Coober Pedy provides the ideal stopover for travellers heading from Adelaide to Alice Springs and Uluru. Approximately 850km north of Adelaide and 680 km south of Alice Springs on the sealed Stuart Highway, Coober Pedy makes an ideal stopping place. After a long day travelling you can rest in comfort at the Desert Cave Hotel. Take a long cool swim, a refreshing spa, have an icy cold drink in the Underground Bar, dine in style at Umberto's Restaurant. The Desert Cave is more than an oasis for travellers in the Outback.
The Desert Cave Hotel offers unique international standard underground accomodation. It's an experience to remember for a lifetime.
Many locals live in dugouts (underground homes), where the earth gives natural temperature control in this semi-desert area of Outback South Australia.
The Desert Cave Hotel allows you to experience dug-out style living, underground shops, bar and opal display areas - all within sandstone surrounds in the heart of Coober Pedy
- 50 suites including 19 underground - a unique experience
- All rooms have a colour TV
- In-house movies
- Radio and alarm clock
- IDD phones
- Hair dryer and iron
- Mini-bar and refrigerator
- Tea and coffee making facilities
- Room Service
- Major credit cards accepted
- Swimming pool,
- Spa
- Sauna
- Gym with a range of Universal equipment.
Other Services include - laundry, photo processing, baby sitting by arrangement, luggage store, currency exchange, safety deposit, business services, email, tourist information, Kendell Airlines Agent and translation services.
Award winning historic display on mining, opal and the unique nature of living in outback Australia. Underground auditorium showing a video on opal (English or German), seats 48.
Enjoy Umbertos Restaurant, (where the food is excellent and the atmosphere relaxing,) the Crystal Cafe and the World's only Underground Bar and Gaming Room.
History of the Desert Cave Hotel
In 1981 Umberto Coro began to realise a dream of sharing the extraordinary experience of underground living with visitors to the town. He had been associated with the town's mining and hospitality industry for more than 26 years. He understood what visitors wanted. Umberto Coro never saw his dream become a reality. Sadly, he was killed in a road accident in 1986. His son Robert, the hotel's General Manager, and the rest of the family, continued the work to make sure that the Desert Cave Hotel would be complete. Construction began in 1984 and the Desert Cave Hotel was officially opened in 1988.
Opal mining machinery was brought to town from the opal fields to gouge through the sandstone of a hillside near the main street. Extreme heat, severe duststorms and mini-cyclones made work extremely difficult. Almost all the building materials had to be transported from Adelaide, some 850km south. Local rock gathered from the Moon Plains, 25km north, was used for the feature stonework on the front of the buildings. Visitors are amazed at the beauty of the underground walls. Furnishings have been selected to reflect the light and colour of the Outback.
Visitors can stay underground, or if they prefer, above ground rooms are also available. Sleeping underground is a unique experience. Quiet, cool, dark and airy - the rooms are spacious with high ceilings. Most visitors say that sleeping underground gives them the best night's sleep they have ever had. It is an experience not to miss. The Desert Cave Hotel also has underground shops, cafe, opal cutting and polishing display, opal interpretive centre, and underground bar and gaming room. The hotel offers visitors the best opportunity to experience Coober Pedy "dugout" living.
Location and how to get there
Kendell Airlines (an Ansett affiliate) has daily flights between Adelaide and Coober Pedy. The flight takes around 2 and a half hours with a brief stopover for passangers at Roxby Downs. Airport transfers available.
Daily express coaches from Alice Springs/Uluru and Adelaide (Greyhound/Pioneer and McCafferty's) and many other coaches and tours pass through town. Greyhound stops at the Ampol Roadhouse in Coober Pedy.
Historic Ghan Train to Manguri (32km west of Coober Pedy). Special arrangements for transport between Manguri and Coober Pedy. A special package holiday including Ghan train, a visit to Alice Springs/Uluru, a stopover in Coober Pedy and Kendell air travel to Adelaide offers international visitors an ideal way to see this great Outback region.
Thrifty-Rent-A-Car hire available at the Desert Cave, one way rentals available to any major destination in the Northern Territory.
The sealed Stuart Highway linking Adelaide and Darwin passes through Coober Pedy giving travellers a good road and safe travelling conditions through the desert country. Petrol stops are well marked along the highway.
A Four Wheel Drive vehicle is not needed for travel on the Stuart Highway.
Visitors wishing to travel to William Creek or Oodnadatta on unsealed roads need a 4 Wheel Drive vehicle. Road condition reports are readily available and locals are happy to give advice to visitors reguarding travel on outback roads.