A bus called Priscilla, three drag queens, and 3,000 kilometres of red dirt between Sydney and Alice Springs. Thirty years on, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is still the most joyful queer road movie ever made, and almost every place in it is real and visitable.
Contents
This one comes with an honest warning up front, which is the thing most guides skip: this is not a day trip. It is a genuine outback road trip covering three states and territories, and you should plan it as one. Here is how the route actually works, with every location and what is still standing.
Before You Go: The Real Geography
The film’s route is Sydney to Alice Springs via Broken Hill and Coober Pedy. On a map that is a diagonal across the continent, and the distances are Australian rather than European.
- Sydney to Broken Hill: around 1,150 km, roughly 13 hours of driving, or a 90-minute flight.
- Broken Hill to Coober Pedy: around 750 km through genuinely remote country.
- Coober Pedy to Kings Canyon: around 700 km, with Alice Springs a further stretch east.
Our recommendation: treat it as Sydney bookends plus a desert leg. Do the Sydney locations in an afternoon, then fly to either Broken Hill or Alice Springs and drive the outback section properly over five to seven days. Attempting the whole thing by road from Sydney needs two full weeks and a real appetite for driving.
Part One: The Sydney Bookends
The Imperial Hotel, Erskineville
- Address: 35 Erskineville Road, Erskineville, NSW 2043.
- The scene: the opening and the closing. This is where the film begins and where it comes home, and it is the single most important location on the list.
- Today: still standing, still queer, and still doing drag. The Imperial has hosted drag since 1983, was extensively refurbished, and named its restaurant Priscillas in honour of the film. You can have a drink in the room where it opens. Very few film locations anywhere let you do that.
- Our tip: go on a night with a show on. Standing in an empty pub is not the point; the point is that the tradition never stopped.
Sydney Harbour: the Opera House and the Bridge
- Address: Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point, Sydney NSW 2000.
- The scene: the establishing shots that set up everything the three of them are about to leave behind.
- Today: unchanged, and free to walk around. Combine with our Sydney guide if you are building a longer stay.
While you are in Sydney, the gay beaches and the open-air ocean pools are the natural companions to a Priscilla pilgrimage. Same city, same spirit, considerably less driving.
Part Two: Broken Hill and Silverton
The Palace Hotel
- Address: 227 Argent Street, at Sulphide Street, Broken Hill, NSW 2880.
- The scene: “Mario’s Palace” in the film, where Bernadette meets Shirley and delivers the line that has been quoted in gay bars ever since.
- Today: this is the crown jewel of the whole trip. The Palace is still a working hotel, you can book a room, and the extraordinary painted murals covering the walls and ceilings are still there. It leans into its Priscilla history without being a theme park about it.
- Our tip: stay the night. It is the one accommodation on this route that is itself a location, and Broken Hill is worth a day anyway.
Argent Street
- Address: Argent Street, Broken Hill, NSW 2880.
- The scene: the main street sequence, all wide pavements and heritage shopfronts.
- Today: largely unchanged. Broken Hill is a heritage-listed mining town and the streetscape has been protected, which is exactly why so many films shoot here.
Silverton and the Mundi Mundi Plain
- Address: Silverton, NSW 2880, about 25 km northwest of Broken Hill. Mundi Mundi Plain Lookout is a few kilometres beyond it.
- The scene: the bus breaks down on the plain, and the horizon does the rest.
- Today: Silverton is a near-ghost town with a famous pub and a long film history, most notably Mad Max 2. The Mundi Mundi Lookout gives you the view where the curve of the earth is genuinely visible. Go at sunset. It is the single most cinematic thing on this itinerary and it costs nothing.
Part Three: Coober Pedy
- Address: Coober Pedy, SA 5723. The underground motel used in the film is on Catacomb Road.
- The scene: the mining town sequence, and the harshest turn in the film when the welcome curdles.
- Today: Coober Pedy is the opal capital of the world and roughly half of it is underground, because that is the only way to survive summer temperatures. You can sleep in an underground hotel, visit an underground church, and it is genuinely one of the strangest places on earth. It has not softened much since 1994, which is part of the honesty of the film.
