The Flinders Ranges are at their best between late April and early June. The summer heat has gone, the flies have eased off, the light through the gorges is long and gold, and the cooler nights mean swags are pleasant rather than punishing. If you can get there in May, you’ll have one of the great Australian landscapes mostly to yourself.

This is the itinerary I’d run for someone with five clear days, starting and ending in Adelaide, and willing to drive but not interested in covering huge distances every day.

Day one: Adelaide to Melrose

Leave Adelaide mid-morning. Stop for lunch at Clare or Auburn (both are detours of 20 minutes off the main road and worth it for proper food). Aim to reach Melrose by late afternoon.

Melrose is the oldest town in the Flinders and it’s a useful first stop because it eases you into the landscape - you’re at the foot of Mount Remarkable, which is genuinely remarkable but not yet in the dramatic ranges country.

Stay at the Mount Remarkable Hotel if you want a pub room with character. The North Star Hotel up the road has a better dining room. Either works.

Walk up Cathedral Rock in the morning before driving on. Two hours return, gentle climb, a view that justifies the early start.

Day two: Melrose to Wilpena via Hawker

The drive from Melrose to Wilpena Pound is about four hours direct, but you should make a proper day of it.

Quorn for morning tea - the bakery is fine, the railway museum is more interesting. Hawker for lunch and the obligatory stop at the Hawker Motors mural and the Jeff Morgan Gallery where the panoramic painting of Wilpena from the air gives you a useful preview of where you’re heading.

From Hawker it’s another hour to Wilpena. The light gets remarkable as you approach - the ranges turn that deep red-purple that photographs don’t quite capture. Take it slow. Pull over.

Stay at Wilpena Pound Resort. It’s not luxury but it’s the only proper option inside the National Park and the location matters - you wake up inside the landscape rather than driving in. Glamping tents are good value if they’re available.

Late afternoon: Sacred Canyon, half an hour out, with Aboriginal rock engravings and the kind of silence that makes the city feel ridiculous.

Day three: Wilpena Pound proper

A full day inside the Pound. The signature walk is the Wangara Lookout track - 6.5km return, mostly easy, with one good climb in the middle. The view from the top is what people come here for. Allow three hours including time at the top.

Afternoon options depending on how you’re feeling. The Old Wilpena Station heritage walk is gentle, well-interpreted, and gives you the pastoral history. Or drive out to Bunyeroo Gorge and Brachina Gorge - both stunning, both accessible in a 2WD if you’re careful and the weather has been dry. The Brachina Gorge Geological Trail is a proper deep-time experience - you drive through 130 million years of compressed history.

Sunset at Hucks Lookout. Bring something to sit on and a bottle of something. The light show goes on for an hour.

Day four: Wilpena to Blinman to Parachilna

Don’t backtrack. Take the road north out of the park towards Blinman. This is the prettiest drive in the ranges. Stop at Stokes Hill Lookout and at the Great Wall of China formation along the way.

Blinman is a tiny town with one essential stop - the historic copper mine tour, which goes underground and is genuinely worth the time. Lunch at the Blinman Hotel.

Push on to Parachilna for the night. The Prairie Hotel is the destination - one of those great Australian outback pubs with food that punches well above what you’d expect from a town of nine people. Book the feral mixed grill. Don’t pretend you’d order anything else when you got here.

Stay at the pub or in the rooms across the road. The night sky here is the darkest you’ll see in this part of the world. Walk out, look up, give it ten minutes.

Day five: Parachilna home

The long drive back to Adelaide. Resist the urge to rush.

The route via Parachilna Gorge to Glass Gorge and back to the bitumen is dirt road but generally fine in dry conditions, and gives you another two hours in the ranges before you start the long flat south.

Lunch at Hawker again, or push on to Burra if you want a more interesting stop. Burra has a good museum, decent food, and is the right distance from Adelaide for a final break.

Aim to be back in Adelaide by early evening.

What to take

Layers - autumn days can hit 25 degrees and nights drop to single figures. Proper walking shoes - the gorge floors are rocky and ankle-twisting. A wide-brimmed hat even in autumn. More water than you think (we’re conditioned to underdrink in cool weather and the air is dry). A real camera if you have one - phones don’t capture the colour of these landscapes.

Fuel up wherever you can. Distances between fuel stops are real. Don’t be the person who runs out between Hawker and Wilpena.

A few honest notes

The Flinders aren’t a quick trip. If you only have a long weekend, do somewhere closer to Adelaide. The drive to and from is part of the experience but it eats a full day at each end.

Mobile signal is patchy to non-existent for large parts of the trip. This is a feature, not a bug. Tell people your plans before you go and then put the phone away.

There’s no fine dining anywhere in this itinerary except the Prairie Hotel. The food is honest pub food, well-cooked, with one or two exceptional moments. Adjust your expectations and you’ll be happier.

May is one of the two best months to do this trip. The other is September. Avoid summer unless you enjoy 40-degree heat and avoid school holidays whenever you can.

Five days, well-spent, in country that does something to you. Worth the drive every time.