10 Day South West Australia Road Trip Itinerary From Perth

Last Updated on 13th February 2024

This post about the ultimate 10 day South West Australia road trip itinerary from Perth includes mentions of collaborative work with Travellers Autobarn campervan hire Australia. The post also includes affiliate links, please see my disclaimer for more.

Are you looking to tour South West Australia? Perhaps you need some inspiration for Perth road trips for your next holiday Down Under! This huge Western Australia road trip itinerary includes everything you need to know about planning the perfect road trip route in WA!

Ever since our first road trip along the East Coast of Australia in 2019, we’ve been so eager to road trip South Western Australia and in January 2024, we finally managed to make this dream trip happen thanks to the campervan we hired in Perth from Travellers Autobarn!

Our 10-day South Western Australia itinerary took us on a round-trip from Perth, all down the coast past Bunbury, Busselton and Yallingup, into the Margaret River region, then all the way across to Esperance and back to Perth via Ravensthorpe and Wave Rock.

We drove almost 3,000km in 10 days, with some days consisting of 8 hours of driving and other days only an hour or two. If you’re thinking of embarking on your own South West road trip in Australia, take a look at my comprehensive route, itinerary and guide below!

Travellers Autobarn Kuga Campervan

Before I share the details of our Western Australia road trip itinerary, I just wanted to share about the incredible campervan we hired through Travellers Autobarn. We hired the Kuga Campervan for 10 days and it was undoubtedly the best campervan we’ve ever travelled in.

Our South West Australia road trip was the 10th road trip we’ve done in the last five years and even though we literally own our very own self-converted campervan, the Travellers Autobarn Kuga Campervan is still the best van we’ve ever had. The features and facilities of the campervan are second to none; with so much storage space, a height of 3m so that we could both comfortably stand up inside to cook, plus a surprisingly comfortable bed, the van made our road trip an absolute breeze!

Check out more of my road trip itineraries below:

10-day Western Australia road trip map

As you can see from the map above, this WA road trip route takes you on a round-trip loop starting and ending in Perth. You’ll travel all the way down the South West coast, then travel all the way across to Esperance, Lucky Bay and Wharton Beach, before heading back towards Perth via Wave Rock.

While the map above suggests a total driving distance of around 2,100km, we actually drove over 2,900km in total in 10 days because the map doesn’t show every single road we drove down and it doesn’t take into account the back and forth drives between some places.

You can expect to drive just 1-2 hours on some days, whereas other days might consist of 7-8 hours of driving. Of course, these drives can all be broken up into more manageable amounts of time, but if you’ve ever embarked on a lengthy road trip, you’ll know to expect some long drives!

South Western Australia road trip itinerary summary

Day 1 – Perth, Coogee Beach, Rockingham Beach, Giants of Mandurah
Day 2 – Back Beach, Busselton Jetty, Dunsborough Beach, Eagle Bay, Yallingup
Day 3 – Injidup Natural Spa, Smiths Beach, Margaret River
Day 4 – Margaret River, Jewel Cave, Augusta, Hamelin Bay
Day 5 – Valley of the Giants, Green Pools, Elephant Rock, Cosy Corner Beach
Day 6 – Albany, East Bay
Day 7 – Esperance
Day 8 – Pink Lake, Cape Le Grand National Park, Lucky Bay, Wharton Beach
Day 9 – Wave Rock
Day 10 – City Beach, Perth

Day 1 – Perth, Coogee Beach, Rockingham Beach, Giants of Mandurah

Day 1 of your ten day road trip in WA starts in the city of Perth where you’ll pick-up your campervan. We collected our Travellers Autobarn Kuga Campervan at around 10 AM and if you’re able to choose your pick-up time, I would suggest doing it as early as possible so that you can make the most out of your first full day.

We began our road trip with a visit to Woolworths which is one of the main supermarket chains in Australia to stock the van up with essentials, which I would also suggest doing at the beginning of your trip so that you have at least a few days’ worth of food essentials!

