Compare Australia flights

Australia is immensely popular with British holidaymakers, despite being more than 10,000 miles from the UK. So you’ll find a number of flights to major airports in all six Australian states, all year round.

More carriers fly to Sydney, Melbourne and Perth than anywhere else in the country, especially during the UK winter months when these parts of Australia are hot and sunny. However, in such a vast country there’s always good weather somewhere, and cities such as Darwin in the north are at their most pleasant during July and August.

Really cheap Australia flights don't exist, unfortunately. But you can still save money if you book in advance and shop around. Comparing dates is a good place to start. Airfares vary tremendously depending on when you want to travel, so flying to Sydney for New Year is more expensive than giving the fireworks a miss and seeing the city in October.

The Australian winter (British summer) is also cheaper, and if you're going for a month or more it can make sense to pick up a more affordable late winter flight and wait for the weather to warm up.

Comparing routes is another good way to find cheap flights, since most national airlines offer better deals with stopovers in their own country. And remember, return tickets almost always cost less. So even if you’re flying home from a different airport, check out multi-city deals rather than booking one-way flights.

Australia is enormous. Flight times vary considerably depending on which part you're flying to, and on the exact route you take and the length of any stopovers involved.

At the time of writing, Qantas has the only direct UK flights to Australia: from London Heathrow to Perth in just under 17 hours. All flights to the southeast or north of Australia involve one or more stopovers and a flying time of between 21 and 40 hours.

Australia’s size and diversity make it a remarkable country to visit. It’s home to the oldest continuous human culture, to extraordinary wildlife and natural phenomena, and to several of the world’s most dynamic cities – many visitors find they prefer laid-back Melbourne to Sydney, and Perth, long seen as little more than a gateway to Western Australia, is fast becoming a tour stop in its own right.

Every state is different, and deciding what to do depends on where you go. If nature is your passion, Australia has more than 500 national parks, including the famous Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.And while many of those parks are true wildernesses, others are surprisingly accessible, such as Kakadu just west of Darwin, or Sydney’s Royal National Park, which is only 35 minutes’ drive from the city.

If you plan to tour extensively there is little choice but to use internal flights. That said, for exploring the regions you want to focus on, you can't beat hiring a car. Pick one up from Perth and you can head south to Margaret River's vineyards and beaches; pick one up in Melbourne and you can take off west down the spectacular Great Ocean Road.