A stay with Baillie Lodges is to experience the luxury of travel. Each Baillie property is located in an extraordinary natural destination, with a personal experience of its culture and history, its art and natural heritage and local food and wine sourced from regional producers. Together, the luxury lodges are timeless in design, with myriad thoughtful details combining to create a genuinely warm welcome, a generosity of spirit. Guest itineraries are designed to offer the most from each stay, creating a personal, lasting connection with the destination.
Uluru, star attraction in the Red Centre, is visible from almost every angle at Longitude 131°, from the end of the bed in guests’ luxury tents, from the Dune House and from the Dune Top lounge, one of the only places in Australia where the views sweep effortlessly from Uluru to Kata Tjuta.
The Dune House, with its panoramic views of the outback and soaring canopy is the hub of Longitude 131°. Guests dine in the restaurant, relax in the lounge or on the outdoor terrace and fix a sundowner in the bar. Local Aboriginal artworks create a vibrant space, ideal for planning the next adventure.
Perched high on the outback landscape, the Dune Top is an intimate space comprising a help-yourself bar, outdoor lounges and plunge spa with views to both World Heritage-listed natural icons Uluru and Kata Tjuta. Private dining pods offer a window to the flush of dusk in time for an intimate dinner under the stars.
A cool sanctuary in Australia’s red desert, Spa Kinara is inspired by the clever design of the wiltja, the traditional shelter of the region’s Indigenous Anangu people. Guests at Spa Kinara experience a sense of true calm, of being grounded and connected to the landscape. Spa treatments use local native healing botanicals and traditional massage techniques.
Longitude 131° first opened to global acclaim in 2002, with its otherworldly gathering of safari-style guest tents around a central Dune House the creation of leading Australian architect Philip Cox. Since taking the reins in 2013, Baillie Lodges has reinvented an icon with a three-stage multimillion dollar transformation led by award-winning South Australian architect Max Pritchard.
Longitude 131° was the third lodge in the Baillie Lodges collection and complements Capella Lodge, Southern Ocean Lodge, Silky Oaks Lodge and The Louise in a premium experience of Australia’s most extraordinary destinations and Huka Lodge, Clayoquot Wilderness Lodge, Tierra Atacama and Tierra Patagonia in international waters.
Longitude 131°’s distinctive architectural design set it as one of the world’s accommodation icons, and the only lodge to offer views direct to Uluru. With its place in the fragile outback keenly felt, the lodge’s sustainable design includes renewable energies and the ability to be dismantled and removed entirely, restoring the rolling red sand dunes to their original state.
Luxury Lodges of Australia is a collection of independent luxury lodges and camps offering unforgettable experiences in Australia’s most extraordinary locations. There are 19 lodges in this stellar collection of the nation’s most celebrated properties. The luxury of experiences and genuine connections to people and place are what set these lodges apart. Longitude 131° is a founding member.
Baillie Lodges actively seeks engagement with the communities in which each lodge is set, ranging from establishing supplier relationships with local providores to supporting artists, school education initiatives, community events and work experience programs.
Established in 1948, Ernabella Arts is the oldest, continuously running Indigenous arts centre in Australia and has become a culturally strong contemporary art centre producing works in a variety of mediums drawing world-wide acclaim.
Longitude 131° sponsors a ceramist teacher and ongoing education for the community, and has set up quarterly artists-in-residence programs at the lodge, allowing a rare cultural exchange between guests and Aboriginal artists.
Guides at Longitude 131° have an extensive knowledge of the geology and ecology of this ancient land and an introduction to the Traditional Anangu Tjukurpa, which is the foundation of the Indigenous community’s life and society.
At Longitude 131°, the team works with several regional Aboriginal Art Centres, particularly Ernabella Arts, to supply artworks, woven birds and baskets, wooden carvings and traditional spears and more.