From Perth, head the short journey south to Coogee Beach and Rockingham Beach to begin your trip with some of WA’s most gorgeous beaches (beach visits will become quite a bit of a theme on your Western Australia road trip as there are plenty to explore and enjoy!).

From Rockingham Beach, we headed to the Giants of Mandurah which was actually a little disappointing as there was only one “giant” there, so I’m not 100% sure I would personally recommend adding it to your own trip.

However, this stop is on the route anyway, so if you have the time, it’s still quite a nice place to break up the journey on day 1 and there are usually lots of kite surfers in the area too which can be fun to watch!

We were originally going to spend the night at Preston Beach Parking which is a free overnight site right next to the beach, complete with toilets and showers. However, it’s only suitable for official self-contained vans (with their own toilet and shower), so we were moved on by the local rangers as our Kuga Campervan wasn’t completely self-contained.

Instead, we diverted slightly to John Tognela Rest Area which is literally just a rest area at the side of the road but it was actually one of the best/nicest free spots we stayed at during our entire trip! There are four toilets and two sinks and plenty of rubbish bins and lots of spaces to park, so while it might not be the most glamorous place to stay, it’s actually pretty great for a free spot!

Day 1 West Coast road trip Australia highlights:

Campervan pick-up from Perth
Coogee Beach
Rockingham Beach
Safety Bay
Giants of Mandurah
Stay at John Tognela Rest Area (free campsite)

Day 2 – Back Beach, Busselton Jetty, Dunsborough Beach, Eagle Bay, Yallingup

10 Day South West Australia Road Trip Itinerary

Day 2 of this 10-day South West Australia road trip continues down the coast to the port city of Bunbury which is home to the famous Dolphin Discovery Centre where you can embark on dolphin eco cruises to spot wild bottlenose dolphins, as well as immerse yourself in the interactive displays inside the exhibition centre.

Alternatively, you can just enjoy the beautiful Koombana Beach before continuing onto the next stop of the day.

Buy tickets to the Bunbury Dolphin Discovery Centre here!

From Koombana Beach/Dolphin Discovery Centre, it’s just a short drive to the next beach of the day; Back Beach where I would suggest parking up for an hour or so to enjoy lunch in your campervan.

Another 45-minute drive south along the coast will take you to the gorgeous seaside city of Busselton, which is also home to the longest jetty in the southern hemisphere. While this might not sound like the most thrilling activity to experience on your WA road trip, Busselton Jetty was probably one of the most surprisingly fun places we visited on our road trip!

The Jetty is over 1.8km long and is home to just one of six underwater observatories in the world! If you time your road trip with the humpback whale migration season (usually between the end of August and the end of November), you may also be able to enjoy a spot of whale watching in Busselton, as well as admiring the fascinating coral life from the underwater observatory!

Busselton Jetty itself is also fun to walk along ($4 entry fee to walk the Jetty) or you can catch the miniature train that takes you all the way to the end of the Jetty for $16 return.

Once you’ve experienced the joys of Busselton Jetty, head to Dunsborough Beach and Meelup Beach; both of which are super beautiful and worth a little stroll along!

For the second night of our 10-day South West Australia road trip, we intended to stay at Eagle Bay as we were told that we were allowed to camp there for free. However, the only spots available to stay overnight for free are right next to the road/in front of the toilets which we didn’t really want to do, so we continued to our back up option for the night. Even if you don’t stay at Eagle Bay, it’s still worth visiting as it’s yet another lovely beach along the South West coast!

We then drove to Yallingup Beach as this was another “free” place that we were recommended to stay, and while there aren’t technically any signs saying that you can’t freedom camp there, we didn’t feel 100% comfortable doing so because all of the other campers who looked like they were going to stay there overnight left around 10 PM.

To avoid any issues or risk any fines from the local rangers who patrol the beach, I would suggest staying at the official Tasman Holiday Parks Campsite at Yallingup Beach instead!

