Western Australia for Visitors: The Complete Travel Guide

Western Australia covers more than two and a half million square kilometres — larger than Western Europe — but most visitors see only the south-west corner. This guide pulls together what our team would tell a first-time visitor to Western Australia about Perth, the south-west wine country, the coral coast, and the iconic outback regions that make WA the most varied state in the country. It is not a complete encyclopaedia. It is the version we wish we had been handed before our first trip.

What to know before you book

Three things about Western Australia that surprise first-time visitors:

The distances are real. Perth to Broome is the same as London to Athens. Perth to Margaret River — short by WA standards — is a three-hour drive. Do not plan WA the way you plan a Victorian or NSW trip.
The time zone is two hours behind the east coast. Daylight saving does not apply in WA, which means in summer the gap with the east is three hours. Worth flagging if you are calling home or scheduling work.
The seasons are inverted relative to the east in one important way. The north (Broome, Kimberley) is best in the dry season — May through October. The south (Perth, Margaret River) is best in the warm shoulder months — September through April. Combining north and south in one trip requires planning around this.

Plan more time and fewer regions than you think you should. The temptation is to try to see it all. Better to see one region well.

Perth — the city most underrated

Perth is the most isolated capital city in the world (geographically) and the most underrated in the country (from visitors). Three or four days is enough to enjoy it properly. The places our team sends everyone:

Kings Park. The largest city park in the world larger than Central Park, with the city skyline on one side and the Swan River on the other. The springtime wildflower display (September) is one of the year’s best free experiences anywhere in Australia.
Cottesloe and the beach run. Cottesloe is the postcard beach. The 20km of consecutive beach from Trigg in the north through to Fremantle in the south is one of the great urban coastlines in the country.
Fremantle. The historic port city — twenty minutes from central Perth — with old Federation buildings, the original prison, a thriving Saturday markets and the country’s longest-running music festival.
Rottnest Island. A short ferry ride from Fremantle, no cars allowed, hire a bicycle and see quokkas in their wild habitat. Easy to do as a day trip.
The Swan Valley. Western Australia’s oldest wine region, an easy half-hour from the city, with smaller and friendlier wineries than the more famous Margaret River.

The south-west and Margaret River

Three hours south of Perth, the Margaret River region is where Western Australia answers its critics about variety. In one weekend you can sit at a four-star winery for lunch, surf one of the cleanest swells in the country, walk through karri forest cathedrals taller than office buildings, and see one of the world’s great cave systems. The destinations not to miss:

The wineries. Margaret River has roughly 200 cellar doors. The smaller and family-owned ones are where the value sits. Three lunch wineries to remember: Voyager Estate, Vasse Felix and Cullen.
The surf coast. Yallingup, Smiths Beach, Prevelly. Even if you do not surf, the headland walks are some of the best ocean walks in the country.
The forest. Boranup karri forest, twenty minutes south of Margaret River town, is the experience most visitors do not plan for and remember the most. Practical details and walks live with the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions at dpaw.wa.gov.au.
The caves. Lake Cave, Jewel Cave, Mammoth Cave. Family-friendly, accessible, and impressive in a way photographs do not convey.

Our wider guide to Perth-region tour options covers the structured day trips for visitors who would rather not self-drive the Margaret River loop.

The coral coast — Exmouth, Ningaloo and Coral Bay

Twelve hours’ drive north of Perth, or a short flight, sits the second of WA’s world-class destinations: Ningaloo Reef. The Great Barrier Reef gets more headlines, but for many visitors Ningaloo is the better experience. It is reachable from the beach. It is less crowded. And it is the only place in Australia where you can reliably snorkel with whale sharks (April-July) and humpback whales (August-October). What to do:

Snorkel from the beach at Turquoise Bay. A drift snorkel that needs no boat and no operator — one of Australia’s most underrated free experiences.
Whale-shark swimming season (April-July). Book a licensed operator months in advance. This is once-in-a-lifetime territory.
Cape Range National Park. The gorges and walks on the inland side of the cape are a stark contrast to the reef on the ocean side. The Yardie Creek boat tour is a gentle and family-friendly way to see them.

The official tourism resources at westernaustralia.com are the cleanest practical starting point — accommodation, drive routes, what is open and when.

The Kimberley — the trip of a lifetime

Northern WA, in the Kimberley, is the country’s last great wilderness — and the planning is correspondingly serious. The dry season (May-September) is the only practical visiting window. The driving is on unsealed roads that require a 4WD with the right preparation. The trip is unforgettable. The destinations:

Broome. The gateway. Three or four days, walking Cable Beach, visiting the pearl-farming heritage sites, and acclimatising to the heat.
The Gibb River Road. The 660-km cross-Kimberley dirt road, with gorge after gorge to walk into — Windjana, Bell, Bell Creek, Mitchell Falls. A self-drive 4WD trip of a fortnight or a guided expedition of a week.
The Bungle Bungles (Purnululu National Park). The striped sandstone domes that are one of Australia’s UNESCO-listed natural wonders. Reachable by 4WD or by scenic flight from Kununurra.
The Mitchell Plateau and the Horizontal Falls. The most photographed pieces of the Kimberley and worth the effort.

The Kimberley is not a “first trip to WA” destination for most visitors. Plan it as the second or third trip — and plan it carefully.

Practical Australian-specifics

Three practicalities particular to visiting WA:

Hire-car planning. One-way drop-offs across the state can be expensive. If you are flying in and out of Perth, do the loop. If you are flying out of Broome, budget for it.
Mobile coverage drops out faster than you think. Outside the major coastal towns, plan for no mobile coverage for hours at a time. Hire a satellite messenger if you are heading north of the coral coast.
The roadhouse network is real and reliable. Long-distance WA driving is built around it. Fuel up at every roadhouse. Drive in daylight. Plan stops where the next stop is more than two hours away.

Food and drink notes

WA food has come a long way. Perth’s restaurant scene now holds its own with the eastern capitals. Fremantle’s small-bar precinct is one of the best of its kind in the country. Margaret River cellar-door lunches are a category of their own. And the seafood — particularly the western rock lobster and the local snapper — is among the best you will eat in Australia. Eat what is local; the imported options on most menus are not the reason you are here.

A two-week template if you want one

If you have two weeks, our team’s recommended template:

Days 1–4 in Perth. Kings Park, the beaches, Fremantle, Rottnest, an evening in the Swan Valley.
Days 5–8 in Margaret River. Drive south, two long lunches, the surf coast, the karri forests, the caves.
Days 9–14 at Ningaloo. Fly to Learmonth, base in Exmouth or Coral Bay, beach snorkels, one boat day if it is whale-shark season.

Our wider overview of Australia’s best places to visit sets this template against the rest of the country if you have time for more than one state.

Final thoughts

Western Australia is the trip the rest of Australia underrates and the international visitors who do their research come back from raving about. The distances are real. The variety inside one state — capital city, world wine region, world reef, world wilderness — is unmatched. Pick one or two regions for your first trip, leave room to drive the long stretches, and the state itself will do the heavy lifting.