Western Australia has some of the most spectacular coastline on the planet. I’m not exaggerating. With over 20,000 kilometres of coast, turquoise water so clear it looks fake, and white sand so fine it squeaks underfoot, WA is in a league of its own when it comes to beaches. The problem is knowing where to start.
I’ve spent years exploring this vast state — from the postcard-perfect shores of the south-west to the wild, red-rocked coastline of the Kimberley in the far north. Some beaches are easy to reach, others require a serious off-road adventure. All of them are worth it.
This guide covers the best beaches in Western Australia for every type of traveller — whether you want a beach walk at sunset, world-class snorkelling, or a remote stretch of sand where you might not see another soul all day.
📋 TL;DR — the quick version
- 🏖️ Cable Beach, Broome: One of Australia’s most iconic beaches — 22km of white sand and legendary sunset camel rides.
- 🐠 Turquoise Bay, Ningaloo: World-class snorkelling right off the beach, no boat needed, with whale sharks nearby.
- 🌊 Cottesloe Beach, Perth: Perth’s most beloved beach — sunsets, surf, and great cafes within walking distance.
- 🐬 Monkey Mia, Shark Bay: Where wild dolphins come to shore every morning — a genuine bucket-list moment.
- 🏄 Margaret River region: Home to some of Australia’s best surf beaches, plus incredible food and wine nearby.
- 🦞 Bremer Bay: A quiet gem in the south-west with dramatic cliffs, crystal water, and orca sightings in winter.
- 🚗 Many WA beaches require 4WD: Plan ahead, deflate your tyres, and carry emergency supplies for remote stretches.
🏖️ Cable Beach, Broome — the ultimate sunset beach
Cable Beach is the kind of place that makes you question why you ever go anywhere else. Stretching 22 kilometres along the coast just outside Broome in the Kimberley, this beach has everything: soft white sand, calm turquoise water, and some of the most dramatic sunsets you’ll ever see in your life. The sky turns orange, then pink, then deep red, and if you time it right, the moon rises over the Indian Ocean at the same moment the sun sets — a phenomenon locals call the “Staircase to the Moon.”
Cable Beach is split into two zones: the northern section allows vehicles on the sand (4WD only), and the southern section is pedestrian-only. Most visitors head to the southern end near the resort and beach club, where you’ll find sun loungers, a beach bar, and the famous camel trains that plod along the waterline at dusk. It sounds touristy, but honestly, riding a camel into a Broome sunset is one of those experiences that stays with you forever.
Swimming at Cable Beach is generally safe, but always check for marine stingers — box jellyfish can be present between October and May. The wet season months (November to March) are stunning but hot and humid. Visit between May and October for cooler temperatures and the best conditions.
👉 Book a Broome sunset camel ride on GetYourGuide →
🐠 Turquoise Bay, Ningaloo Reef — the snorkeller’s paradise
If you’ve never snorkelled before, Turquoise Bay is where you want to start. And if you’re an experienced snorkeller who’s dived the Great Barrier Reef, Turquoise Bay will still blow your mind. Located within Ningaloo Marine Park, about 1,200 kilometres north of Perth, this beach offers some of the best shore-based snorkelling on earth. You can walk straight in off the sand and be surrounded by coral gardens, sea turtles, reef sharks, and hundreds of tropical fish within seconds.
The drift snorkel is the main attraction. Walk down to the southern end of the bay, wade in, and let the current carry you gently northward along the reef. It takes around 15 to 20 minutes and covers a spectacular stretch of coral. When the current deposits you on the beach, walk back and do it again — most people do it three or four times because it’s just that good.
Ningaloo Reef is also the best place in the world to swim with whale sharks. These gentle giants — the largest fish on the planet — visit the reef between March and July, and you can book guided tours from Exmouth or Coral Bay. No scuba certification needed; snorkelling alongside a 12-metre whale shark is an experience that’s open to everyone.
👉 Book a whale shark swimming tour at Ningaloo on GetYourGuide →
🌊 Cottesloe Beach, Perth — the city’s beloved classic
Cottesloe is Perth’s most iconic beach, and it’s been that way for over a century. Located just 15 minutes from the city centre by train, “Cott” is where Perth locals come after work, on weekends, and on every hot day from October through April. The beach itself is wide and beautiful, with calm, protected water that’s perfect for swimming, and a long limestone reef that makes for decent snorkelling at high tide.
Worth adding to your itinerary: Best Hidden Beaches Australia.
The Indiana Teahouse — a colonial-style pavilion perched right on the beachfront — is a Perth institution. Sunday sessions here, with a cold drink in hand and the Indian Ocean in front of you, are one of Perth’s great pleasures. Every year in March, the beach hosts Sculpture by the Sea, a free outdoor sculpture exhibition that draws massive crowds and is genuinely world-class.