Part Four: Kings Canyon and Alice Springs
Kings Canyon, Watarrka National Park
- Address: Watarrka National Park, off Ernest Giles Road, Northern Territory, west of Alice Springs.
- The scene: the ending. Felicia in full drag on the clifftop, the enormous silver train of fabric, the whole point of the film in one image.
- Today: the Rim Walk is about 6 km and takes three to four hours. It starts with a genuinely steep climb and it is closed on hot mornings for safety, often when forecasts exceed 36°C, so start at dawn. This is the emotional summit of the trip in every sense.
- Worth knowing: the script originally called for this scene to be shot on Uluru. It was moved to Kings Canyon after the local Aboriginal community made clear that three drag queens on the rock was not acceptable. Uluru is sacred to the Anangu people and climbing it has been banned outright since 2019. Kings Canyon is the location precisely because that objection was respected.
Lasseters, Alice Springs
- Address: Lasseters Hotel Casino, 93 Barrett Drive, Alice Springs, NT 0870.
- The scene: the casino performance venue, the destination the whole road trip is aimed at.
- Today: still operating as a hotel and casino, and the obvious base for the Kings Canyon leg.
How to Actually Plan It
- The weekend version: Sydney only. The Imperial and the harbour, done in an evening and an afternoon.
- The week version: fly Sydney to Alice Springs, hire a car, do Kings Canyon and the Red Centre over five days. You get the ending without the middle.
- The full pilgrimage: two weeks minimum, Sydney to Broken Hill to Coober Pedy to Kings Canyon to Alice Springs, mostly by road. This is a serious outback trip, not a film tour with scenery attached.
Outback Driving: Please Read This Part
We are not being dramatic. The desert legs of this route are remote in a way that catches European and North American visitors out badly every year.
- Carry far more water than you think you need, and never leave your vehicle if it breaks down. The car is shade and it is far easier to spot than you are.
- Mobile coverage disappears for hundreds of kilometres. Tell someone your route and your expected arrival.
- Fuel stops are far apart. Fill up whenever you can, not whenever you need to.
- Avoid driving at dawn, dusk and night. Kangaroos and cattle on the road are the single biggest hazard out there.
- Go in the cooler months, roughly April to September. Summer in Coober Pedy regularly passes 45°C and it is genuinely dangerous.
- Check whether a road is sealed before you commit a hire car to it. Many rental agreements are void on unsealed roads.
Priscilla Filming Locations: Your Questions Answered
Where was Priscilla, Queen of the Desert filmed?
Across Sydney, Broken Hill and Silverton in New South Wales, Coober Pedy in South Australia, and Kings Canyon and Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. It was shot over about six weeks in 1993.
Can you visit the Priscilla bar in Sydney?
Yes. The Imperial Hotel at 35 Erskineville Road is still open, still hosting drag, and its restaurant is named Priscillas. It is the most rewarding stop on the whole list because it is still doing the thing the film was about.
Was Priscilla filmed on Uluru?
No. The final clifftop scene was written for Uluru but moved to Kings Canyon in Watarrka National Park after the local Aboriginal community objected. Uluru is sacred to the Anangu and climbing it has been prohibited since 2019.
Can you stay at the Palace Hotel in Broken Hill?
Yes, it is a working hotel and you can book a room. The painted murals from the film are still on the walls and ceilings. Book ahead, because it is well known and Broken Hill is not large.
How long do you need for the full route?
Two weeks if you are driving the whole thing. One week if you fly into Alice Springs and do the Red Centre section. One evening if you only want Sydney. All three are legitimate versions of the trip.
Where to Stay
In Sydney, base yourself in Newtown, Erskineville or Darlinghurst and you are walking distance from the Imperial and the rest of the inner-west queer scene. In Broken Hill, stay at the Palace itself. In Coober Pedy, sleep underground at least once, because it is the local architecture and it is genuinely cooler. Around Kings Canyon the accommodation options are few and remote, so book well ahead in the cooler months when the walk is at its most popular.
Planning more? Start with our Sydney guide, and if you like chasing films around cities, we have done the same for Ocean’s Twelve in Amsterdam and Ferris Bueller in Chicago.
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