Of Western Australia’s many charms, its wineries produce renowned vintages and chefs champion local produce and native ingredients. Plus, from the capital Perth (Boorloo) to the Margaret River Region in the southwest, this dazzling coastline is awash with brilliant white-sand beaches, luxury boutique stays, and bright blue waters brimming with crayfish, scallops, barramundi, and western rock lobster.
It’s home to a jetty so impossibly long, it seems to disappear into the sea, and a sweep of coastline that boasts one of Australia’s best multi-day hikes. It’s where you can eat bush tucker or listen to the sounds of an Aboriginal didgeridoo and connect with a 60,000-year-old living culture that’s the oldest in the world.
Bring an appetite and a sense of adventure on this epic nine-day itinerary in Perth and the Margaret River Region. This trip will delight nature lovers and foodies alike.
Itinerary / 9 Days
PLAN YOUR TRIP
Elizabeth Quay, Perth
Courtesy of Tourism Western Australia
Day 1:Explore Perth and Rottnest Island
Begin your epicurean adventure in Perth at Como The Treasury, an effortlessly elegant hotel with 48 guest rooms, a gym, and a heated 65-foot indoor pool, all centrally located in Perth’s oldest district.
Today is all about seafood and the sea. Take the fast ferry (45 minutes pier to pier) to Rottnest Island (Wadjemup) from Hillary’s Boat Harbour. Snap a picture of the resident quokka, the world’s happiest animal, before setting sail on the Rottnest Island Luxe Seafood Cruise.
The 69-foot pleasure cruiser features a seven-course meal centered on rock lobster so fresh that you’ll be fishing the lobster pots from the sea and sitting down to lunch soon after. Spend some time anchored in one of Rottnest Island’s pristine bays, swimming, snorkeling, and sunning on mats in the sea while delicious treats are floated out to you.
Back in Perth, swing by the Art Gallery of Western Australia. Inside the Brutalist space is one of the best collections of Aboriginal artwork and an immersive art dining experience (until February 2025). Don’t miss the rooftop sculpture walk. October to March, a rooftop bar is open, serving cocktails with panoramic skyline views.
Tonight, experience Perth’s buzzy dining scene where local produce shines. At 6Head, the waterfront restaurant in Elizabeth Quay (Gumap) dining precinct, steak is the star, from grass or long-grain fed to aged and marbled. If surf is more your style, there’s a raw bar and a choice of three different caviars.
If you’d rather not venture too far, Wildflower sits atop Como the Treasury. The dining venue has three hats (Australia’s version of the Michelin star) and sweeping views across the Swan River (Derbarl Yerrigan). Dishes are global, but the focus is firmly on Western Australian produce and native ingredients in step with the six seasons of the Aboriginal Noongar calendar. Think diced emu with blackened onion ash or hand-caught marron (a type of crayfish) with spinach-like warrigal greens. Desserts are just as tantalizing with flavors such as mint, wattleseed (from acacia trees), and lemon myrtle.
Today is all about seafood and the sea. Take the fast ferry (45 minutes pier to pier) to Rottnest Island (Wadjemup) from Hillary’s Boat Harbour. Snap a picture of the resident quokka, the world’s happiest animal, before setting sail on the Rottnest Island Luxe Seafood Cruise.
The 69-foot pleasure cruiser features a seven-course meal centered on rock lobster so fresh that you’ll be fishing the lobster pots from the sea and sitting down to lunch soon after. Spend some time anchored in one of Rottnest Island’s pristine bays, swimming, snorkeling, and sunning on mats in the sea while delicious treats are floated out to you.
Back in Perth, swing by the Art Gallery of Western Australia. Inside the Brutalist space is one of the best collections of Aboriginal artwork and an immersive art dining experience (until February 2025). Don’t miss the rooftop sculpture walk. October to March, a rooftop bar is open, serving cocktails with panoramic skyline views.
Tonight, experience Perth’s buzzy dining scene where local produce shines. At 6Head, the waterfront restaurant in Elizabeth Quay (Gumap) dining precinct, steak is the star, from grass or long-grain fed to aged and marbled. If surf is more your style, there’s a raw bar and a choice of three different caviars.
