Perth
Perth is the only Australian capital where the sun goes down over the sea, and the beaches it sets on are nearly empty. Quokkas are twenty-five minutes offshore, wild dolphins swim at Rockingham.
Perth in a nutshell
Perth: what to expect
Every figure here is drawn from 366,000+ stops planned in Australia on Stippl.
Perth is the one Australian capital where the sun sets over the ocean, and the sunset is treated as a civic event. Cottesloe and Scarborough are where the city goes to watch it. Rottnest Island, or Wadjemup, is twenty-five minutes out by ferry, cycled rather than driven, with quokkas and beaches that would rank nationally. Kings Park sits on an escarpment above the Swan River with a glass-floored walkway through the eucalypt canopy, and Fremantle is a port town thirty minutes away with its own identity.
Perth is the destination Australia's route does not reach. It turns up on fewer Australian trips than its size predicts, the only large destination where that is true, and it is the one place whose partners are a different country: Margaret River, Esperance, Albany, Exmouth, Coral Bay and Broome appear beside Perth and beside nowhere else. Around three in ten of its stops are a single night while one in ten runs longer than a week, which is two destinations wearing one name.
So treat Perth as its own trip rather than a detour, and give yourself three to five days. Margaret River is three hours south and the Pinnacles two hours north, which is what the longer stays are actually doing. The free CAT buses loop the centre and Fremantle. Come September to November or March to May, and remember the seasons are inverted here: winter is the wet one.
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Beach people who want space
Perth's beaches are long, white and far less crowded than the east coast's.
Wildlife travellers
Quokkas on Rottnest, wild dolphins at Rockingham, little penguins on Penguin Island and sea lions at Jurien Bay.
Sunset chasers
Perth is the only Australian capital where the sun goes down over the sea.
Road-trippers
The south-west to Margaret River and the north to the Pinnacles and Ningaloo both start here.
Anyone avoiding the crowd
Perth is the destination the east-coast route never reaches, and most people who make the trip give it 1 night at least.
Maybe not for you: anyone on a tight east-coast itinerary, since Perth is a separate trip rather than a detour; and winter beach holidays, because June to August is cool and wet.
The best time to visit Perth
Summer
December to February
Hot and bone dry, with the sea breeze in the afternoon and the beaches at their best. Excellent for the coast and poor for walking inland, where the heat sits.
Autumn
March to May
Warm, dry and outside the summer heat, with the sea still swimmable and the city at its most comfortable. Most people would pick these months.
Winter
June to August
Perth's rain falls now, in fronts that come through for a day or two at a time, and the days between them are mild and clear. The cheapest beds and the greenest hills.
Spring
September to November
Warm, drying and the wildflower season across the state, which is a real reason to come. The city and Kings Park are at their best in September and October.
- January is the month most travellers plan Australia for on Stippl, and Perth is planned about 105 days ahead, the longest lead of any Australian city we cover. Only 10.9% of Perth plans are made inside a fortnight.
- Perth's rain falls in winter and its summer is dry. Every other Australian destination we cover is the other way round or has no dry season at all, so a trip that combines Perth with the east coast is in two calendars at once.
- The wildflower season runs through spring and is worth planning the trip around. Kings Park has its festival in September; the drives north to the Coral Coast see the fields from late August.
- Rottnest is a day trip that sells out on summer weekends. The ferries from Fremantle and the city go early and the bikes on the island run out; book the boat for a weekday in summer or any day in the shoulder.
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Things to do in Perth
Rottnest Island
Take the ferry twenty-five minutes to Wadjemup for the quokkas, a bike around the island and beaches most Australians would rank nationally, about €60 return with the bike. Book the ferry for a weekday in summer; the weekends sell out.
Sunset at Cottesloe
Sit on the lawn above the beach for the sun going into the Indian Ocean, the defining Perth ritual and the thing the east coast structurally cannot offer. Free, and the Indiana tea house is the terrace.
Kings Park
Walk the elevated Federation Walkway, six hundred metres with a glass bridge through the eucalypt canopy above the river, free. September for the wildflower festival, and the war memorial for the city view.
Fremantle for a day
Take the train thirty minutes for the weekend markets, the prison, the Round House and the harbour, and eat fish and chips on the wharf. The prison's tours run about €20, and the torchlight one is the good one.
The Pinnacles
Drive two hours north to the limestone spires of Nambung National Park, about €10 a car, often paired with sandboarding at Lancelin or a stargazing tour. Late afternoon for the shadows.
The Swan Valley
Spend an afternoon in the wine, brewery and produce valley thirty-five minutes from the city, on a tour for about €90 or with a driver. The chocolate factory is the stop the children remember.
The neighbourhoods of Perth
CBD
The quay, museums, small bars
Elizabeth Quay, the Bell Tower, the museum and gallery precinct and the small bars, on the free CAT bus loops, with hotels of every grade. For first visits and for transport at the door.
Everything on the free buses, and a centre that is quiet at night.
Northbridge
Nightlife, cultural centre, hostels
The nightlife and small-bar district with the cultural centre, five minutes' walk from the CBD, and the backpacker cluster. For going out and for budget beds.
The bars and the cheapest beds, and the noise until late.
Fremantle
Port town, markets, breweries
The port town half an hour away: the markets, the prison, the harbour and the breweries, with heritage hotels and hostels. For character and for a second base by the sea.
The best town on the coast, and half an hour to the city.
Cottesloe
The famous beach, the pub
Twelve kilometres out: the famous beach, the pub and the sunset over the Indian Ocean, with apartments and a few hotels. For beach days and for the sunset every evening.
The beach and the sunset at the door, and a train to the city.
Scarborough
Surf, rebuilt beachfront
Fourteen kilometres out: a rebuilt beachfront strip on a patrolled surf beach, with the modern hotels and the pool. For surfers and for a modern beach suburb.