Day 2 road trip in Western Australia highlights:

Bunbury/Dolphin Discovery Centre
Koombana Beach
Back Beach
Busselton Jetty
Dunsborough Beach
Meelup Beach/Meelup Regional Park
Eagle Bay/Eagle Bay Brewing Company
Yallingup Beach
Stay at Tasman Holiday Parks Yallingup Beach

Day 3 – Injidup Natural Spa, Smiths Beach, Margaret River

The third day of our 10-day WA road trip began super early after we woke up at 5 AM to leave the Yallingup Beach car park before any rangers came to tell us to move on (as I said above, just stay at the Tasman Holiday Parks Campsite over the road instead to avoid any inconvenience!).

As we were up so early, we headed the short distance to Injidup Natural Spa as we’d heard that it was best enjoyed early in the morning before too many people arrived. While the coastline here is incredible and it is very cool to see the waves crashing over the rocks, I didn’t think that the “spa” quite lived up to the super Instagrammable pictures I’d previously seen of it.

However, I still think it’s worth the trip while you’re in the area as it’s very cool to see the waves crashing over the rocks (giving the “spa” illusion). If you are planning to go in the water here, especially first thing in the morning, you can expect it to be incredibly cold, so bear be sure to bring something warm to cover up with afterwards!

It’s also worth noting that the walk down to the “spa pool” area is very rocky and uneven, so be aware of this when it comes to choosing your footwear and just take extra care when walking on the rocky surfaces!

After Injidup Natural Spa, we headed to Smiths Beach and parked up to make breakfast after a super early start to the day! Smiths Beach is worth visiting even if you don’t plan to make breakfast there as it’s a gorgeous stretch of sand/sea.

The next stop of the day should be Margaret River Chocolate Company. As we were up so early, we actually arrived in time for the chocolate shop opening at 9 AM! The Margaret River Chocolate Company is probably one of the best chocolate shops I’ve ever been to; there are so many amazing chocolate products to choose from, as well as an awesome cafe and as many free samples as you want (the free samples were chocolate buttons when we were there and they were absolutely delicious!).

We then headed just a few hundred metres down the road to Coward and Black Vineyards as we saw a sign claiming that they were home to the “world’s best rose”. We tried a free sample and while it was certainly delicious, I don’t think I would personally consider it to be the world’s best…!

After a brief wine tasting, we drove to Gnarabup Beach, Prevelly Rockpools and Margaret River Mouth Viewpoint where you can do kayaking/paddle boarding here.

We then headed to Big Valley Campsite where we booked a two-night paid site so that we could spend more time in and around Margaret River. I really couldn’t recommend Big Valley enough; the staff were so awesome and friendly, the site is absolutely huge with great facilities and it’s in such a great location for getting out and exploring the Margaret River region.

We had lunch at the campsite and then headed back on the road to explore Redgate Beach and Voyager Estate Vineyard where I did another mini wine tasting for just $10 for 5 samples! The wine and vineyard at Voyager Estate was absolutely gorgeous and if one of us didn’t have to drive, I’m pretty sure we could have stayed there all day sampling as many different wine varieties as possible!

On the way back to Big Valley Campsite, we stopped at the Margaret River Brewhouse as it had such a wonderful and lively atmosphere with delicious food and drink and even a live band playing. If you’re partial to a brewery, be sure to add Margaret River Brewhouse to your 10-day South West Australia road trip itinerary!

Day 3 South Coast WA road trip highlights:

Injidup Natural Spa
Smiths Beach
Margaret River Chocolate Company
Coward & Black Winery
Gnarabup Beach/Prevelly Rockpools/Margaret River Mouth Viewpoint
Voyager Estate Vineyard
Margaret River Brewhouse
Stay at Big Valley Campsite

Day 4 – Margaret River, Jewel Cave, Augusta, Hamelin Bay

Jewel Cave - 10 Day South West Australia Road Trip Itinerary From Perth

Begin day 4 with a trip to Jewel Cave (which is one of three main tourist show caves in the area, along with Lake Cave and Mammoth Cave. Jewel Cave is absolutely fascinating and 100% worth adding to your road trip itinerary in WA. You have to book a paid tour to visit the cave ($24 each) and it’s definitely worth the money as the one-hour tour takes you deep inside the cave (250 steps down, to be precise!).

