What are the best towns in Western Australia for visitors?

Some of the best towns in Western Australia provide a hub to explore nearby attractions. Margaret River, Exmouth, Rockingham and Denham fit that bill. But Western Australian towns such as Albany and Broome are hugely appealing in their own right. The likes of Busselton, Denmark and Geraldton fall somewhere in between.

Western Australia is Australia’s largest state and covers a phenomenal area. Yet the vast majority of the Western Australian population lives in and around Perth. There’s are plenty of things to do in Perth – Kings Park offers amazing views, while Elizabeth Quay and Yagan Square are new focal hubs. But the real magic of Western Australia unfolds elsewhere, and a series of small towns provide ideal bases for exploring.

Some of these Western Australian towns are merely functional – no-one’s going to get too excited about Denham or Exmouth, for example. But they also tend to provide the best accommodation options for those who don’t fancy camping in Western Australia’s national parks.

Best towns near Perth

Guildford: Very close to Perth Airport, Guildford has a few handsome heritage buildings in its armoury. But its main role is as the hub for the Swan Valley – the nearest wine region to Perth.

Mandurah: Surrounded by water, Mandurah is famed for its dolphin cruises. But there are some pretty marvellous beaches, too.

New Norcia: Charmingly different New Norcia is Australia’s only monastic town. Come to meet the monks, taste the top drawer breads and cakes and admire the Spanish-style architecture.

Rockingham: Effectively a southern suburb of Perth, seaside Rockingham is where you come to for boat trips to Penguin Island. It’s not just penguins you’ll see – dolphins, pelicans and Australian sea lions are also in abundance.

Pinjarra: The Pinjarra Bakery makes some of the best pies in the country, and the Edenvale Heritage Precinct crams in the historic buildings. The Peel Zoo is the reason most visitors stop in Pinjarra, however.

Dwellingup: Surrounded by forests, this cute little weekend getaway is home to the Hotham Valley Tourist Railway. It’s also the gateway to walking and mountain biking trails in the Lane Poole Reserve.

Best towns in south-west WA

Australind: Just north of Bunbury, Australind is home to what’s thought to be Australia’s smallest church. But the real reasons to visit are the beaches, wildlife and walking trails of the Leschenault Peninsula.

Balingup: Surrounded by forests, peaceful Balingup has two key attractions – the Balingup Fruit Winery and Golden Valley Tree Park.

Bunbury: On the drive south from Perth to Margaret River, Bunbury is most notable for its Dolphin Discovery Centre. The centre offers the opportunity to swim with dolphins in Koombana Bay and dolphin cruises.

Busselton: Busselton’s major attraction is its 1.7km long jetty. At the end of it, you can go on a marvellously strange sea-bottom walk wearing a special diving helmet. Busselton is also the departure point for tours to see nocturnal marsupials in a private forest reserve.

Dunsborough: At the other end of Geographe Bay from Busselton, Dunsborough is home to some excellent whale-watching cruises between September and December. You can also do stand-up paddle-boarding lessons at Meelup Beach or rent a holiday home in Eagle Bay.

Margaret River: The town of Margaret River has sprouted a host of good restaurants, but it’s really a base for exploring the wider Margaret River region. For most, this means hopping between world-class wineries. Others may enjoy cave tours and paddling with stingrays at Hamelin Bay.

Denmark: Timber and dairy town Denmark has become an in-the-know getaway for surfers and people who love being surrounded by forests. It’s the closest town to the magical Greens Pool in the William Bay National Park. It’s also home to the Boston Brewery.

Albany: A 413km drive from Perth, Western Australia’s oldest settlement plays host to the superb National Anzac Centre. Albany is also a good place to go on a whale-watching cruise, or learn about Australia’s former whaling industry at Discovery Bay. The walking trails through the big granite outcrops of the Porongurup National Park are just to the north.

Best towns in Western Australia: Outback regions

Kalgoorlie: The gold mining city of Kalgoorlie sure isn’t pretty, but it is oddly riveting. You can visit the Superpit gold mine or learn about the mining past at Hannan’s North Tourist Mine and the Museum of the Goldfields.

Balladonia: Admittedly, Balladonia doesn’t really qualify as a town as such. But it is the most interesting roadhouse stop on the Western Australian stretch of the Nullarbor Plain. It’s home to one hole of the Nullarbor Links golf course and a museum about when the Skylab space station crashed to earth in 1979.

Best towns on the west coast of Australia

Lancelin: This fishing town offers fantastic surfing at Back Beach, plus sandboarding, 4WD tours and quad biking on the Lancelin sand dunes.

Geraldton: A 415km drive north of Perth, sunny Geraldton has a fairly good museum to keep visitors occupied, but really, it’s a gateway to the hugely underrated Houtman-Abrolhos Islands, the site of the first European building in Australia. There are several shipwrecks – these islands have been pretty dangerous over the years – include the notorious Batavia wreck.

Denham: The Shark Bay region is very sparsely populated, but Denham is what passes for a big smoke. Use it as a base for a tour of Dirk Hartog Island, feeding the dolphins on the beach at Monkey Mia and seeing the ancient stromatolites of Hamelin Pool.

Exmouth: Nobody comes to see Exmouth – they use it as a base for exploring the Ningaloo Reef. The reef runs down the coast of the North-West Cape Peninsula. Come between March and August to swim with whale sharks and between August and October to swim with humpback whales. The Ningaloo Reef kayaking tours and microlight flights are excellent, too.

Broome: A 24 hour drive from Perth, Broome has an intoxicating combination of beach resort town and outback. Highlights include visiting a pearl farm, the Pearl Luggers tour, taking a camel ride down Cable Beach and hovercraft tours out over the tidal flats.