Surf and the new strip, and a bus to the centre.
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Where to stay in Perth
Stay in the CBD for a first visit, on the free bus loops with Elizabeth Quay and the museum precinct on foot; Northbridge, five minutes away, holds the hostels and the small bars. 31.9% of Perth stops planned on Stippl are a single night. Fremantle is the alternative base with real character and an easy train in, and Rottnest books out far ahead.
CBD
Hotels of every grade, €120 to €300, and the pod hostels from €30 a bed.
Northbridge
The backpacker cluster, dorms €25 to €40, with mid-range hotels above the bars €100 to €180.
Fremantle
Heritage hotels in the old port buildings and hostels, €30 a bed to €220 a room.
Cottesloe
Apartments and a few hotels near the beach, €150 to €300, with the sunset pub next door.
Scarborough
Modern beachfront hotels and apartments on the rebuilt strip, €140 to €280.
What to eat in Perth
port-town fish-and-chips culture
fresh produce and weekend food stalls
Our sources' most-named brewery
a wine, brewery and produce trail 35 minutes from the city
Perth's own small-bar dining form
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Perth customs and what not to do
Whadjuk Noongar country
Perth stands on it and the Noongar calendar has six seasons, not four; Boorloo is on the signs, and the Karla Yarning walk on the river is the guided way in.
Rottnest has another history
Wadjemup was an Aboriginal penal settlement where at least 373 men and boys died in custody and were buried in unmarked graves; learn that before you cycle round it for the quokkas.
Fremantle is not Perth
It has its own identity and locals treat the distinction seriously; Freo is the port, the pubs and the Saturday market, and calling it a suburb gets a correction.
The quokkas are wild
The Rottnest selfie is the island's brand, and the rule is no touching and no feeding; the rangers fine for it, and the animals bite when handled.
Do
- Learn what Wadjemup is before you cycle around it
- Check SharkSmart before swimming or surfing
- Swim between the flags, and know which beaches have none
- Take the ferry to Fremantle and treat it as its own town
Don't
- Treat Perth as an east-coast add-on; it is a separate trip
- Assume summer rain; there is essentially none
- Approach or feed wildlife, quokkas included
- Call Fremantle a suburb of Perth to anyone from there
What a Perth trip costs
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Fun facts about Perth
Perth is the only Australian capital where the sun sets over the ocean. The coast faces west, and the sunset is treated as a civic event at Cottesloe and Scarborough every evening.
Kings Park is larger than Central Park. It is one of the largest inner-city parks in the world, on an escarpment above the Swan River, and two-thirds of it is native bushland.
The Noongar calendar has six seasons rather than four. Birak, Bunuru, Djeran, Makuru, Djilba and Kambarang, each defined by the weather and what is in flower, on Whadjuk Noongar country.
Rottnest is named after a Dutch navigator mistaking quokkas for large rats. Willem de Vlamingh called it Rats' Nest in 1696, and the quokkas are now the reason most people go.
Perth is about 4,000 km from Sydney. That is roughly 41 hours of driving, or four days on the Indian Pacific train, which is why it is one of the most isolated major cities in the world.
Fremantle is a port town with its own identity, 30 minutes away. Most visitors treat Freo as a second base rather than a suburb, for the convict-built prison and the Friday markets.
Local tips for Perth
The free CAT buses
The colour-coded CAT loops make the central city cheap to move around, and the train to Fremantle is about €3. Tap on with a bank card.
Two hours behind Sydney
Three in the eastern daylight-saving summer. Plan the connections around it; a Sydney flight that leaves at eight arrives at nine.
Most people stay one night
31.9% of stops are a single night and a fifth are none, the airport at the end of a trip. Two nights gets Rottnest and a Cottesloe sunset; the wildflowers want a third in spring.
Patrolled beaches and the rest
Trigg, Scarborough, Cottesloe and City Beach are patrolled; Mettams, Leighton and Port Beach are not, and Trigg has a permanent rip at the Blue Hole. City Beach's groynes are the calm water.
Check SharkSmart first
Western Australia publishes sightings and tagged-shark alerts, and locals check it the way they check the surf. Do the same before entering the water anywhere on this coast.
The Pinnacles is an outback day
Two hundred kilometres each way with heat, no phone signal for stretches and long gaps between fuel. Water, a full tank and a morning start; the sunset there means driving back in the dark.
Perth questions, answered
As a separate trip rather than a detour. Trips that include Perth run 33 days on Stippl and pair it with Margaret River, Esperance, Exmouth and Broome rather than with anything on the east coast. Put a whole western leg into Stippl, or leave Perth out entirely.
Three days for the city and Rottnest, five with a day trip further out. The Perth stops planned on Stippl run to 1 night, which is short because most people here are connecting to somewhere else in Western Australia.
A lot do: 18.4% of Perth stops planned on Stippl carry no night at all, the highest share of any major Australian city, because it is a flight connection to Margaret River or the north-west. The city, and Rottnest just off it, deserve rather better than that.
It is not a detour, it is a different trip. Perth is five hours' flying from Sydney, further than Sydney is from Bali, and it belongs to a Western Australia route rather than an east coast one. Do it as its own two or three weeks, or do not do it at all.
Yes. The ferry takes about twenty-five minutes from Fremantle, you hire a bike at the jetty and ride the loop, and you can be back for dinner. Read the island's history before you go, because the quokka photographs sit on top of a former prison for Aboriginal men.
Not everywhere. Several of the popular city beaches are unpatrolled, and Western Australia runs a public shark alert service that is worth checking before you get in. Cottesloe and Scarborough are patrolled in season and are where most people swim. Follow the flags rather than the crowd.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
Plan Perth in Stippl
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