Melbourne, Australia to Darwin, Australia from $430

🌍 About Darwin, Australia

Darwin is closer to Jakarta and Bali than it is to Sydney, and the food shows it: the dish to order is laksa, the coconut-and-noodle soup Darwin makes better than anywhere else in Australia, thanks to decades of Southeast Asian community here. Hunt it down at the Parap or Rapid Creek weekend markets. The other essential is the Mindil Beach Sunset Market — Thursday and Sunday evenings, hundreds of Asian food stalls eaten on the sand as the sun drops into the Timor Sea. Go in the dry season, May to October: warm days around 30°C, almost no rain, and it's when the markets, festivals and outdoor cinema actually run. Avoid November to April — the wet brings serious humidity and storms, and Mindil shuts down entirely. The cheap-fare months are also the best ones here.