If you’d rather not venture too far, Wildflower sits atop Como the Treasury. The dining venue has three hats (Australia’s version of the Michelin star) and sweeping views across the Swan River (Derbarl Yerrigan). Dishes are global, but the focus is firmly on Western Australian produce and native ingredients in step with the six seasons of the Aboriginal Noongar calendar. Think diced emu with blackened onion ash or hand-caught marron (a type of crayfish) with spinach-like warrigal greens. Desserts are just as tantalizing with flavors such as mint, wattleseed (from acacia trees), and lemon myrtle.
Some of the local produce in Dale Tilbrook’s Aboriginal Bush Tucker Experience
Courtesy of Tourism Australia
Day 2:Visit the Swan Valley and Cottesloe Beach
Continue your deep dive into bush tucker (food native to Australia) this morning on a tour in the Swan Valley with Dale Tilbrook. A descendant of the local Wardandi Bibbulmun people, Tilbrook is known as the “bush tucker queen” for her knowledge of bush edibles and native ingredients. The two-hour tours are a smorgasbord of native aromas and flavors—from wild herbs and salt-accented warrigal greens to zingy limes, tart quandongs (a fruit), and creamy sandalwood nuts.
Pack your swimsuit for City Beach and bask in some of the 3,000 hours of sunshine Perth gets each year. This stretch of sand is a summer favorite, with gentle surf for swimming and prime seats to the flaming red sunsets that are a signature of any visit to Western Australia.
Sunsets are just as pretty at Perth’s iconic Cottesloe Beach, a crescent of sand framed by Norfolk pines. It’s also where you’ll find Gibney, your dinner spot this evening. This old-school steakhouse and seafood grill has style in spades, a squadron of white-jacketed waiters, and a caviar bar. Enjoy a meal that marries classical French and modern farm-to-plate sensibilities with pickled, fermented, or smoked dishes.
Pack your swimsuit for City Beach and bask in some of the 3,000 hours of sunshine Perth gets each year. This stretch of sand is a summer favorite, with gentle surf for swimming and prime seats to the flaming red sunsets that are a signature of any visit to Western Australia.
Sunsets are just as pretty at Perth’s iconic Cottesloe Beach, a crescent of sand framed by Norfolk pines. It’s also where you’ll find Gibney, your dinner spot this evening. This old-school steakhouse and seafood grill has style in spades, a squadron of white-jacketed waiters, and a caviar bar. Enjoy a meal that marries classical French and modern farm-to-plate sensibilities with pickled, fermented, or smoked dishes.
Busselton Jetty
Courtesy of Tourism Western Australia
Day 3:Road Trip Through the Margaret River Region
Check out of your hotel and take a scenic flight to the Margaret River Region with Swan River Seaplanes. The one-hour flight soars up and over the city skyline, winding south-west past white-capped seas and golden sands to the patchwork of vines that have made the Margaret River Region such a celebrated wine region.
Hire a car at the airport and use the “Drive the Dream” self-guided touring maps to explore the region at your own pace. Trace the brilliant blue coastline and white-sand beaches to towering karri forests, lighthouses, and lagoons, where a winery’s cellar door is never far from view.
Stop at the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Busselton Jetty (Undalup), the longest timber piled jetty in the southern hemisphere. Take the train to the end, where the jetty juts 6,040 feet into the ocean. Visit Busselton Underwater Observatory, one of six in the world, where you can descend 26 feet below the sea to view the artificial reef and dazzling marine life. Book ahead for a guided tour.
Drive to Cape Naturaliste this afternoon for a cultural tour with Koomal Dreaming’s Josh Whiteland of the Bibbulmun people. He’s passionate about food, nature, and music; his Ngilgi Cave tour combines all three.
Learn about the Noongar calendar and bush medicine before entering the eye-opening Ngilgi Cave. Decorated with stalactites, stalagmites, and beautifully colored shawls, the cave is a natural amphitheater with pitch-perfect acoustics for a spine-tingling didgeridoo performance.
Your accommodation is at Smiths Beach Resort, an eco-hotel with a heated infinity pool and restaurant minutes from the white sands of Smiths Beach. Enjoy dinner here this evening.
