The half of Australia most visitors never see. Quokkas, nine wine regions, whale watching and beaches shared with kangaroos, strung along one of the country’s great road trips. Here is how to plan a trip.
Western Australia covers a third of the country, yet most itineraries never leave the east coast. Their loss.
We have spent weeks exploring this side of Australia as a family, and the shape of the trip is simple. You start in Perth, a capital city where you can watch wild kangaroos on an island in the river before breakfast. You day trip out to quokkas, limestone spires and a wine region you can reach by boat. Then you point the car south and follow the coast through surf, forest and cellar doors all the way round to the kangaroos lying on the sand at Lucky Bay.
In short: This page brings all our Western Australia guides together, grouped the way you will actually use them. Perth first, then the day trips, then the road south.
Every Western Australia trip starts here, and Perth deserves more than a stopover.
Australia’s most underrated city, and we make the full case. A relaxed riverside capital with 50 miles of white sand beaches, a park bigger than Central Park, and wild kangaroos in the middle of it at Heirisson Island. Start here.
A jet lag friendly plan for the day you land, built around light, fresh air and staying awake until a sensible bedtime. Kings Park, brunch on local time, kangaroos in the afternoon and sunset on the Indian Ocean.
Perth’s port city, known to everyone as Freo. Heritage streets, the markets, a prison you tour by torchlight, and the shortest ferry crossing to Rottnest Island.
Seeing a show at the amphitheatre in the Perth Hills? Where to park, where to sit, what you cannot bring, and how to turn the drive into a half day out.
You could base yourself in Perth or Fremantle for a week and day trip brilliantly. Quokkas, limestone spires, wild dolphins and a wine region you can reach by boat, all within a couple of hours of the city.
Home of the quokka, on a car-free island of quiet bays a short ferry ride from Fremantle. Which ferry to take, how to get around once you land, where the quokkas actually are, and the island’s harder history as Wadjemup.
Thinking of hiring a bike? Most people do, and the Island Ride is 22km with real hills. Whether to cycle, what it costs and why to book an electric bike ahead:
Thousands of limestone spires rising out of the desert in Nambung National Park, an easy day north of Perth. Two very different days out, so we have written both.
An easy and underrated day south of the city. Wild dolphins in the canals, giant recycled sculptures hidden along a trail, a mural covering an entire dam wall, and one of the oldest living ecosystems on Earth.
Western Australia’s oldest wine region, barely half an hour from the city, and the only one you can do with nobody behind the wheel. A tasting cruise up the Swan River with cellar doors at the far end.
Three hours south of Perth and worth every minute. Margaret River is the best known of Western Australia’s nine wine regions, and it is not a day trip. It is a destination, and the natural first base on the road south. We have split our guides the way you will actually use them.
Beaches, caves and surf. A sheltered swimming beach ten minutes from town, a coast path to a world championship surf break, and 105 caves underneath the region, seven of them open to the public.
Around 200 producers making 2% of Australia’s wine and over 20% of its premium wine. How to pick a cellar door, which ones do lunch properly, and the thing nobody warns you about, which is how to get home afterwards.
The main street, the Saturday farmers market, the street art trail, and where to eat, including the nut free restaurant that made our trip considerably easier.
Which wine region? If you only have an afternoon, cruise the Swan Valley. If wine is one of the reasons you came, give Margaret River two or three nights and do it properly. On a full trip, do both, and stop in Denmark on the way south for a third. Western Australia has nine official wine regions in total, and produces under 5% of Australia’s wine while taking around 30% of its medals.
This is the trip that ties the whole state together, and the reason to give Western Australia its own holiday rather than a side trip.
The ready-made plan. Two weeks following the South West Edge from Perth through Margaret River, Denmark and Albany to the beaches of Esperance, with the route leg by leg, what actually needs booking ahead, national park passes, the hazards worth knowing about and what to pack. Every guide below slots into this route.
The first leg south, and where you stop matters as much as where you end up. Sea kayaking with sea lions, the longest timber jetty in the southern hemisphere, and how long to actually allow.
Your first proper base, and the one place on this route we would give three nights rather than two.
Through the karri forests to the south coast, with wild sting rays gliding past your legs in the shallows at Hamelin Bay.
Granite boulders shaped like elephants, a bakery that wins awards for its pies, cool climate wine in the Great Southern, and a walkway 40 metres up in the tingle canopy.
One of the most reliable places on earth to see killer whales in the wild. The Bremer Canyon season runs December to April with a 96% sighting rate.
The reward at the end of the road. The whitest sand in Australia, the turquoise water of Cape Le Grand, and kangaroos that really do lie about on the beach.
