South West WA Road Trip: Busselton to Albany

The south west corner of Western Australia is the best value road trip in the country. You get vineyards, surf, karri forest, granite coastline and stingrays in the shallows, all within about 500 kilometres of Perth, and you can do it in five days without feeling rushed.

This is the route I would take: Busselton, then Yallingup, then Margaret River, then across to Denmark, then Albany, flying out of Albany or driving back to Perth. Every distance below is a real drive time, not a brochure estimate, and the warnings are there because the coast genuinely bites.

The Route at a Glance

• Perth to Busselton: about 2.5 hours, roughly 225 km
• Busselton to Yallingup: about 40 minutes
• Yallingup to Margaret River: about 40 minutes
• Margaret River to Denmark: roughly 270 km, 3 to 3.5 hours
• Denmark to Albany: about 55 km, 40 minutes

That is three bases if you want it easy, four if you add Denmark. I would do two nights in Margaret River, one in Denmark, two in Albany.

Busselton: The Jetty Is the Whole Point

Busselton is a town built around one structure. The jetty runs 1.841 kilometres out into Geographe Bay, which makes it the longest timber-piled jetty in the southern hemisphere, and walking it is free. The jetty train takes about 45 minutes return and doubles as a day pass, with the underwater observatory at the end, and combined tickets run somewhere around $50 to $60 for an adult, so check the current fare before you commit.

Do it early in the morning if you can. The bay is glassy, the light is flat and you will have the end of the jetty to yourself.

The blue building at the shore end is the souvenir shop and museum, and it is where the jetty walk and the train both start. Mornings are the quiet end of the day here, before the tour buses and the school holiday crowd arrive.

Walking it is the free option, and it is the one I would pick over the train. It takes a while, the railing has fish measuring stickers on it for the people fishing, and late afternoon is the time to do it if you want the light.

Yallingup and Injidup: Beautiful and Occasionally Dangerous

Yallingup is where the surf is, and the beach sits under a headland with a lagoon that suits families. Ten minutes south is Injidup Natural Spa, a rock formation where the swell washes through into a sheltered pool. It is free and it is spectacular, and it is also the spot where people get hurt.

Only get in when the swell is small, never turn your back on the ocean, and if the sets are breaking over the rocks, watch from above instead. I have not swum it myself, so treat this as the warning rather than a recommendation.

Margaret River: Wine, Caves and Cape Leeuwin

Margaret River is the part of this trip everyone has heard of, and it earns it. There are more than 150 wineries in the region, and the way to do it is a winery tour with a driver rather than tasting and driving yourself. Groups rent a house and split the cost, which is cheaper and more fun than five separate taxis.

Three things worth building the day around:

• Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, 46 km south of town, where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet. The grounds and the viewpoint are free, the tower tour is paid, and the wind up there is the real experience.
• Hamelin Bay, 50 km south, where wild stingrays cruise the shallows. Watch them from ankle depth, do not touch them and do not feed them.
• The caves, if the weather turns. They are the best wet-day option in the region and there are several within half an hour of town.

For the wineries themselves, my Margaret River picks sit in the Western Australia guide, and the same house-rental-and-driver logic applies.

The Drive Across to Denmark

This is the leg people underestimate. Margaret River to Denmark is about 270 km and 3 to 3.5 hours once you factor in the forest and the towns, and there is not much in the middle. Fill up before you leave, and do not plan a wine tasting as your last stop before this drive.

Denmark itself is small and green and relaxed, and it is the base for the two beaches I would drive back for. Greens Pool and Elephant Rocks sit about 15 to 20 minutes from town in William Bay National Park, linked by a short walk. Greens Pool is the calm one, protected by granite so the water is flat even when the swell is up. Elephant Rocks is the one with the boulders you have seen in photos, and it is one of my favourite swimming spots anywhere.

Both beaches have car parks and a short walk over the granite between them, and both fill up by mid morning in summer. Go early, take water, and treat the rocks as slippery even when they look dry.

The granite is the whole appeal of this coast. It is smooth and rounded, it turns orange in the afternoon light, and it makes natural pools and channels out of what would otherwise be an exposed ocean beach.

Albany: The Last Stop and the Best Coastline

Denmark to Albany is 40 minutes, and Albany is a proper town with a whaling history, a convict-built gaol and the best coastal scenery on this route. The Gap and Natural Bridge in Torndirrup National Park are the headline, with entry at $17 per vehicle, and the Anzac centre is the other thing I would send anyone to.

The Gap and Natural Bridge are minutes apart and share the one park entry, so do them in the same visit. The platform at The Gap hangs over the drop and the Southern Ocean comes in underneath it, which is the bit people remember.

Give Albany two nights rather than one. Between the national park, the beaches along Middleton and Emu Point, and the drive out to the old whaling station, it is the stop where people run out of time.

My Albany guide covers the sights in detail, and the Western Australia travel guide covers the rest of the state if you are heading north afterwards.

What to Book and What to Skip

Book the winery tour and the Margaret River accommodation before you leave Perth, because the region fills up on long weekends and school holidays. Book the jetty train if you want the observatory. Everything else can be decided on the day.

Skip: trying to do Perth to Albany in one push, the middle-of-the-day beach stop in summer without shade, and any plan that has you driving the forest leg after dark, when the kangaroos come out and the road is unlit.

So, Is the South West Worth It?

Yes, and it is the trip I would recommend to anyone landing in Perth with a week to spare. Fly into Perth, drive south for five days, and fly out of Albany if the timing works, because the drive back is the only dull part of the whole loop.

Keep reading

• Western Australia travel guide
• Albany: unusual things to do
• Working holiday in Perth guide
• The best free camping in Western Australia