Things to do in the Kimberley, WA: the ultimate guide to Australia’s last frontier
The Kimberley is unlike anywhere else in Australia — and that’s saying something in a country already full of extraordinary places. This vast, ancient region in the far northwest corner of Western Australia covers 421,000 square kilometres of sandstone gorges, waterfall-fed swimming holes, turquoise bays, boab tree forests and some of the most significant Aboriginal cultural landscape on Earth. It is raw, remote, dramatic, and utterly unforgettable.
Getting to the Kimberley takes effort. That’s part of its magic. The small number of visitors who make it here are rewarded with an experience that has almost no equivalent in the modern world: nature at full scale, culture of extraordinary depth, and the rare, intoxicating feeling of being genuinely far from everywhere.
I’ve been to the Kimberley three times and I’m already planning my fourth trip. Here is everything you need to know about what to do, where to go, and how to make the most of this remarkable place.
📋 TL;DR – Things to do in the Kimberley, WA
- 🚗 The Gibb River Road is the main attraction for self-drivers — a 660 km 4WD track through the heart of the Kimberley with gorge after gorge after gorge.
- 🌊 Mitchell Falls is the Kimberley’s most spectacular waterfall — a four-tiered cascade in a remote wilderness setting.
- 🚁 Scenic flights over the Bungle Bungles and the Horizontal Falls are genuinely life-changing.
- 🐊 Crocodiles are present in all tidal waterways — always check with locals before swimming anywhere.
- 📅 Dry season only (May–October) — the wet season closes most roads and makes much of the region impassable.
- 🎒 Plan well ahead — accommodation books out months in advance during peak season.
- 🌿 Aboriginal culture is central to the Kimberley — seek out guided cultural experiences with Traditional Owners.
🌄 Drive the Gibb River Road
The Gibb River Road is the Kimberley’s defining experience for road trippers. This 660-kilometre red dirt track runs from Derby in the west to the Great Northern Highway near El Questro in the east, cutting through the ancient King Leopold Ranges and linking an extraordinary series of gorges, swimming holes and station properties. Most of it is unsealed, 4WD is strongly recommended, and a high-clearance vehicle is essential. But the rewards are extraordinary.
The gorges along the Gibb are the main attraction. Bell Gorge — a two-tier waterfall dropping into a circular pool of perfectly clear water — is one of the most beautiful swimming spots in Australia. Manning Gorge requires a short river crossing (by rope pull) and rewards you with a wide waterhole backed by red sandstone cliffs. Windjana Gorge, technically on the Gibb’s southern detour via the Tunnel Creek road, is hauntingly beautiful: a steep gorge carved by the Lennard River with freshwater crocodiles sunning themselves on the banks. The entire road takes about four to five days to drive at a comfortable pace, though most people take seven to ten days to do it justice.
💧 See Mitchell Falls
Mitchell Falls — known to the Wunambal Gaambera people as Punamii-unpuu — is the Kimberley’s most iconic waterfall and arguably the most spectacular in Australia. Located in the remote Mitchell River National Park, roughly 180 kilometres north of the Gibb River Road, reaching it requires either a fly-in helicopter, a chartered scenic flight, or a very serious expedition by 4WD and boat. The effort is entirely worth it.
The falls cascade in four tiers down ancient red sandstone rock, dropping into a series of plunge pools, each one clearer and more beautiful than the last. The ochre and sienna of the stone, the white water, the deep green of the surrounding savannah woodland — the colour combination is extraordinary. A helicopter landing at the falls gives you the option to swim in the upper pool before flying back. This is one of those experiences that people describe as the best thing they’ve ever done in Australia. Having been, I can confirm that is not an exaggeration.
🚁 Take a scenic flight over the Horizontal Falls
The Horizontal Falls, in Talbot Bay south of the Mitchell Plateau, is one of the most extraordinary natural phenomena in Australia. Twice daily, massive tidal flows — driven by the 12-metre tides of the Kimberley coast — force billions of litres of seawater through two narrow gorges in a coastal ridge, creating fast-moving “falls” of water that are, uniquely, horizontal rather than vertical. David Attenborough called them one of the greatest natural wonders of the world.
The standard experience involves a scenic seaplane flight from Broome or Derby (spectacular — the coastline from the air is extraordinary), landing on a pontoon in Talbot Bay, and then taking a high-speed boat ride through the gorges themselves. The force of the water is immense, the gorge walls are towering, and the experience is as thrilling as anything in Australia. SeaBreeze Adventures and Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventures both operate excellent tours.
👉 Book a Horizontal Falls seaplane tour from Broome on GetYourGuide →
🏛️ Explore the Bungle Bungles, Purnululu National Park
Purnululu National Park, home of the famous Bungle Bungles, sits in the eastern Kimberley between Halls Creek and Kununurra. The Bungle Bungles are a range of beehive-shaped sandstone towers, banded in orange and black, rising from the savannah plain in formations that look entirely otherworldly. The park is a UNESCO World Heritage Area and one of the most visually extraordinary landscapes in Australia.
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The two must-do walks are Cathedral Gorge — a wide, silent chamber of soaring sandstone walls and a large pool at the base — and Echidna Chasm, a narrow slot canyon where the walls close to less than a metre apart and the coloured light at noon is extraordinary. A scenic helicopter flight over the domes from nearby Bellburn Airstrip adds a dimension you simply cannot get from the ground. Getting there requires a 4WD and a 53-kilometre unsealed track from the Great Northern Highway — the drive in takes about two hours each way from the entry point.
