Western Australia beaches are very different from the eastern seaboard, less developed and less crowded. If you want to escape the crowds, have closer encounters with nature, swim among tropical sealife, experience the real outback coastline then Western Australia is the perfect place for an extraordinary beach experience, an ancient and huge land with extreme contrasts in landscape and climate from temperate areas in the south to the tropical in the north.

The beaches in the surrounding areas of Perth are beautiful sandy beaches, ideal place for sunbathing, strolling, surfing, playing volley ball and enjoy a great outdoor life.

Cottesloe Beach is one of the most known and popular among visitors as well as locals. Scarborough Beach and Leighton Beach close to Fremantle's port are also pretty beaches. On your journey to Perth a visit to Fremantle is a must, this little suburb of Perth has heritage buildings and historical sites as well as a nice coffee strip and colourful lively markets, held on weekends.

Drive farther south along the coast through Mandura, Rockingham, famous for dolphin watching down to Margaret River, home of one of the most famous surfing competitions in the world: the Drug Aware Pro also one of Australia’s top three tournaments on the ASP world tour calendar. If you wish to check details about water conditions read more about Surfing Reports or if you want to learn more about Surfing Courses in Australia.

Have fun watching this surf performance at Margaret River:

Rottnest Island - Western Australia

If you spend a few days on the southbound of Perth, then you must visit Rottnest Island. You can catch the ferry from Perth or from Fremantle and stay overnight. One day tour is also doable, but the island has so much to offer: lovely beaches and little bays to explore either by bike (no cars allowed there) or by bus, you will find that a day is not enough to see it all. If you wish to stay overnight there you can look up in this page Hotels in Rottnest Island.

The local tourist office offer a variety of free guided tours around the island, you can watch the Quokkas, or listen to the history of Rottnest Island and more. Have a look at some of the finest beaches of Rottnest Islands:

Rottnest Island

More information about the southern beaches of Perth

Whale watching in Western Australia

Australia's South West is also the perfect place to watch whales on their annual migration. Both Humpback and Southern Right Whales can be sighted in the region’s coastal pristine waters between June and early December. Here some of the best sites for whale watching.

The Coral coast

The Coral coast in western Australia stretches from Cervantes, north of Perth, up to Exmouth for approx. 1,500km covering some of the most fascinating natural wonders of the world like the Pinnacles (30,000 years old limestone pillars standing out up to 5meters height) in the Nambung NP, the Kalbarri NP with spectacular sandstone cliffs and gorges of the Murchison River. It is also home of the Shark Bay World Heritage, with Monkey Mia where you can experience Dolphins and hand-freed them from the shore. Shell beach a 120 km wide beach made of millions of little white shells.

Shell Beach, Shark Bay

Feeding Dolphins in Monkey Mia

Coral Bay

Fuirther north in the Ningaloo Reef region you reach Coral Bay, a true coral reef paradise with turquoise clear water and lovely beaches. Here you can view corals very close to the beach as well as swim with sea turtles, giant manta rays, red snappers, and many more. The outer reef is not far from the shore, you can go out on boat and enjoy great snorkelling among a variety of Australian marine life, I am sure you will not expect to see there.

Coral Bay is a little place and therefore ideal to relax away from crowds. if you are looking for tranquillity this is absolutely the best spot in Western Australia.

Coral Bay Beach

Read more the Coral Cost in WA

Torquise Bay, Ningaloo Reef National Park

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