Australia
Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.
In numbers
4,374km²
Area
399km
Coastline
measured on a simplified outline
174m
Highest point
4,250
People
20°C
Warmest sea
February
2km
To the mainland
When to go to Kangaroo Island
Best to visit from January to February.
The sea is warmest in February (20 °C) and coolest in August (14 °C). The water never reaches 21 °C: bring a wetsuit.
Averages 1991–2020. Sea: NOAA OISST, the water within 35 km of the coast. Air, rain and sun: NASA POWER. Best months weigh warm afternoons (23–30 °C), sea of 24 °C or more and few wet days.
Island in South Australia
Kangaroo Island is an island in Australia. It covers 4,374 km², with 399 km of coastline. Its highest point rises to 174 m. About 4,250 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 2 km away.
Getting there
- Kingscote Airport (KGC)airport on the island, with scheduled flightsCar hire at ADL airport (Adelaide)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- 2 km from the mainlanddistance to the nearest continental coast
- From January to Februarybest months to go (from 30 years of averages)
Plan the trip
Ferries, stays and things to do
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
On the island
What you find on Kangaroo Island.
- 65beachesWest Bay, Sandy Beach, Knapman Creek Beach and 62 more
- 38viewpointsCallitris Platform, Billygoat Falls lookout, Weirs Cove and 35 more
- 1lighthousesCape du Couedic Lighthouse
- 6named peaksHalfway Hill, Prospect Hill, Bunker Hill and 3 more
- 1waterfallsBillygoat Falls
- 12ruins and archaeological sitesWinch, Old Threshing Floor, Wrights Ruins and 9 more
- 6waymarked walking routesKangaroo Island Wilderness Trail, KI Wilderness Trail side tracks, Snake Lagoon Hike and 3 more
- 20campsitesChapman River Campground, Antechamber Bay Campground, D'estrees Bay Camp Ground and 17 more
- 18hotels, guesthouses and apartments
- 22restaurants, cafés and bars
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, inside the island's outline. A low number may only mean nobody has mapped it yet.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Kangaroo Island in our other atlases
Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Kangaroo Island, each with its own numbers.
12beaches and covesCoastya
27mountainsPeakyas
8lakesLakeyas
Largest lake
8.1km²
Murray Lagoon
according to Lakeyas
Warmest lake
24.6°C
Lashmar Lagoon
surface water, warmest month · according to Lakeyas
Beach with the warmest sea
20.1°C
Brownlow Beach
sea in the warmest month · according to Coastya
12 beaches
on Coastya, the beach atlas
- American Beach19.6°C
- Brownlow Beach20.1°C
- Sandy Beach18.7°C
- Snelling Beach20.0°C
- King George Beach20.0°C
- Kangaroo Beach19.7°C
- Osmanli Beach19.7°C
- Mouth Flat Beach19.6°C
4 more on CoastyaOpen Coastya ↗
27 mountains
on Peakyas, the mountain atlas
- Mount McDonnell
- Wooded Hills
- Bunker Hill
- Mount Ellen
- Castle Hillprominence 262 m
- Flinders Chase
- Stony Hill
- Red Hill
19 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
8 lakes
on Lakeyas, the lake atlas
- Murray Lagoon8.1km²
- Salt Lagoon2.7km²
- Lake Ada0.86km²
- Salt Lake0.67km²
- Lashmar Lagoon0.33km²
- Burgess Lagoon0.29km²
- New Lake0.28km²
- Larrikin Lagoon0.25km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
The shape of the land.
On average the island stands 99 m above the sea. 87 % of it is below 200 m.
- 35 %0–50 m
- 51 %50–200 m
- 13 %200–500 m
Share of the island's area in each altitude band, from the Copernicus DEM (30 m, read at 30–240 m on large islands).
Size, for real
Next to islands you may know.
100 km
All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).
Towns on the island
- Kingscote1,915 people
Month by month
The weather on the island.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon high (°C) | 22 | 22 | 21 | 19 | 17 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 16 | 17 | 19 | 20 |
| Night low (°C) | 17 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 15 |
| Sea (°C) | 19 | 20 | 19 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 18 |
| Rain (mm) | 16 | 17 | 27 | 33 | 56 | 74 | 70 | 61 | 45 | 27 | 23 | 20 |
| Wet days | 3 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 11 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 5 |
| Sun h/day | 10.3 | 9.0 | 7.9 | 6.3 | 4.9 | 4.5 | 4.8 | 5.8 | 7.0 | 8.1 | 9.2 | 9.7 |
| Wind (km/h) | 24 | 24 | 22 | 21 | 23 | 25 | 27 | 27 | 26 | 25 | 24 | 24 |
Averages 1991–2020 for the ~55 km NASA POWER cell over the island; the sea from NOAA OISST.
Recent years
Warmer and cooler years at sea.
Each month's sea temperature compared with its 1991–2020 average, in degrees.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | +0.3 | +0.1 | −0.4 | −0.6 | −0.5 | −0.1 | +0.4 | −0.2 | −0.3 | −0.2 | −0.1 | ±0.0 |
| 2021 | −0.7 | −0.4 | ±0.0 | +0.8 | +0.5 | +0.2 | ±0.0 | ±0.0 | +0.2 | −0.1 | −0.3 | −0.2 |
| 2022 | +0.4 | +0.3 | +0.6 | +0.1 | −0.1 | ±0.0 | −0.3 | +0.1 | −0.1 | −0.1 | ±0.0 | −0.1 |
| 2023 | +0.1 | −0.1 | +0.8 | +0.4 | ±0.0 | +0.4 | +0.4 | +0.4 | +1.0 | +0.4 | −0.1 | −0.4 |
| 2024 | −1.2 | −0.1 | +0.3 | −0.9 | −1.2 | −0.4 | −0.3 | +0.3 | +0.4 | +0.9 | +0.8 | +1.8 |
| 2025 | +1.7 | +1.3 | +2.0 | +1.3 | +1.4 | +0.8 | +0.4 | +0.4 | +0.5 | +0.4 | ±0.0 | +0.3 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Photos
Seen by visitors.
About these numbers
| Names, area, population | Wikidata (Q210371) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Outline | Natural Earth · public domain |
| Sea temperature | NOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020 |
| Climate | NASA POWER · 1991–2020 |
| Relief, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Towns | GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfalls | Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST; HydroLAKES (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0, LakeTEMP (Korver et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0 |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
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