If you want a beach with infrastructure — toilets, showers, cafes, surf club — Cottesloe delivers. The grassy foreshore is great for a picnic, and the nearby streets of Cottesloe village have excellent coffee, restaurants, and boutique shopping. It’s the perfect urban beach experience.
🏊 Other great Perth beaches worth visiting
Perth is blessed with a string of excellent city beaches, each with its own character. Here are the standouts:
- 🌅 Scarborough Beach: Perth’s surf beach, with consistent waves, a great foreshore development, and a buzzing atmosphere on weekends. The new beachfront precinct has excellent cafes, a water park for kids, and regular events.
- 🤿 Mettams Pool: A sheltered reef pool in Trigg, perfect for snorkelling with curious fish. One of Perth’s best-kept secrets — arrive early on weekends to get a spot.
- 🌿 City Beach: Wide, pristine, and never too crowded. Good facilities and a lovely beachfront café make this a great all-rounder for families.
- 🦅 Swanbourne Beach: A clothes-optional beach (nudist section at the southern end) that’s calm, beautiful, and far less crowded than Cottesloe. Great for a peaceful morning swim.
🐬 Monkey Mia, Shark Bay — where wild dolphins come to you
Monkey Mia is not your typical beach experience. Yes, the water is gorgeous — a dazzling turquoise that belongs in the Maldives, not rural Western Australia. But the reason people make the 850-kilometre drive north of Perth is to meet the dolphins. Every morning, a small pod of wild Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins swims into the shallows and interacts with rangers and lucky visitors. They’ve been doing it since the 1960s, and it never gets old.
The experience is carefully managed by the Department of Parks and Wildlife. Rangers select a small number of visitors to wade into the water and hand-feed the dolphins under supervision. Most visitors simply watch from the shoreline, which is equally magical — these are truly wild animals choosing to spend time with humans, which is extraordinary. The feeding sessions happen in the morning, so arrive early.
Shark Bay is also a UNESCO World Heritage Area, and the broader region is packed with extraordinary natural features. The stromatolites at Hamelin Pool are among the oldest living organisms on Earth, the Shell Beach is entirely made of tiny cockle shells piled metres deep, and the birdlife throughout the region is exceptional. Plan at least two nights in the area to do it justice.
You might also enjoy reading about Best Sunset Spots Australia.
🌊 Margaret River region — best surf beaches in WA
The south-west of Western Australia is world-famous for its wine, but the coastline here is equally spectacular. The Margaret River region produces powerful, consistent swell that rolls in from the Southern Ocean — which is why it hosts a leg of the World Surf League Championship Tour every year. For experienced surfers, this is a bucket-list destination. For everyone else, the beaches here offer dramatic scenery, great swimming spots, and some of the best coastal walks in the country.
🏄 The best beaches near Margaret River
- Surfers Point, Prevelly. This is the surf beach — big, powerful waves that attract professionals from around the world. It’s not a swimming beach; it’s a watching beach. Pull up a chair on the grassy headland and watch the sets roll in. Absolutely mesmerising, especially in winter when the swells are at their biggest.
- Gnarabup Beach. The safer, family-friendly alternative right next to Surfers Point. Calmer conditions, a lovely bay shape, and great facilities including a popular café. This is where locals swim with their kids while the surfers tackle Surfers Point next door.
- Moses Rock. A locals’ secret — a small, sheltered beach tucked behind a reef that’s perfect for snorkelling. The water is crystal clear and the marine life is surprisingly abundant for a beach this accessible.
- Smiths Beach, Yallingup. Arguably the prettiest beach in the entire region. Flanked by limestone headlands covered in coastal scrub, with a beautiful arc of white sand and consistently good surf conditions. There’s an excellent resort here if you want to stay right on the beach.
- Canal Rocks. Not a swimming beach but a stunning stretch of coastline where granite rocks create natural channels and pools. A wooden boardwalk lets you explore the rock formations safely, and the colour of the water against the orange granite is extraordinary.
🦞 Bremer Bay and the south coast — WA’s hidden gem beaches
Most visitors to Western Australia never make it to the south coast, which means more of it for the rest of us. The stretch of coast from Albany to Esperance is genuinely world-class — rugged, wild, dramatic, and almost entirely devoid of crowds. If you have the time to drive this section of the coast, you’ll be rewarded with some of the most beautiful beaches you’ve ever seen.
🌊 South coast beaches worth the detour
- 🐳 Bremer Bay: A quiet fishing town that transforms in winter (July-September) into one of the best places in the world to see orcas. The canyon just offshore is home to the largest aggregation of orcas in the southern hemisphere. Even without the killer whales, the beach here is stunning — white sand, granite boulders, and impossibly blue water.
- 🌊 Greens Pool, Denmark: Sheltered by a ring of granite boulders, Greens Pool is the most photogenic swimming spot in WA. The calm, clear water is perfect for families, and the surrounding William Bay National Park is spectacular for walking.
