I am ashamed to say I knew almost nothing about Margaret River before we went, beyond the fact that it makes excellent wine. I also had it filled in my head as a town, when it is really a whole region, and the town is just a bit in the middle where everybody meets.
That town turned out to be one of my favourite parts of both our Perth to Esperance Road Trip, and our more recent visit. It is small, walkable, full of good shops and better food, and it has the kind of unhurried feel that makes you want to stay longer than you planned. We came back two years later and liked it even more the second time.
Margaret River town runs along one street, the Bussell Highway. You can walk it end to end in twenty minutes, or lose an entire afternoon to the galleries, boutiques and bakeries along it. Come on a Saturday morning for the farmers market.
The town of Margaret River sits 277km, or 172 miles, south of Perth. That is roughly a three hour drive if you do not stop, which you should.
The wider Margaret River region stretches from Cape Naturaliste near Dunsborough in the north down to Cape Leeuwin about 100km south, and reaches roughly 30km inland to take in Busselton. The town is the hub of all of it – not the biggest place in the region, but the one everything else revolves around.
There are plenty of Things To Do In Margaret River, with it attracting thousands of Australians every year.
The Bussell Highway is the main street, and “highway” oversells it considerably. In town it is one lane each way, running between two long tree-lined strips of galleries, boutiques, cafes and restaurants.
The Margaret River Visitor Centre sits at the northern end of the strip, and it is worth five minutes at the start of your stay. Pick up a map and find out what is on while you are in town, because there usually is something.
Come back at dusk and the volume goes up, and not only because everyone is heading out for dinner. The birds in the street trees start up at the same time and they are extremely loud. It is one of those small details that tells you exactly where in the world you are.
Margaret River is a high end shopping destination for its size. What you will find along the main street is gourmet and local food produce, boutique clothing, and artisan gifts, which makes it very good for souvenirs and even better for window shopping.
Boutique clothing and galleries: Spread along both sides of the Bussell Highway, mixed in with the cafes so you keep stopping.
Surf shops: Several, selling beach and resort wear. Our kids disappeared into Ghanda and came out with several bags of things they cannot buy in the UK.
Local produce and gourmet food: The obvious place to buy something to take home that is not a bottle of wine.
Coles supermarket: In town, for anyone self-catering. Not glamorous, but useful to know.
Coffee shops: Scattered the whole length of the strip, and the reason a twenty minute walk turns into two hours. The bakery at the northern end is the busiest, but there are quieter places with better seats if you keep going.
There is a thriving creative community across the region, so it makes sense that Margs has its own street art trail. The locations are listed on the Margaret River Art Trails website.
Some of the pieces are impossible to miss and others are tucked away down side streets and around the backs of buildings, which is what makes it fun. Use the website for guidance and you have an easy hour of wandering, which suits a hot afternoon or a morning when the shops are not open yet.
The Prince mural on the outdoor wall at the Margaret River Bakery is one of the good ones, and conveniently placed if you are already queuing for a pastry.
If you are in town on a Saturday, go. The Margaret River Farmers Market runs every Saturday morning from 7.30am to 11.30am, just south of the main strip on the Bussell Highway and easily walkable from town. The stalls are local and seasonal: fruit, vegetables, meat, chocolate and wine.
Go early. The best produce sells out and you will be looking at empty tables by eleven.
You can pick up coffee and hot food and sit under the awning in the middle of the market to watch the town go past. It is clearly a fixture in the community diary rather than a tourist thing, which is exactly why it is worth an hour of your Saturday.
There is a lot of choice for a town this size, and most of it is on or just off the Bussell Highway so you can walk between it all. These are the places we tried, mostly with teenagers in tow.
Breakfast and coffee – The place to be in the morning is the Margaret River Bakery, which regularly has a queue before it opens. We joined it and came away with takeaway coffees, yoghurt and granola and pastries, and it was worth the wait. The branding is fun, all reds and pinks, and the sandwiches have good names. Look for Miss Piggy. There is a little casual seating inside if you are quick, and an outdoor patio with the murals on the walls.
Italian on the main street – There is more than one option, and we have now tried two.
Pizzica: Woodfired pizzas on our first visit, and very good. Pizzica also deserves a special mention because I absent-mindedly left a backpack in the restaurant with all of our passports in it. The staff found it, kept it safe and handed it back when I came flying back through the door. Thank you again.
Swings and Roundabouts: On our second visit we ordered takeaway pizzas here to eat back at the Airbnb. The restaurant itself was doing brisk trade.
A nut free restaurant, which is rarer than it should be. We travel with our son, who has a severe nut allergy, so finding Miss Chow’s was a real relief. It is an Asian restaurant and dumpling house and it is entirely nut free.
Miss Chow’s is not in the town centre. It sits on the Edwards Wines property about 9km out, roughly ten minutes’ drive, in a modern building with big windows looking over the vineyards. Every course we ordered was excellent, and there were small plates, large plates and a dedicated dumpling menu.
The staff are what made it. They were reassuring about the nut free environment and attentive about my son’s secondary allergies without being asked twice. He normally avoids Asian food altogether because of the risk of nut and soy contamination, and here he ate a full meal without a moment of anxiety. I cannot thank them enough.
There is a good range in the town of Margaret River itself, from luxury places near the beach down to small budget hotels and chalets in the woods.
Because of the size of our party we booked an Airbnb on a quiet tree-lined street just behind the main strip, which worked very well. We could walk into town for dinner and walk back afterwards, which is the whole point of staying in the centre.
Book early. Margaret River fills up, particularly around Easter and over the Margaret River Pro in April, and the good places go first.
If you would rather be out of town, the region has some lovely retreats and spa hotels around Yallingup and Dunsborough, roughly half an hour north. You lose the walk home from dinner but gain the setting.
In closing
For the town centre alone, half a day is enough to walk the street, do the shops and eat well. A full day if you hit the Saturday market and follow the art trail properly.
Give yourself at least two nights in Margaret River so you have time for the wineries and for the beaches and caves that fill the rest of the region. We had two nights on our first visit and it was not enough, which is exactly why we went back.
Margaret River reminded me of Carmel-by-the-Sea in California: a town set among trees on the edge of the ocean, with good food and no particular hurry about anything. Somewhere to disappear for a few days.
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