Best road trip around stunning Western Australia guide

A Western Australia road trip is an adventure 2,500 million years into the past. Drive through this ancient landscape and you’ll find a place where red desert soils meet the white-sand beaches. A place where marine life has thrived for millennia. A place that you’ll never forget.

Use our 9-day Western Australia road trip guide to plan your journey. It can be modified to suit the number of days you have available and includes all the best sightseeing and camping spots. Plus, we’ve thrown in a heap of extra information like drive times, distances, the best season to travel and much more!

This particular route takes you through towns and cities like Perth, Geraldton and Broome. Along the way, you’ll visit some of Western Australia’s best sights and attractions including the Pinnacles Desert, Kalbarri National Park, the Monkey Mia dolphin feeding experience and the crystal clear waters of Exmouth.

9 places you can’t miss on a road trip around Western Australia

Total Distance: 3,235km | Recommended Days: from 9 - 12 days | Best Time to Visit: between April and September | Route on Google Maps

1. Perth

The trendy and thriving metropolis of Perth is the perfect place to start a Western Australia road trip. This is a place where craft breweries and art galleries line the streets whilst soft-sand beaches like Cottesloe line the shores.

Take a 90-minute ferry ride out to Rottnest Island from Perth’s Barrack Street Jetty. This pristine paradise boasts 63 stunning beaches and over 135 species of tropical fish. It’s also home to more than 10,000 Quokkas, so you’ll have no worries snapping a cute photo.

If you’re looking for somewhere to stay near Perth, try the Perth Hills Discovery Centre Campground. This beautiful site set amongst jarrah forest is run by the Parks and Wildlife Service and offers hot showers, toilets and a camp kitchen. It’s a 40-minute drive from Perth and costs about $15 per night per adult.

Extra Tip: Use Camplify to quickly and easily arrange campervan hire in Perth.

2. Nambung National Park (The Pinnacles)

Drive Time: 2hr | Distance: 189km

Follow the Indian Ocean Drive from Perth to Nambung National Park - home of the Pinnacles Desert and gateway to Western Australia’s Coral Coast. This is Western Australia’s most visited tourist attraction - pulling in over 250,000 visitors each year!

The Pinnacles are strange and ancient limestone structures believed to have formed about 30,000 years ago. You can drive the sealed 4km loop road around the Pinnacles Desert in about 1 hour or you can choose to park and walk. Entrance to the Nambung National Park is $15 per vehicle and the park is open 24 hours a day (however the visitor centre shuts at 4.30 pm).

The closest (and the best) campground to the Pinnacles is RAC Cervantes Holiday Park. They offer a range of powered and unpowered camping sites starting at about $31 per night. Facilities include a large heated swimming pool, table tennis, tv room and clean bathrooms.

3. Geraldton

Drive Time: 2hr 30min | Distance: 237km

Continue your Western Australia road trip north to Geraldton - a coastal city renowned for its year-round sunshine and seaside activities. For those who aren’t afraid to get wet, this is a great place for water sports, beach fishing and sea lion spotting.

Overlooking the sea and city, you’ll find the HMAS Sydney II Memorial. This panoramic site commemorates the loss of 645 men aboard the Australian warship which sank in 1941 off the coast of Western Australia. It’s open to the public at all times and there is no entry fee. The Geraldton Voluntary Tour Guides Association offers a daily tour of the memorial at 10.30 am.

There are a few great camping spots near town, including the Geraldton Belair Gardens Caravan Park. This campground is only 250m from the waterfront and offers shady grass powered/unpowered sites from $30 per night. It also has a range of great amenities including free WiFi, a pool and a games room.

4. Kalbarri National Park

Drive Time: 1hr 30min | Distance: 129km

Kalbarri National Park ($15 entry per vehicle) is the ultimate outdoor playground for adventurous travellers. It marks the point where the rugged red outback meets the white sand beaches of the Western Australian coastline. It’s perhaps best known for its monolithic gorges and unique sandstone structures like Nature’s Widow, Z-Bend, Red Bluff and Hawks Head.

One of the best ways to see the Kalbarri National Park is to visit the Skywalk. These two giants steel structures float 100m in the air and extend up to 25m beyond the rim of Murchison Gorge below. You can park right next to Skywalk making it easy for everyone to access these panoramic lookouts.

If you’re travelling between April and November, we highly recommend camping at one of the oldest pastoral stations in WA - Murchison House Station. This special campground is only open during the dry season and offers grassy campsites on the river’s edge for only $15 a night.