There are often slightly increased levels of Co2 inside Jewel Cave which can sometimes make breathing feel a tad heavier, but as soon as you come out of the cave again, you’ll be back to normal!

Pies and Ale - South West Australia Road Trip Itinerary

Our next stop was through Augusta and to Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse which is a really lovely area of the South West. We didn’t want to pay the $21.50 entry fee for the lighthouse tour, so we just wandered around the area ourselves instead and then headed up to Pies and Ale as we’d heard so many good things about their pies!

Unfortunately, even though we arrived before 2 PM, they were completely sold out of pies, so if you do want to visit this famous pie shop, I would suggest starting your day a little earlier so you don’t miss out!

We then drove back down to Hamelin Bay as we’d heard such great things about it and while the beach itself was pretty nice, the sea was full of seaweed, so it wasn’t the best place for swimming!

As it was a Saturday night on day 4 of our WA road trip, Big Valley Campsite were hosting live music and an ice cream truck, so we headed back to the campsite to enjoy a more relaxed evening.

Day 4 West Coast Australia road trip itinerary highlights:

Jewel Cave
Augusta/Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse
Pies and Ale
Hamelin Bay
Stay at Big Valley Campsite

Day 5 – Valley of the Giants, Green Pools, Elephant Rock

Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk - 10 Day South West Australia Road Trip Itinerary From Perth

Day 5 actually resulted in us not being able to see as many places as we originally intended as many of the stops were down a dirt road and Travellers Autobarn don’t cover you for any incidents or accidents that occur down a dirt road. We missed out on seeing places such as Surfers Cove and Mandalay Beach due to the campervan not being insured for the roads to get there, but I’ve heard very good things about these places, so they might be worth adding to your itinerary if you have more of a 4WD to play with!

Elephant Rocks - 10 Day South West Australia Road Trip Itinerary From Perth

Instead, we continued through Shannon National Park which is surrounded by beautiful trees and into Walpole where we figured out the next part of our trip.

We decided to head to the Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk which includes both a free area and a paid-for tree top walk. We skipped the $21 tree top walk and instead opted to enjoy the trees from the path on the ground as we felt like this was still a super enjoyable experience.

In the late afternoon, we continued to Green Pools and Elephant Rock which is a stunning part of the coastline and well worth visiting. Unfortunately, the Green Pools weren’t looking quite as green as we were anticipating, but it was still such a gorgeous beach/coastal area and I would definitely recommend adding it to your South West WA itinerary!

Our campsite for the night was Cosy Corner Campground (East) which is a super basic, but really lovely site with a long drop toilet, bins and around 20 spots. Campervan spots at Cosy Corner Campground are on a first-come, first-serve basis and we were incredibly lucky to get the last spot at just after 6 PM.

There’s a $15 fee you have to pay upon arrival at the card payment machine and while the facilities don’t necessarily reflect this fee, the campsite is right next to Cosy Corner Beach which is absolutely gorgeous, so I’d say it’s definitely worth parking up there for the night.

Day 5 Western Australia itinerary highlights:

Surfers Cove
Mandalay Bay/Beach
Pemberton
Shannon National Park
Walpole
Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk
Green Pools/Elephant Rock
Denmark
Stay at Cosy Corner Campground (East)

Day 6 – Cosy Corner Beach, Albany, East Bay

Another early morning start allowed us to enjoy Cosy Corner Beach with very few other people on it, before we continued our journey into Albany where we stopped at Albany’s Historic Whaling Station. Tickets cost $35 per person to go inside the museum and see the different exhibits, but we weren’t too bothered about going inside so we just enjoyed the lovely beach instead and had a spot of lunch inside the van.

