duration, rating and review count on this page is read off the live listing for that trip, and re-checked whenever the page is rebuilt.
All thirteen bookable trips are here, ordered by what they include rather than by what they pay us. Nobody pays to be featured.
Seven of the thirteen listings hold between 1 and 6 reviews each. We print the count beside every rating, so a 5 out of 5 on one review reads as exactly that.
Departure times, meeting points, group size, meals and park entry are absent from these descriptions. We say so instead of filling the gap with numbers we cannot source.
The answer
It is the one people here have actually booked — 283 reviews against 74 for the next listing. Its description names a two-hour cruise through Nitmiluk National Park, and the day runs 14 hours out of Darwin at $241. The $132 at the top of this page buys something else entirely: ten minutes in a helicopter from inside the park.
Check dates and availability→ Free cancellation · Reserve now, pay laterBefore you go
All thirteen trips side by side with the fare, the length and the review count, plus whether each one is a day out of Darwin, a flight from inside the park or a trip of several days.
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Katherine Gorge & Edith Falls Full-Day Tour from Darwin
★ 4.5 · 283 reviews · Free cancellation