5. Monkey Mia

Drive Time: 3hr 30min | Distance: 363km

Located within the Shark Bay World-Heritage Site ($15 entry per vehicle), Monkey Mia is famous for its wild dolphin feeding experience and abundance of marine life. Over 10,000 dugongs, sharks, rays, turtles and other animals call the waters around this seaside-town home!

The dolphin feeding experience takes place every day on the main beach in Monkey Mia. Visitors can stand knee-deep on the water’s edge and help feed the dolphins under supervision from park rangers. The dolphins usually visit the beach about 3 times per day between 7:45 am and 12:00 pm.

If you’d like to stay in the heart of the Shark Bay Reserve, the RAC Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort is only a moment's walk from the dolphin feeding experience. This award-winning park offers powered and unpowered sites starting at about $60 per night with amazing facilities.

6. Exmouth

Drive Time: 7hr 30min | Distance: 708km

Exmouth is another of Western Australia’s favourite beachside holiday spots. It’s famous for being the gateway to the World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Reef - an underwater paradise that is home to whale sharks, humpback whales, dolphins, manta rays, turtles and more.

The best way to experience Ningaloo’s underwater world is to do some drift snorkelling at Turquoise Bay. Hire some snorkel gear from one of many locations around Exmouth and park at the Drift Loop car park. From the southern end of the beach, the current will naturally carry you northwards as you float over vast coral reefs swarming with colourful sea life.

If you want a campsite surrounded by rugged ranges and pristine coastline, it’s well worth making the 32km drive to Yardie Homestead. Their campground has fantastic facilities and powered/unpowered sites starting at about $24 per night.

7. Karijini National Park

Drive Time: 8hr | Distance: 674km

Karijini is Western Australia’s second-largest national park. It’s perhaps best known for its many gorges which have formed over 2,500 million years.

Weano Gorge is one of the easiest sites to access and it has a relatively easy track around the rim that provides panoramic views. For those who are feeling a little more adventurous, there’s a more difficult 1 - 3 hour track down into the gorge which provides access to Handrail Pool - however, to get to the swimming hole you’re going to have to scramble over boulders, traverse cliffs and shuffle down narrow walking passages.

The best camping spot in Karijini is Dales Gorge Campground. It’s easy to access with a 2WD vehicle and costs $11 per adult per night. Facilities include a toilet block and barbecue, plus there are some great swimming holes only a few minutes walk away!

8. Port Hedland

Drive Time: 3hr 30min | Distance: 332km

After leaving Karijini National Park, Port Hedland serves as a good spot to break up the next portion of your Western Australia road trip. This relatively small town is one of the world’s largest tonnage ports and handles over 100 million tonnes of product worth over $3 billion a year.

One of the best ways to learn about the shipping industry is to take a Port Hedland Harbour Tour. Join the team to help launch a massive iron ore carrier before heading out into the harbour for lunch on board a boat. Tickets start at about $55 per adult and can be booked online.

When it comes to camping, the Port Hedland Discovery Park has great facilities including a swimming pool and activities room. It offers unpowered and powered sites starting from about $60 per night.

9. Broome

Drive Time: 6hr 15min | Distance: 604km

The final destination on your Western Australia road trip is Broome - a relaxed seaside resort town on the edge of the Indian Ocean. It is recognised as Australia’s pearling capital and consists of two main areas: China Town (the historic precinct) and Cable Beach (the modern resort precinct).

After your long drive, why not kick off your shoes and take a camel ride on Cable Beach. Three operators run daily tours and there are options suited to all sorts of budgets. Rides often last between 45 minutes to 2 hours as these gentle giants make their way along one of the most beautiful beaches in the country. We recommend the sunset tour but sunrise is almost just as good!

If you’re looking for a place to stay, try Broome Caravan Park. They have nice shady campsites near the centre of town starting from about $35 per night. All the amenities are clean and there’s an inviting swimming pool as well.

Organise your road trip with Camplify

Now that you’ve got your Western Australia road trip itinerary sorted, it’s time to start organising the finer details that’ll guarantee a great vacation!

The best way to arrange campervan hire in Western Australia is via Camplify. Camplify is a platform that allows travellers to quickly search through dozens of privately-owned rental vehicles. Simply enter your pickup location and budget and within seconds Camplify will find the perfect motorhome, caravan or campervan for your road trip.

Why Camplify?

Camplify is the largest camper vehicle sharing community in Australia. We proudly include the following advantages with all Camplify rentals:

• Comprehensive hire insurance

• NRMA roadside assistance

• 24/7 customer support

• Member verification

Plus, by hiring a vehicle through Camplify, you are directly supporting local families and companies who share their vehicle through our platform!

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