Perth to Esperance Self Drive Itinerary

Welcome to Perth! Settle into your comfortable accommodation and relax in Australia's sunniest capital city.

With soft sandy beaches, epic skyscrapers, huge green parks and a thriving street art scene, Perth is a fascinating town to explore. It's home to one of the biggest city parks in the world – Kings Park & Botanic Garden – right in the heart of town. This is a great place to get your bearings with sweeping views of the Swan and Canning rivers.
Perth's urban villages and small bar-bistros offer plenty of dining options to fuel you up for exciting adventures tomorrow.

Fun Facts About Perth

•    Perth is the most isolated city in the world: its closest city is Adelaide, over 2,200 km (1367 miles) away!
•    It’s also home to the highest number of self-made millionaires in the world
•    Perth is the only city in the world where an aircraft can land in the middle of town.

Accommodation: Perth - 3 Nights

Perth is the city of unhurried lifestyle, cool climate and nearby beaches. Accessing Perth's major attractions is simple thanks to a free public transport system within the city centre, the CAT bus. Museums, galleries, boutiques and department stores are all within walking distance of most city hotels. Suggested Excursions: Visit Rottnest Island, go for a bike ride, go kayaking or swimming in secluded bays. Cruise the magnificent Swan River with any boat, canoe or kayak, small sailboat.Take a Swan Valley Winery Day Tour. Explore Kings Park and the Botanic Gardens - the park is made up of over 400 hectares of parkland and gardens.

A 30-minute ferry ride from the city, Rottnest Island has sandy beaches, coral reefs and smiling Quokkas to meet. These cat-sized native creatures are known as the happiest animals in the world!

Jump aboard the Eco Express - a purpose-built, high-powered boat - for the adventure of a lifetime on Rottnest Island’s wild side.

Rottnest Island

Explore Rottnest's rugged coastline and witness its abundant wildlife up close. This is the ultimate thrill ride for nature lovers.

The Eco Express takes you right around the island, giving you an unforgettable up-close encounter with its birdlife and marine life. You can often spot majestic humpback whales (September to November) and the New Zealand fur seals who live in a colony at Cathedral Rocks.

The knowledgeable, friendly Eco Express crew know the best spots to find the island's finned, furred and feathered residents and will provide expert commentary along the journey.

Jump off the boat and onto your bike and explore the 83 beaches and 20 bays that Rottnest is famous for!

Collect your rental car and hit the road and set a course for the seaside town of Busselton. Along the way, come face to face with Western Australia's playful dolphins at Bunbury's Dolphin Discovery Centre.

Discover Bunbury's Dolphins

Bunbury’s amazing street art and obsession with gourmet food & great coffee have made it one of Western Australia’s most exciting cosmopolitan cities. It's also home to some seriously charming Bottlenose Dolphins.

The Dolphin Discovery Centre is a sensational sealife experience with interactive activities to delight all ages. See dolphin feedings, get hands-on in the touching pool, and try not to get sprayed by the resident octopus.

Onwards to Busselton

Arrive in Busselton and take a stroll along the iconic, heritage-listed jetty. Originally built in 1865, the 1.8km jetty features its own railway! Ride to the end to glimpse colourful fish, tropical corals, and possibly a migrating whale or two between June and November.

Approximate Distance: 222 km | 138 miles   Total Driving Time: 2 hours 23 mins

Accommodation: Busselton - 2 Nights

Spend a full day in Busselton for some seaside fun at one of Western Australia's favourite family holiday spots.

The Busselton foreshore has an awesome pathway alongside it, perfect for bike rides and scenic walks. Pack a family picnic or bring your own goodies to grill on the free barbecue facilities. The shallow beach has calm, clear waters for a safe and relaxing family swim.

On the famous Busselton Jetty, there's heaps of fun to be had. Explore the amazing Busselton Jetty on one of our Snorkel tours. Guided tours are conducted by our friendly, knowledgeable team of dive professionals most days.  Spend as long as you like snorkelling the Jetty, surrounded by firework displays of corals on the older pylons, over 300 different species of marine life, and 150 years of maritime history. Its too good a snorkel to miss!
 

Travel 45 minutes onwards to the beautiful Margaret River Region - one of Australia’s best-kept secrets and home to fine boutique wineries and gourmet food producers.

Welcome to Margaret River

The Margaret River Region stretches from Busselton down to Augusta, the most south-westerly point in Australia. The region produces less than 3 per cent of Australia's wine, but over than a fifth of the country's premium wine originates here.

Brimming with spectacular beaches, coastal trails, world-class surf breaks and gourmet cuisine, Margaret River is guaranteed to win your heart.

Your home away from home will be a family apartment at Margarets Beach Resort, just 500 metres from pristine Gnarabup Beach.

Approximate Distance: 49 km | 31 miles   Total Driving Time: 39 mins

Accommodation: Margaret River - 2 Nights

The Margaret River cape offers one of the most spectacular, untouched stretches of coastline in the world. Experience the power of the Indian Ocean and the unique and pristine flora and fauna of the Region on this walking tour with track specialists, Cape to Cape Explorer Tours. After working up an appetite exploring the wonders of the track, indulge the senses at Margaret River's founding wine estate, Vasse Felix. A private tour takes you behind the scenes on winemaking at the estate, sharing unique historical insights into the Margaret River Wine Region. Meet with the winemaker as you explore the winery and red barrel hall, before joining your host for a tasting of the wine collection.