A full orientation to get you started. For the day-by-day detail, the guides above do the heavy lifting.
Very much so. Western Australia covers a third of the country but sees a fraction of its visitors, and that is precisely the appeal. You get the wildlife encounters, the wine regions and the impossibly white beaches without the east coast crowds, and a capital that deserves far better than its stopover reputation.
It is the wildlife that surprises people most. Quokkas on Rottnest, sea lions off Rockingham, koalas at Yanchep, sting rays at Hamelin Bay, killer whales off Bremer Bay and kangaroos on the sand at Lucky Bay, all on one road trip.
Three or four days covers Perth and Fremantle with a day trip to Rottnest Island or the Pinnacles.
To do the south west properly, from Perth down through Margaret River and along the south coast to Esperance, plan on two weeks. The distances are serious. This is a corner of Australia bigger than most European countries, and trying to rush it is the most common mistake people make.
The sweet spot. Wildflowers out, comfortable temperatures for walking and beach days alike.
Long hot beach days, school holiday crowds in the coastal towns, and orca season at Bremer Bay, which runs December to April.
Similarly kind to spring, and when we did our road trip. Two weeks without rain and mid twenties every day.
Mild by UK standards, quieter and greener, with rain in the south west.
Perth is the gateway, and it shares a time zone with much of Asia, so the jet lag is kinder than the east coast.
The Qantas westbound Perth to London service has been rerouted via Singapore since 4 March 2026 and renumbered QF209, which takes the journey past 20 hours. The eastbound London to Perth leg, QF10, is still flying nonstop, which is the leg most UK travellers care about. The arrangement is filed through to mid July 2026 with no confirmed date for restoring the direct westbound service, so check the current position rather than assuming.
Once you are there, a car is essential beyond the city. The driving is a pleasure, on long open roads with very little traffic, but treat the distances with respect. Fill up in every major town, carry water, and avoid rural roads at dawn and dusk when kangaroos are most active.
Most of the best stops charge vehicle entry, currently around $17 (AUD) a day. A Holiday Pass covering 14 days is around $50 and four weeks around $70, so on a two week trip taking in three or four parks it pays for itself almost immediately. Buy it at the first park you visit.
One of us travels with a severe nut allergy, and Australia is one of the easier countries to manage it. Labelling is clear and staff take it seriously, provided the allergy goes in at booking rather than being mentioned on the day.
The full picture, including how the airlines compare, is in our guide to travelling Australia with a nut allergy, and our free allergy translation cards are worth packing wherever you are heading next.
Quokkas are protected: They may look like they are posing, but keep your distance and never feed or touch them.
No daylight saving: Western Australia does not observe it, so the time difference with the east coast changes with the seasons.
The sun is fierce: Even on mild days. Treat sunscreen as non-negotiable.
Book the big things ahead: Ferries, whale tours and school holiday accommodation all sell out.
Do not try to do Western Australia as a side trip. Give it its own holiday, point the car south from Perth, and let the distances set the pace. The gaps between the highlights turn out to be highlights themselves.
Yes. Bremer Bay, on the south coast between Albany and Esperance, is one of the best places in the world to see orcas, with full day tours running out to the Bremer Canyon from December to April and a sighting rate around 96%.
For a first trip, the South West Edge, and specifically Margaret River. If we could move anywhere in Western Australia it would be here without hesitation. It has the surf, the adventure, the cooler climate and the wine, and somehow still feels unhurried.
More broadly, the South West is where most visitors head and where the road trip runs, from Perth down through Margaret River and along the coast to Esperance. Do not come expecting big city energy, because that is not what this part of Australia does. Start in Perth to find your feet in the heat and the pace of things, then head south.
Stay in Perth and day trip. Seven days is not enough to take on the road south, and attempting to, will spoil both halves of the holiday (as you will feel rushed). Here is our recommended 7 day plan:
Stretch it to ten days and you can add two or three nights in Margaret River, though you will need a hire car for that leg.
Perth, and by a decent margin. Qantas flies nonstop from London Heathrow to Perth in around 17 hours, which is the only nonstop service between the UK and Australia.
There is still no nonstop from the UK to Sydney. Qantas has confirmed its London to Sydney service for October 2027, at around 22 hours, but until then every London to Sydney trip involves a change in Singapore, Dubai or Doha and lands you at 21 to 24 hours door to door.
One thing to know about the return… Between 25 October 2026 and 31 January 2027 the Perth to London leg routes via Singapore, which adds about three hours. Nonstop westbound is due back on 1 February 2027. The outbound leg to Perth is unaffected throughout.