- 🏝️ Lucky Bay, Cape Le Grand: Ranked by some as the whitest sand beach in Australia. The sand here is made of pure quartz and is so white it looks almost blue in the right light. Kangaroos regularly lounge on the beach — it’s one of those only-in-Australia moments.
- 🦅 Thistle Cove, Cape Le Grand: A shorter, more sheltered beach adjacent to Lucky Bay, with dramatic granite headlands and exceptional snorkelling in the protected cove. Often quieter than Lucky Bay even on busy days.
🌴 The Kimberley coast — remote beaches for adventurous travellers
The Kimberley is one of the last great wilderness areas on Earth, and its coastline is unlike anything else you’ll experience in Australia. This is remote, rugged, spectacular territory — think soaring orange cliffs plunging into turquoise water, hidden beaches accessible only by boat or helicopter, and an ancient landscape that feels genuinely untouched by modern life.
Accessing the Kimberley coast independently requires serious preparation. A well-equipped 4WD, satellite communication, and plenty of experience are essential. For most visitors, a guided boat cruise along the Kimberley coast is the better option — and it’s genuinely one of Australia’s most extraordinary travel experiences. These cruises venture into the Buccaneer Archipelago, visit waterfalls that only flow during the wet season, and anchor in bays where you might be the only people for hundreds of kilometres.
Talbot Bay is famous for the Horizontal Falls — a natural phenomenon where tidal water is forced at speed through two narrow gorges in the McLarty Range, creating what looks like a waterfall lying on its side. Willie Creek, north of Broome, is home to a pearl farm where you can learn about the pearl industry and snorkel in pristine waters. Montgomery Reef is one of the largest inshore reefs in the world, exposed at low tide in a dramatic display of marine life.
You might also enjoy reading about Western Australian Museum Aboriginal Culture.
🚗 Practical tips for visiting WA beaches
Western Australia is enormous. The distances involved in getting between beaches can be genuinely shocking to first-time visitors. Perth to Broome is a 2,200-kilometre drive. Broome to Ningaloo is another 600 kilometres. Plan carefully, drive during daylight hours, and don’t underestimate the time you’ll need between destinations.
- Marine stingers are real. Between October and May, box jellyfish and other stingers can be present in waters north of Broome. Always check local signage and consider wearing a stinger suit for snorkelling. South of Perth, stingers are much less of a concern.
- Many remote beaches require 4WD. Sand driving is an art — deflate your tyres to around 18-20 PSI before driving on beach sand, take it slowly, and have a tyre compressor to reinflate before returning to sealed roads. Carry a traction board and know how to use it.
- Crocodiles live in northern WA. In the Kimberley and around Broome, always check for crocodile warning signs before swimming in rivers, estuaries, or any water close to mangroves. Cable Beach itself is croc-safe, but many surrounding waterways are not.
- Sun protection is non-negotiable. The UV index in WA is extreme. SPF 50+ sunscreen, a hat, UV-protective swimwear, and shade breaks are essential. You will burn faster than you think, especially in summer.
- Leave no trace. Many WA beaches are in national parks or protected marine areas. Pack out all your rubbish, don’t touch coral, and keep a respectful distance from wildlife. The pristine state of these beaches depends on everyone doing their part.
🗓️ Best time to visit WA beaches
Western Australia’s beaches are at their best at different times of year depending on where you’re heading. In the south-west (Perth, Margaret River), summer (December to February) is beach season — hot, dry, and perfect for swimming. The south coast can be visited year-round, though winter (June to August) brings bigger swells and cooler temperatures.
For Ningaloo Reef, the sweet spot is between March and October. Whale sharks visit from March to July, and manta rays are present almost year-round. The water temperature is warm and the conditions are excellent through this period. For Broome and Cable Beach, the dry season (May to October) is the most comfortable time to visit — humidity drops, temperatures are pleasant, and the sunsets are extraordinary.
The Kimberley is best explored during the dry season (May to September). In the wet season (November to March), many roads become impassable, accommodation closes, and the extreme heat and humidity make it very uncomfortable. However, the landscape during and after the wet season is dramatically green and lush — a completely different but equally beautiful experience.
💡 Final thoughts
Western Australia’s beaches are some of the most extraordinary on Earth, and the sheer variety on offer is staggering. You can snorkel with whale sharks at Ningaloo, watch dolphins at Monkey Mia, surf world-class waves near Margaret River, ride a camel into a Broome sunset, or find your own empty stretch of white sand somewhere in between. The distances can be daunting, but every kilometre you put in on WA’s roads rewards you with something spectacular at the other end.
Start in Perth, head south to the Margaret River coast, then turn north and keep going. You’ll run out of time long before you run out of incredible beaches.
