PERTH · WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Quokkas, vineyards and Indian Ocean sunsets.
Day trips from the only Australian capital where the Indian Ocean swallows the sun. Rottnest, Pinnacles, Swan Valley, Margaret River and the long road north up the Coral Coast.
Only near Perth
Three things you can only do out here.
Day trips, wine tours and city walks exist in every capital. These three don’t. The animal, the encounter, the desert. Each one is specific to this stretch of Western Australia. Plan the rest of the trip around them.
On the island
Quokka Selfies on Rottnest
Quokkas live wild on Rottnest and one tiny offshore island, full stop. The whole population fits on a 19km loop of car-free white-sand bays. The selfie they invented half a million Instagram posts ago is the whole point of the day — ferry across, hire a bike, find the one that wants to pose.
- 1 From Perth or Fremantle: Rottnest Island Ferry and Bus Tour
- 2 From Perth: Rottnest Island Ferry & Bike Trip
- 3 From Perth: Rottnest Island Grand Island Day Tour with Lunch
In the water
Swimming with Wild Dolphins
Bottlenose dolphins live year-round in Shoalwater Bay, an hour south of Perth. Boat out, slip into the water, hold the rope, and they come close enough to look at you. No tank, no feeding station — one of the few in-water wild dolphin encounters operating anywhere.
- 1 Swim with Wild Dolphins Day Tour
- 2 Perth: Swim with Wild Dolphins Tour
- 3 Rockingham: Shoalwater Islands, Dolphins, and Sea Lions Tour
After dark
Sunset & Stars at the Pinnacles
Thousands of limestone spires standing in yellow sand inside Nambung National Park, two hours north of the city. The Perth tour formula is sunset walks among the formations, dinner under the dunes, then stargazing once the Milky Way comes up. No light pollution for hundreds of kilometres in any direction.
- 1 Pinnacles Desert Sunset Dinner and Stargazing Tour
- 2 From Perth: Pinnacles Sunset and Stargazing Tour with Dinner
- 3 Pinnacles Sunset Stargazing Dinner Experience Small Group Tour
The west coast day out
Start where every Perth itinerary starts.
If you’ve got one day off the mainland, it’s this one. Ferry across, hire a bike or board the bus, find a quokka. The day trip Perth runs on.
The classics
Perth’s Most Popular Day Tours
Rottnest, Pinnacles, Swan Valley, Margaret River. The day trips Perth itineraries are built around.
By place
Pick a corner of Western Australia.
Each one is its own day. Rottnest for the quokkas. Swan Valley for the wineries. Pinnacles for the desert. Margaret River for the surf and the chardonnay. Rockingham for the wild dolphins. Fremantle for everything in between.
By how far you’ll go
From half an hour out to a week up the coast.
Perth’s geographic luck: a lot of country sits within reach in every direction. Pick a distance, pick a day.
Under an hour
In and around the city
The day trips
One to three hours from town
The big drive north
Four days minimum on the Coral Coast
By tour type
Or pick how you want to spend the day.
Boat down the Swan, cycle the foreshore, segway between coffee stops. Wine tour, sunset dinner cruise, history walk through Fremantle’s prison. The choices Perth tour operators have built around the city.
Wine country day
Half a day in the Swan Valley.
Australia’s oldest wine region sits thirty minutes east of the CBD. Vineyards, distilleries, a brewery or two, the chocolate stop everyone makes. Our three picks for a Saturday on the wine road.
Three hours south
The Margaret River weekend.
Cool-climate cellar doors, karri forests, surf breaks on a coast carved by the Southern Ocean. The three formats we’d send a friend on, depending on how many nights they’ve booked.
Up close, in the water
Where the wildlife comes to you.
Wild dolphins at Rockingham. Sea lions and penguins on Penguin Island. Humpbacks off the coast in season. Three days where the animals stay wild and the encounter is the whole point — the ones we’d book first.
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