🌊 Swim in El Questro Gorge
El Questro Wilderness Park, near the eastern end of the Gibb River Road, is one of the great luxury wilderness experiences in Australia. The million-acre station has been developed into an extraordinary resort with accommodation ranging from budget campgrounds to the ultra-luxury El Questro Homestead, perched on a cliff above the Chamberlain River gorge. But you don’t need to stay at the homestead to experience the best of El Questro.
El Questro Gorge itself is the highlight: a narrow walk through a boulder-strewn gorge with several deep, clear swimming holes perfect for cooling off in the Kimberley heat. The warm thermal springs at Zebedee Springs are open to day visitors in the morning — lying in 30°C water surrounded by fan palms with the dawn birds calling overhead is one of those small, perfect experiences that this country does so well. The gorge walks, horse rides and boat tours round out an excellent multi-day stop.
🎨 Connect with Aboriginal culture at Mowanjum
The Kimberley is home to some of Australia’s oldest and most significant Aboriginal cultures. The Mowanjum Aboriginal Community near Derby offers one of the most accessible and genuine cultural experiences in the region: the Mowanjum Art and Culture Centre presents the extraordinary Wandjina and Wanjina-Wunggurr art tradition through exhibitions, artist demonstrations and guided cultural tours.
Wandjina figures — ancestral beings depicted with large eyes, no mouths and haloed headdresses — are central to the spiritual and law systems of the Ngarinyin, Wunambal and Worora peoples of the Kimberley. The rock art here, some panels of which date back tens of thousands of years, is extraordinary. Buying art directly from Mowanjum Art Centre supports the community and brings home a piece of one of the world’s oldest continuous art traditions.
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🐊 Explore Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek
Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek are two of the Kimberley’s most atmospheric and accessible natural sites, both reachable on a detour south from the Gibb River Road. Windjana Gorge was carved by the Lennard River through the ancient Devonian reef — the same barrier reef that now exists as the Kimberley ranges — and the walls of the gorge reveal 350-million-year-old coral formations. Freshwater crocodiles lounge on the sand banks in the gorge floor, completely unbothered by visitors.
Tunnel Creek, 30 kilometres from Windjana, is Australia’s oldest cave system — a 750-metre tunnel bored through a limestone range by the creek over millions of years. Walking through the tunnel (bring a torch — at certain points it’s completely dark) involves wading through shallow water and past roosting bats, emerging on the other side into brilliant Kimberley light. This is where the Aboriginal bushranger Jandamarra used the tunnel as a hideout in the 1890s, and the story of his life and resistance is one of the great tales of Australian history.
🦅 Explore the coast by boat from Broome or Derby
The Kimberley coastline — 2,500 kilometres of it — is one of the most dramatic and least-visited stretches of coast in the world. Vertical red cliffs drop into turquoise water. Mangrove-lined estuaries hide saltwater crocodiles and barramundi. Remote beaches stretch for kilometres with not a footprint. Accessing this coast by boat, either on a multi-day expedition cruise or a chartered vessel, is the ultimate Kimberley experience.
Expedition cruise companies including Coral Expeditions, True North and Kimberley Quest run voyages of six to fourteen days along the coast, visiting places accessible only by water: the Prince Regent River, the Camden Sound whale nursery (humpback whales give birth here each August), the extraordinary tidal waterfalls of Cyclone Creek, and ancient Wandjina rock art sites in remote gorges. These cruises are not cheap, but the access they provide to an utterly pristine wilderness is unlike anything else in Australia.
👉 Book Kimberley adventure experiences from Broome on GetYourGuide →
🌅 Watch the sunset over Cable Beach, Broome
Broome is the Kimberley’s main gateway town and a destination in its own right. The town’s most famous attraction is Cable Beach — 22 kilometres of deep orange sand and shallow turquoise water, one of the most beautiful beaches in Australia. Watching the sun set over Cable Beach from the back of a camel (the famous Broome camel trains have been operating on the beach for decades) is one of those quintessential Australian travel moments.
Broome also has a fascinating multicultural history rooted in the pearling industry, which at its peak in the early twentieth century made Broome the pearling capital of the world. The Broome Museum tells this story well, and Chinatown reflects the Japanese, Malay, Chinese and Aboriginal heritage of the pearling workforce. Pearl farm tours, still operating today, show how Australian South Sea pearls are cultured in the pristine waters of Roebuck Bay.
🚙 Practical guide: when to go and how to get around
The Kimberley has two seasons, and the difference between them could not be more dramatic. The dry season, from May to October, is when the region is accessible and at its most beautiful: days are warm and sunny, nights are cool, the gorge swimming holes are full, and the roads are open. This is when you should visit. The wet season (November to April) brings monsoonal rains that can make roads impassable for weeks at a time, flood gorges, and close national parks. Some attractions are inaccessible for months. Unless you specifically want to experience the dramatic thunderstorms and the transformation of the landscape by water (which is genuinely spectacular), stick to the dry season.
Getting around requires a 4WD for any serious exploration. A standard 2WD car can get you to Broome and to the entrance of the Bungle Bungles, but the Gibb River Road and most of the region’s attractions require higher clearance and four-wheel drive. Hire 4WDs from Broome or Perth — book well in advance as supply is limited during peak season (July–August). Fuel prices in the Kimberley are higher than in the cities, and distances between stations can be significant. Always carry extra water and let someone know your plans if heading into remote areas.
Fly into Broome (served directly from Perth, and seasonally from Darwin and Melbourne) and either pick up a hire 4WD or join a guided tour. Guided tours range from small-group 4WD adventures (which take care of all logistics including camping) to luxury fly-in expeditions that combine helicopter, light aircraft and boat transfers to reach the most remote parts of the region. For first-timers, a guided tour is highly recommended — the local knowledge makes a significant difference to the quality of the experience.
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