This day involved quite a bit of driving (over 5 hours), so we continued driving to East Bay Camping Ground where we spent the night. East Bay Camping Ground was perhaps the best free site we stayed at during our 10-day road trip as the beach was absolutely spectacular and we saw some of the best stars we’d ever seen at night!

The road down to the camping area is a little uneven, but we made it just fine in our Kuga Campervan and we were lucky again to secure the last spot as there is only enough room for around 12 vehicles. The facilities here include a long drop only, with no showers or refuse facilities, so it’s incredibly basic, but being situated right next to the beach was more than worth it in our opinion!

We managed to get some pretty awesome drone footage on the beach here, which you can see on my Instagram Reel.

Day 6 Australia West Coast road trip highlights:

Cosy Corner Beach
Albany’s Historic Whaling Station
East Bay Camping Ground/Beach

Day 7 – Esperance – road trip Western Australia

Day 7 involved another very long day of driving, so we set off before 10 AM to ensure we had enough time to get all the way over to Esperance.

As we were leaving East Bay, we saw so many kangaroos hopping all across the road, which is always truly remarkable to see, but you have to be super careful when driving as they often hop out right in front of the vehicle!

This day of the road trip was pretty boring as it pretty much involved nonstop driving. We made a brief stop in a tiny town called Ravensthorpe to get petrol and eat lunch in the van; there’s nothing really here apart from a police station and a library, but it made for the perfect place to stop to break up the long journey.

We arrived in Esperance and booked a two-night stay at Bathers Paradise (we paid $50 a night for a paid site). Bathers Paradise is a great paid site in Esperance as it’s just outside of the city centre, just opposite Castletown Beach, so it’s not too busy or noisy and it was such a gorgeous and relaxed site with excellent toilets, showers and laundry facilities.

Day 7 road trip South West Australia highlights:

Ravensthorpe
Castletown Beach
Esperance
Stay at Bathers Paradise Campsite

Day 8 – Pink Lake, Cape Le Grand National Park, Lucky Bay, Wharton Beach

Pink Lake - 10 Day South West Australia Road Trip Itinerary From Perth

Day 8 consisted of us seeing many of Esperance’s most famous sights, which were both absolutely incredible and a little disappointing at times.

We first headed to Pink Lake which actually hasn’t been pink for a number of years now. While the “Pink Lake” is actually a beautiful shade of blue, I was tremendously disappointed to see that it wasn’t pink after seeing one too many influencers share pictures of it that had clearly been very edited to give it its famous pink hue…

We then drove past Esperance Stonehenge which you can pay $14 to visit or you can just pull up at the side of the road and see it briefly through the fence, like we did! It didn’t seem that interesting to us as we’d already seen the real Stonehenge, so we continued our tri into Cape Le Grand National Park.

There’s a $17 vehicle fee to enter Cape Le Grand National Park which you’ll have to pay if you want to visit the world-famous Lucky Bay.

Lucky Bay is another spot that I was incredibly excited to visit as I’d heard so many wonderful things about it and while the beach here is undeniably beautiful, I was a little gutted to not see any of the famous kangaroos that supposedly frequent the beach.

I also wasn’t expecting to see so many vehicles driving on the beach, which I’m sure is super cool if you’re driving your campervan onto the beach, but this is likely the cause of the reduction in kangaroos in the area, so I wasn’t too happy with that. The beach is still definitely worth seeing in my opinion, I just think it would be much better without all the cars, vans and pollution…

We then attempted to drive from Lucky Bay to Wharton Bay, but the original route we took turned into a dirt road, so we had to drive all the way back out of the national park to take an alternative route.

If you plan to visit Lucky Bay then Wharton Bay, avoid driving along Merivale Road (this is the way from Lucky Bay but this is the super dirt road for around 30+km) and instead take Fisheries Road, Orleans Bay Road then Wharton Road, all of which are complete roads and not dirt tracks at all.

