Perth: Readers’ Tips, Recommendations and Travel Advice

Perth offers a lot of things for travellers. The climate is generally warm, not far from the sea. To bathe safely, please visit Cottesloe or the city beach. The centre is mainly a pedestrian street, and the shopping centre that connects Murray and Hay Streets-London Court is especially worth a visit.

For young people, there are many fashionable bars and cafes in North Bridge. It also includes the Art Gallery of Western Australia (artgallery.wa.gov.au), both of which are free.

Take a boat from the Esplanade to Fremantle to see the Victorian streets and their many sidewalk cafes. Take a free bus tour around the city and visit the prison (Fremdantleprison.com.au), which is now the first museum built by prisoners to shelter them. There is also a great maritime museum (museum.wa.gov.au). Take the train back to the city centre.

Further afield, take the train to the antique in Guildford or the lagoon and crab in Mandurah.

More suggestions

Bus, train, boat and bicycle

Visit Perth without a car-Kings Park Botanic Garden, Western Australian Parliament Building, Western Australian Art Gallery (Art Gallery. wa.gov .au), Perth Mint (perthmint.com.au), and WACA Cricket Ground (waca.com.au) can all be reached by bus. You can take the train to Fremantle, visit the old prison, the Maritime Museum (museum.wa.gov.au/museums/maritime) and the weekend market, and buy quality souvenirs. Take a boat from Hillarys Boat Harbour or Fremantle to Rottnest Island, where you can bike to the beautiful beaches, or take the Bayseeker bus and get off at your favourite bay.

Street Sculpture

My top three suggestions for Perth are: Take the bus first. They are ideal for positioning and mutual understanding.

Second, take the river to Fremantle. It is the best way to appreciate high-end properties along the way.

Three, let’s go. The trails around the Swan River and the town are very beautiful, and the walls of the underground passage are dotted with quirky poetry. Look out for street sculptures in Perth and Fremantle. Two of my favourites are the fisherman unloading and the bronze illustration “Women need men, just like fish need bicycles”.

Take the bus

To escape the often unbearable heat in the city, take the free downtown bus route called Cats (transperth.wa.gov.au). Perth Central Area Transit is a free high-frequency service that circulates in the city centre (usually every five minutes). The red cat sailed in an east-west loop from Queen’s Garden in East Perth to Outram Street in West Perth. The blue cat sails from Barrack Street Jetty to Northbridge in the north-south loop. The yellow cat circulates from East Perth to West Perth. A big advantage of the Cat service is that the buses are air-conditioned-as are art galleries and museums. It’s usually too hot to walk on the main streets of this lovely city, so just jump on a cat. It’s worth it, even if it’s just a stop.

Fit for a king

A “must see” is Kings Park (bgpa.wa.gov.au). Then walk across the glass bridge, overlooking the Swan River. The lookout point at Mosman Park showcases the vast Swan River and nearby mansions. Trigg Beach, Cottesloe Beach and the village are great.

Indiana Tea Rooms in Cottesloe (indiana.com.au) is beautiful in the evening because you can watch the lights come on in Fremantle.

North of Perth is the delightful town of Guildford. Nearby is the Sandalford Winery (sandalford.com), which is visited twice a day. The surrounding environment is beautiful, and concerts are often held on weekends during peak seasons. There is a very good transportation system, especially north/south.

Combat Memories

We walked along Mounts Bay Road to Narrows Bridge, where we saw two black swans flying overhead. Then we climbed up the Kokoda Track Memorial Trail, where there are many memorial plaques of the Battle of New Guinea, and then took us to the Kings Park near the National War Memorial, which pays tribute to all the battles of the Australian Armed Forces.

We strolled through the Botanic Gardens in Kings Park, each section showing one of the many different ecosystems of this vast state.

A violent breeze eased the heat and pulled a small branch from the Avenue of Lemon Flavor or Corymbia citriodora (Corymbia citriodora) on Fraser Avenue at the main entrance of the park. We crushed some leaves to enjoy the refreshing lemon scent and then returned to our hotel via Kokoda Trail to swim and drink cold beer.

Ocean Meeting

First, go to Walpole to take part in the astonishing treetop walk (theoldswanbarracks.com) and WOW Wilderness Ecotour (wowwilderness.com.au), a scenic cruise. Then head east to Albany, to Whaleworld (whaleworld.org) and the wind farm. You can visit Esperance and Cape le Grand National Park to explore the most incredible beaches if you have time.

Or west to Levin Point Lighthouse at the junction of the Southern and Indian Oceans; north to the winery in Margaret River; Banbury to the Dolphin Discovery Center (dolphindiscovery.com.au), where you can paddle, Dolphins play in shallow water; and head to Mandurah for an interesting canal cruise.

A Perfect day

A perfect day in Perth is to walk along the beautiful Molaru Beach on the North Shore while watching the performances of joggers, kite surfers and surfers. After arriving at Hillarysboatharbour (hillarysboatharbour.com.au), sit there enjoying a well-deserved latte, watching the day-trippers board the ferry to spend the day on Rottnest Island. After walking back to the North Shore, I walked to the Mullaloo Beach Hotel (0061 8940 18411; mullaloobeachhotel.com.au) and enjoyed a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and a meal on the level overseeing the sea.

Minted

Step out of the shopping area and visit the Perth Mint-it is great. Then head to the park overlooking the water. There is beautiful birds, amazing flowers and shrubs everywhere. 

Park life

Check into the Riverview Hotel (9321 8963; riverviewperth.com.au), which is an economical hotel near the Swan River, Kings Park and Botanic Gardens.

Whiteman Park is a great place for the whole family-open spaces, wildlife, museums, adventure parks, most of which are free.

If you travel up the Swan River by car or ferry, the vineyards, restaurants and farm shops that are only 30 minutes away from Perth city centre will be an unexpected treat.

All this – and fish and chips

There are many beaches for adventurous surfers and paddlers. Our favourite is Woodman Point, where we were lucky enough to see local pelicans.

On rainy days, free or cheap activities include art galleries and the Shipwreck Museum (museum.wa.gov.au), which displays marine artifacts from ships that crashed along the coast.

Short day trips include Pinnacles and Wave Rock or visit Old New York City.

If you do not climb the clock tower to admire the scenery and see and hear the bell of St. Martin that originally hung in the field, then your trip to Perth is not complete.

But our most unforgettable memory is the sunset at the Fremantle War Memorial, while we ate fish and chips.

What to avoid

Stick to the mainland

The trip to Rottnest Island is a long and expensive ferry trip, and the mainland beaches are better.

Booze cruises

Avoid the Swan river cruises – they tend to be used by inevitably rowdy hen and stag parties on booze cruises, and if you visit Rottnest Island don’t expect to see the quokkas until late afternoon.

Hire a car for a day-Thrifty (thrifty.com.au) offers a great price-and. Check out the stromatolites at Cervantes, north of Perth. It is closer than Shark Bay and is well worth a visit to see some of the earliest life forms on earth.

You will also have free time to visit the Pinnacles but walk instead of driving on the way back. This is an extremely beautiful area and a must for photographers.

Don’t expect to hurry

The airport bus requires a long and cumbersome return journey-allow plenty of time. Trips to Margaret River, Wave Rock, etc., are equally tedious and far away. However, cheap day pass rover vehicles can enter beaches like Cottesloe, where comprehensive and efficient transportation takes you from train to bus service to the beach. After returning to the city, take the accompanying ferry across the water and enjoy the best view of the city skyline.