Head for the historic Albany, stopping in Denmark to meet some much-loved giants.

Denmark's Valley of the Giants

The Valley of the Giants is world famous for the Tree Top Walk suspended 40 metres high in the canopy of the ancient tingle forest.

The wonderfully-named tingle tree is one of the biggest timber giants on earth. These giant eucalypts are only found in Western Australia and have been standing here for over 400 years.

The incredible walkway cleverly weaves through the majestic trees without damaging them, giving you close up views of their trunks and canopies, and over the densely forested hills beyond.

Albany

The charming city of Albany marks the first spot where European settlers arrived in Western Australia.
Home to elegant public buildings, historic homes and gracious churches, this heritage town also boasts stunning views from the main street into the Princess Harbour's deep blue waters.

Approximate Distance: 344 km | 213 miles   Total Driving Time: 3 hours 51 mins

Accommodation: Albany - 2 Nights

Enjoy a free day to explore the history & heritage of Albany and the world-renowned beaches along the coastline. Try some of our favourite family activities in Albany:

•    Tour the Whaling Station Museum and walk the gangplank of a fully restored whaling ship.
•    Stroll the white sands of Waterfall Beach - kids will love climbing on the huge boulders along the shore.
•    Visit the National Anzac Centre to learn about Australia's war history
•    Walk the Amity Trail through town and admire Albany's historical buildings.
•    Rent bikes for the family and ride the trails to unspoilt beaches and rugged coastline

Bremer Bay is a coastal town situated on the south coast of Western Australia in the Great Southern region between Albany and Esperance located at the mouth of the Bremer River, Bremer Bay. Covering over 329,000 hectares, nearby Fitzgerald River National Park is one of the largest and most botanically significant national parks in Australia. Walk among 1,800 beautiful and rare plants species, many unique to the park. Explore the varied landscapes on foot, in your four wheel drive or on the river in a canoe.

Approximate Distance: 185 km | 115 miles   Total Driving Time: 2 hours

Accommodation: Bremer Bay - 2 Nights

It's a nature and adventure lovers paradise, a pristine land that has changed little for thousands of years, a place where you can feel totally free. Try four-wheel drive or take a quad-bike tour to a remote corner of a pristine beach where you can go swimming and surfing. The fishing is fantastic, either off the beach or out in the deep blue. Nature and trail lovers will be equally impressed on land. A total of 1893 types of wildflower have been recognised around Bremer. Dive charters, guided snorkelling and equipment hire are all available from the dive shop in town.

Known as the 'Bay of Isles', these wide sandy beaches, scenic coastlines and the panorama of offshore islands of the Recherche Archipelago are all part of its charm. Esperance lies along the southern coast of Western Australia, 721km from Perth and is part of Australia's Golden Outback. This busy port and tourist town has some of the best coastal scenery in Australia; its snow-white secluded beaches, beautiful National Parks and many islands of the Archipelago of the Recherche provide a myriad of alluring locations to explore. Famous Pink Lake, a massive salt lake that appears a lovely pink at certain times of the year, depending what time of day you visit and the current water and salinity levels, the pink has been known to change from brilliant blues to a fairy-tale pink.

Approximate Distance: 400 km | 248 miles   Total Driving Time: 4 hours 15 mins

Accommodation: Esperance - 2 Nights

Join this eco-cultural captivating experience as you learn how the coastal surroundings provided a vast array of bush foods for Noongar people. With over 50kms of beach driving you can sit back and enjoy the crystal clear waters, clean white beach sand and rocky granite headlands. Learn the old time fishing techniques and drink fresh water on the beaches. This tour is packed with full cultural commentary, dreamtime stories, and bush food tastings (in season). 

Hyden is the closest town to Western Australia's Wave Rock and is a four-hour drive east of Perth, along the Brookton Highway. This world-famous rock is a granite cliff, standing 15 metres high, 110 metres long and shaped remarkably like a huge wave. Other interesting rock formations in the region include Hippo's Yawn, Mulka's Cave and The Humps.

Indigenous Australians have inhabited the Hyden and Wave Rock region for many hundreds of years, and there are significant historic sites located here. Wave Rock is but one of hundreds of granite outcrops which dot the whole of the Central Wheat Belt. They were formed 3000 million years ago. T

Approximate Distance: 383 km | 237 miles   Total Driving Time: 4 hours 

Accommodation: Hyden - 2 Nights

One of Australia's biggest waves is also the furthest from any ocean - Wave Rock rises 15 metres above the outback plain. Over 2,700 million years in the making, today it's a popular tourist destination. Located near the Wheatbelt town of Hyden, this 110-metre long multi-coloured granite cliff is shaped remarkably like a huge wave about to crash onto the bush. Pose on the rock face and surf the giant wave or see it from a different perspective by following the walk trails around the base and over the top. After winter rains, you'll be surrounded by a sea of dazzling colour as Western Australian wildflowers bloom in their billions.

Your journey comes to an end as you journey back to Perth to return your rental car and board your onward flight, taking with you the magical memories of a truly exceptional Australian experience. We know you will enjoy your Self Drive Tour and we hope you will return soon to discover even more highlights of this incredible continent.

Approximate Distance: 414 km | 258 miles   Total Driving Time: 4 hours 38 mins