We were so happy to finally arrive at Wharton Beach as it’s such a lovely beach, but again, vehicles are permitted on the beach here which I think ruins the sand and the view for everyone else! It does look cool to park up right on the beach, however, but it’s just not something I would choose to do!

On our way back to Bathers Paradise Campsite, we stopped at Lucky Bay Brewing for a pizza and fries for $32.50. The pizza was really tasty and Matt enjoyed a small beer tasting paddle. The grounds at Lucky Bay Brewing are gorgeous and the brewery inside is also really amazing, so it’s definitely worth adding to your South West Australia road trip itinerary.

Day 8 of the 10 day itinerary Western Australia highlights:

Pink Lake
Esperance Stonehenge
Cape Le Grand National Park
Lucky Bay
Wharton Bay/Beach
Lucky Bay Brewing
Stay at Bathers Paradise Campsite

Day 9 – Wave Rock – Western Australia itinerary

Unfortunately, the fun adventures calm down a little on day 9 of this 10-day South West Australia road trip as it’s time to start making your way back to Perth.

There are several different routes you can take to head back to Perth from Esperance and we decided to drive back via Ravensthorpe and Wave Rock.

We arrived at Wave Rock after 4+ hours of driving to discover that it was 43ºC which was so unbelievably hot! We couldn’t stay outside for too long as the sun was so hot and intense, but Wave Rock was much cooler to see in real life than we’d expected; it’s much bigger than it appeared in pictures!

There are lots of hiking trails to enjoy around the area which we really wanted to do, but as it was so hot, it was pretty much impossible to be outside for more than 10 minutes at a time!

We then drove another two and a half hours from Wave Rock to a free site called Meckering Rose Garden Overnight Stay Area which is approximately a two-hour drive from Perth. As it was starting to get dark at this point, we decided to park up for the night and then drive the rest of the journey to Perth on the following day.

While we thought it was tremendously hot at Wave Rock earlier in the day, nothing could prepare us for arriving to 45ºC temperatures in Meckering. We barely got a wink of sleep that night as it was so hot inside the van, but the stars in the night sky made the experience a little more bearable as they were absolutely magical!

If you’re planning a South West Australia road trip in the summer (December to February), make sure you’re equipped with plenty of liquids, light clothes, suncream and enough petrol to get you to the next stop in case it gets too hot wherever you are!

Day 9 South West Western Australia road trip highlights:

Ravensthorpe
Wave Rock
Stay at Meckering Rose Garden Overnight Stay Area

Day 10 – City Beach, Perth

Our 10-day South West Australia road trip concluded at City Beach Perth where we used the awesome shower facilities before our late-night flight to Dubai .

We had actually already spent three days in Perth before commencing our WA road trip, but if you’re planning to experience Perth after your adventure, I’ve listed some of the top things to see and do in and around Perth below!

Day 10 Southern Western Australia road trip highlights:

Elizabeth Quay/Bridge
Rottnest Island
Freemantle
Kings Park and Botanic Garden
Lotterywest Federation Walkway
City Beach Perth
Campervan drop-off in Perth

South Western Australia road trip – conclusion

Our South West Australia road trip was a truly awesome trip! While it didn’t always quite go to plan in terms of the places we wanted to visit or the routes we wanted to take, it was always such a great adventure. The Margaret River Region and the drive along the coast from Perth to Yallingup were probably our favourite spots on our trip, but the beaches in and around Esperance were also undeniably beautiful!

If you’ve already embarked on an Australia road trip, you’ll be pleased to know that Travellers Autobarn also offer campervan hire in New Zealand, as well as campervan rentals in Japan and campervan rentals in the USA, so if you’re looking to head off on an incredible road trip adventure in any of those featured countries, be sure to check out the campervan hire options through Travellers Autobarn!

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Is a Western Australian road trip on your bucket list? Does this West of Australia itinerary sound good to you? Let me know in the comments or on Instagram at @imjustagirl_16.