Cheap Car Rental in Darwin

Car Rental in Darwin: visiting spectacular red desert

Darwin is an incredibly unique city located at the tip of Australia’s Northern Territory, which is best known for its incredibly red desert. Darwin stays green year-round, however, due to its winter monsoon season, offering visitors excitingly diverse sights. Incredibly multicultural, Darwin is an excellent base for discovering the northern tip of the Northern Territory, promising a great variety of dining opportunities to greet you after you’ve built up an appetite exploring the city and its surroundings all day. Make the most of your visit to Darwin by staying mobile and independent, and book your rental car today.

The best time to visit Darwin is May through October, when day temperatures typically linger around 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) and sunshine is almost guaranteed. Monsoon season typically begins in November and lasts throughout the summer. If rain doesn’t bother you, this is a great time to see waterfalls in the Darwin area.

The de facto official language of Australia is English, which is also the language spoken by the majority of Darwin’s residents, though the city is incredibly multicultural. A full quarter of Darwin’s residents speak another language at home, with Filipino/Tagalog and Greek comprising the most frequently spoken minority languages. Larrakia and Woolna are the Aboriginal languages spoken primarily in and around Darwin.

Darwin is in the Northern Territory Time Zone, UTC+9:30.

The currency is the Australian dollar and credit cards are widely accepted throughout the country.

Car hire is available in 3 locations throughout Darwin: at Darwin International Airport (DRW), on Stuart Highway, and downtown.

Visa Regulations

All visitors to Australia require a visa to enter the country, except those coming from New Zealand. Depending on your country of citizenship, you can apply for these visas online for a fee of $20 to $130; be sure to only visit government websites for these applications in order to avoid surcharges and other fees. Some nationalities will have to apply for a visa via a paper application at an Australian embassy. Double check regulations for your nationality before you confirm your travel plans.

Driving in Darwin

Driving is effortless and comfortable in Darwin, where traffic congestion rarely occurs and parking is typically available and cheap, if not free. You’ll certainly want a car to get to all of the sights of the city and its surroundings as conveniently as possible.

Left-Hand Driving

• Traffic drives on the left-hand side of the road throughout Australia.

Speed Limits

• In the city: 50 km/h
• On the highway: up to 130 km/h

Other Regulations

1. Parking is regulated by time and fee in central Darwin, where prices rise to around $2.50 an hour in the central business district. However, there are plenty of all-day, open-air parking lots or car parks throughout the city that offer daily rates of between $3.20 and $5.30 an hour. Street parking is free all day on the weekends.
2. If your domestic driver’s license has been issued in a language other than English, an international driver’s permit will be necessary to rent a car in Australia.
3. There are no toll roads in the Northern Territory.
4. The minimum driving age in the Northern Territory is 16 and a half years old, though most rental companies will require that you are at least 21 years old to rent a car, and you are likely to face young-driver surcharges until the age of 25.

Other Tips

• If you plan to drive south into the red heartland of Australia, be sure to carry extra water and extra fuel with you. Renting a car from an agency that offers emergency pick up is recommended, should anything happen between towns.

Cheap Car Rental in Darwin

Car hire in Darwin typically starts at around $17 a day. Here are some of the best deals in Darwin:

• Hyundai i20 or similar (economy class) – $18/day
• Toyota Corolla or similar (compact class) – $19/day
• Hyundai Elantra or similar (intermediate class) – $22/day
• Kia Cerato or similar (standard class) – $24/day
• Toyota Camry or similar (fullsize class) – $28/day

Note that prices vary depending on the availability of each specific car and the season in which you rent. For the most accurate offers, use the search bar above.

Tips for Renting a Car Inexpensively in Darwin

Prices for rental cars vary according to availability in Darwin, so if you’re planning on arriving during the typical tourist season May through October, booking well in advance of your arrival is recommended in order to receive the beat deals on rental cars.

While Bargain Car Rentals typically offers the cheapest prices in Darwin at their airport location, it is well worth your time to check prices for your chosen rental period downtown as well. From time to time, rental agencies located downtown, such as Europcar and Thrifty, can beat Bargain’s airport prices.

Keep an eye out for discounts of up to 23% that make car hire in Darwin even cheaper! You can also often save around $3 a day by extending your rental period to over a week.