The Longitude 131° team is small and close-knit, attracting hospitality professionals from Australia and around the world and creating a remote family for guests and staff alike. Renowned for their relaxed and friendly first-name service, our people are what keep our friends returning for more.
Husband and wife team Ben and Louise Lanyon took the reins at Longitude 131° in 2019, having already managed sister property Southern Ocean Lodge when it opened on Kangaroo Island in 2008. The couple now have three active boys and have made their home at nearby Yulara, where the boys are enrolled at the local school.
Chris Jones brings a wealth of local knowledge and expertise to his role as Assistant Manager at Longitude 131°. Since 2018 Chris has been an integral part of the close-knit team, leaning and contributing across various roles including as an Experiences Guide and as Guest Services Manager. Now as Assistant Lodge Manager, Chris’s experiences and versatility, his dedication and team leadership make him a key part of the Longitude 131° guest experience of the Red Centre.
Longitude 131° Executive Chef Nazmul Hossain heads up the culinary team, rising through the stations from Chef de Partie and Senior Chef de Partie to Sous Chef before taking the reigns. Naz has the well-earned respect of his colleagues in the kitchen and brings a considered approach to the bush flavours and First Nations cooking techniques that complement the lodge’s contemporary Australian menu.
The Baillie Lodges environmental commitment is best expressed by each lodge’s interaction with its local natural and cultural surroundings. How we support travelling for good.
Longitude 131° is situated on 23,800 square metres of privately owned land and is surrounded by Katiti Aboriginal Land and the dual World Heritage listed Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. A host of measures has been undertaken to protect the unique environmental and cultural heritage of the area.
As its World Heritage listing details, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park contains distinctive desert fauna and many rare species of mammals, birds and reptiles. Although appearing flat and uninhabited, the desert around Longitude 131° is alive and caters for many different ecosystems.
Construction of Longitude 131° was completed with a focus on energy efficient design. Guest tents are designed to enhance thermal and acoustic insulation and floors are insulated and covered in natural stone to enhance cooling in summer and insulation in winter.
Longitude 131° has been carefully designed to have minimal impact on the delicate natural environment. Guest tents are designed to ‘float’ above the sandy desert floor, providing an intimate encounter with the vast and unspoilt outback landscape.
Longitude 131° is pure luxury. The setting, views, staff, food, drinks, tours are unbeatable. There is such a relaxed feel about the place and the staff go above and beyond to make you feel very special - its the perfect way to appreciate this very special part of our country.Lesley February 2022
At Longitude 131° in the Northern Territory, dual views from the Dune Pavilion are of Uluru straight ahead and Kata Tjuta to the near right. I can’t recall a more nourishing or timeless sight, as if all the reds of the world were on show against ever-changing light, the spirits of rufous hare wallabies swishing about in the spinifex. Beam me back.Susan Kurosawa The Australian
Our history stays with us, like a strong old tree it grows, another branch is added. The new branch is supported by the string trunk. This is Anangu way. This is how we keep it going and will do, for generations into the future.Alison Milyka Carrroll Chairperson, Ernabella Arts
A sojourn at Longitude 131° guarantees endless views of magical Uluru from the dining pavilion, the chic plunge pool, your luxe bed or swag, and from above, a la chopper.Tanya Buchanan Belle
Longitude 131°, the luxury desert basecamp at Uluru-Kata Tjuta, offers an essential experience of Australia’s spirited heartland. Discover the World Heritage listed wilderness and relax in exclusive Baillie Lodges style.
Find your suite
Longitude 131° offers the best of contemporary Australian cuisine, curated from the finest produce from all around the country, combined with indigenous and outback flavours to create a unique taste of Australia.
Whet your appetite
A cool sanctuary in Australia’s rich red desert, Spa Kinara (meaning ‘moon’) sits low in the sand dunes at Longitude 131°, connecting the sky to the earth and offering travellers a welcome retreat.
Heaven awaitsFor more information about Longitude 131°
and the other properties in the Baillie Lodges
portfolio please download our brochure.