Hire a car at the airport and use the “Drive the Dream” self-guided touring maps to explore the region at your own pace. Trace the brilliant blue coastline and white-sand beaches to towering karri forests, lighthouses, and lagoons, where a winery’s cellar door is never far from view.
Stop at the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Busselton Jetty (Undalup), the longest timber piled jetty in the southern hemisphere. Take the train to the end, where the jetty juts 6,040 feet into the ocean. Visit Busselton Underwater Observatory, one of six in the world, where you can descend 26 feet below the sea to view the artificial reef and dazzling marine life. Book ahead for a guided tour.
Drive to Cape Naturaliste this afternoon for a cultural tour with Koomal Dreaming’s Josh Whiteland of the Bibbulmun people. He’s passionate about food, nature, and music; his Ngilgi Cave tour combines all three.
Learn about the Noongar calendar and bush medicine before entering the eye-opening Ngilgi Cave. Decorated with stalactites, stalagmites, and beautifully colored shawls, the cave is a natural amphitheater with pitch-perfect acoustics for a spine-tingling didgeridoo performance.
Your accommodation is at Smiths Beach Resort, an eco-hotel with a heated infinity pool and restaurant minutes from the white sands of Smiths Beach. Enjoy dinner here this evening.
Vasse Felix, Margaret River Region
Courtesy of Tourism Western Australia
Day 4:Food, Wine, and Art at Vasse Felix
Make your way to the Vasse Felix vineyards by 10 a.m. for the Epicurean Tour, a rare vine-to-table experience that will take you behind the scenes of Margaret River’s oldest winery. Learn about the terroir of the soil and the region’s cool climate that has made this dairy country a world-class wine region for cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay. Visit its oldest vines and enjoy a private tasting of Vasse Felix wines before settling in for a five-course tasting menu that pairs the best local seasonal produce with the winery’s rare Icon wines.
Cape Lodge is your accommodation this evening, a 22-room grand manor nestled within manicured gardens sketched with pretty walking trails. Here, you can join a wine masterclass, relax over high tea, or dine in the restaurant, which offers a seasonal menu that showcases the best of the Margaret River Region’s produce, including the kitchen’s own garden.
Cape Lodge is your accommodation this evening, a 22-room grand manor nestled within manicured gardens sketched with pretty walking trails. Here, you can join a wine masterclass, relax over high tea, or dine in the restaurant, which offers a seasonal menu that showcases the best of the Margaret River Region’s produce, including the kitchen’s own garden.
Cape to Cape Track
Courtesy of Tourism Western Australia
Days 5-9:Cape to Cape Track
Check into Injidup Spa Retreat, a sanctuary of calm with a day spa and 10 adult-only villas overlooking the ocean. Each features a private heated plunge pool, where the soothing soundtrack of the ocean and wind will lull you into a blissful state.
This will be your base for the next four nights while you explore this pocket of stunning wilderness on the “4 Day Cape to Cape Walk” with Walk Into Luxury. The multiday hike is one of Australia’s Great Walks, with the Indian Ocean always at your shoulder. It leads between two national parks, from pristine beaches and orange sandstone cliffs to giant karri forests. Enjoy a kitchen stocked with goodies and a private chef dinner. Your walk ends with a celebratory winery lunch. Walk Into Luxury also offers shorter guided walks for those with less time wanting a memorable dose of green therapy.
With your memories of your hike and time in this special region to savor, check out of your accommodation and either drive or fly back to Perth to continue your journey home.
This will be your base for the next four nights while you explore this pocket of stunning wilderness on the “4 Day Cape to Cape Walk” with Walk Into Luxury. The multiday hike is one of Australia’s Great Walks, with the Indian Ocean always at your shoulder. It leads between two national parks, from pristine beaches and orange sandstone cliffs to giant karri forests. Enjoy a kitchen stocked with goodies and a private chef dinner. Your walk ends with a celebratory winery lunch. Walk Into Luxury also offers shorter guided walks for those with less time wanting a memorable dose of green therapy.
With your memories of your hike and time in this special region to savor, check out of your accommodation and either drive or fly back to Perth to continue your journey home.
