7 Offbeat Western Australia Towns To Visit In 2025

Western Australia is packed with quirky hidden gems and offbeat experiences. Away from the busy urban centers of Perth and Bunbury, you will find an unspoilt land of offbeat attractions and natural beauty. Dip your toes in a pink lagoon, swim with whale sharks, fish for pearls, see dinosaur footprints, or skydive above one of the world’s most beautiful coral reefs. These eccentric small towns are full of bucket-list experiences that showcase the best of Australia’s culture, art, environment, history, and heritage in 2025.

Rottnest Island

When 17th-century Dutch sailors landed on Rottnest Island, they mistook the native marsupials, the quokka, for rats, giving the island its undignified name.

Quirky quokkas are much cuter than their smaller cousins and are a major attraction on the island. Tourists come to visit the resident population, which numbers over 10,000. Visit in September to catch the birthing season and attend the annual festival, Little Quokka’s Big Birthday Weekend, which celebrates the baby critters with two days of crafts, art, talks, and more.

Rottnest is a short ferry ride away from Perth and a nature-lover’s paradise. Walk the Wadjemup Bidi trails to see the coastal island at its best, wandering along dramatic headlands and scenic inland lakes. To see life below the waves, take the Parker Point Marine Snorkel Trail, which features informational plaques on the seabed so you can learn as you snorkel.

Before you leave Rottnest Island, take time to learn the history. The Wadjemup Museum charts its diverse heritage through exhibits including 40,000-year-old artefacts, vintage postcards, contemporary artworks, and dazzling outdoor sculptures.

Margaret River

Margaret River is an eclectic town nestled in the heart of Western Australia’s wine region. Popular with foodies, artists, nature lovers, and surfers, it promises a little bit of everything.

Start with a visit to one of the town’s most unusual attractions, its maze-like network of limestone caverns. Take a guided tour of Jewel Cave, Western Australia’s largest show cave. This breathtaking underground hollow is made up of three chambers, each adorned with intricate stalagmites and stalactites, that have developed over thousands of years.

From natural art to the man-made kind. Drop into the REDSEA Gallery downtown to view the work of local artists and pick up a one-of-a-kind souvenir. Housed in a century-old heritage building, the gallery displays a curated mix of local, national, and international artists in mixed media.

You can’t leave Margaret River without sampling some of the area’s award-winning wines, notably its Cabernet and Chardonnay varieties. To see where it all began and sip some incredible grapes, head to Vasse Felix, the town’s founding winery, established in 1967. Try their flagship Cabernet Sauvignon, a direct descendant of the winery's original vines.

Kalbarri

Kalbarri on the Murchison River is the getaway to Kalbarri National Park, an ancient playground of quirky sandstone rock formations. It’s also one of the best places to see migrating humpback whales and take a dip in a bubblegum pink lagoon.

With over 183,000 hectares of unspoilt wilderness to explore, Kalbarri National Park is paradise for outdoor enthusiasts. Dramatic gorges, red sandstone arches, winding rivers, and dazzling wildflowers make this park a must-see. Visit between July and October to see the best of the wildflower blooms, and be sure to take the incredible Kalbarri Skywalk, which rises 100 metres high over the Murchison Gorge. Viewing platforms hang out over the jaw-dropping landscape below, making you feel like you are walking on air.

A 30-minute drive from Kalbarri, the Hutt Lagoon is well worth the trip. Where else can you see a bright pink lake? The lake gets its quirky color from its high salt content. Visit at sunset to see the water come alive with fiery color.

If you are in town between June and September, you are in luck. This is when humpback whales are most active in the area. Book a trip with Kalbarri Rock Lobster Tours to enjoy the stunning coastline from the water and see these incredible marine mammals in the wild.

Broome

Where turquoise waters meet red rocks, Broome is an enchanting small coastal town with an interesting history that goes all the way back to the 1800s when Chinese, Malaysian, and Philippine pearl divers flocked here to farm the undersea gems.

Explore the fascinating past and present of the pearling industry at Willie Creek Pearls, a 30-year family-owned operation. The Willie Creek Pearl Farm Tour takes visitors on the journey from shell to showroom and includes visiting an oyster nursery and a pearling masterclass. After visiting the farm, explore one of Australia's largest collections of pearl jewellery in their showroom and perhaps take one of the treasures home with you.

Have another offbeat Broome experience with Broome Camel Safaris, which offers sunset camel rides along the beautiful Cable Beach, the perfect setting for memorable vacation photos. Further along Cable Beach, you will find Gantheaume Point, home to the historic Gantheaume Lighthouse, built in 1905, and incredible fossils. Perfectly preserved in the reef rock are dinosaur footprints over 125 million years old. The site is just a five-minute drive from Broome, but time it carefully, and the footprints are only visible at low tide.

Exmouth

If you have ever wanted to swim with whale sharks, put Exmouth on your travel bucket list. This coastal community is rife with incredible marine life and, between March and August, is home to the largest shark species in the ocean.

The Whale Shark Tour with Ningaloo Whalesharks is a TripAdvisor Traveller’s Choice Award Winner. The full-day tour takes visitors to the incredible Ningaloo Reef, using a spotter plane to locate the sharks so you are never disappointed. There is also plenty of time to snorkel the colorful reef and meet some dolphins, turtles, and manatees if you are very lucky.

See more amazing local wildlife at Cape Range National Park, a 35-minute drive south of Exmouth. The park is home to kangaroos, wallabies, emus, and echidnas (also known as spiny anteaters) and offers hiking trails, beaches, campgrounds, and fishing areas.

If you visit Exmouth in June, you might catch the biennial Ningaloo Sky Festival, which celebrates the region's diversity with local cuisine, arts, entertainment, and astronomy. The highlight of the two-day event is a dazzling drone display which lights up the night sky above the rugged coastal landscape.

Dunsborough

If you are visiting this cute town in the southwest, be sure to pack your snorkel as Dunsborough has a very unusual underwater claim to fame. The town is home to one of the largest accessible dive wrecks in the Southern Hemisphere, a decommissioned naval destroyer named HMAS Swan. Book with a local dive company to tour the wreck, which is a 15-minute boat ride from shore. It is a fascinating sight as colorful schools of fish have made their home in its eerily preserved cabins and deck.

Birders will enjoy a trip to iconic Sugarloaf Rock, one of the most photographed sites in Western Australia and the only known nesting site in the southwest of the red-tailed tropic bird. Bring your binoculars, as the rock, located in Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park, is also a great place to spot passing whales.

Get more great views at the Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse, where you can climb its 59 steps to see sweeping vistas of the Indian Ocean and Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park. The site also includes a fascinating lighthouse museum that examines the history of the lighthouse's keepers since 1904.

Jurien Bay

Beautiful Jurien Bay is a tranquil waterfront town with gorgeous scenery that doesn’t just attract visitors from across the world, it is also enticing to some very unusual creatures. This scenic spot is one of the rare breeding grounds for the endangered Australian Sea Lion, of which there are fewer than 12,000 remaining.

This small population has found shelter in the Jurien Bay Marine Park. See, swim, and snorkel with these amazing creatures courtesy of Jurien Bay Oceanic Experience. This licensed sea lion tour operator has been introducing visitors to the sea lions for over 40 years.

Get a different kind of thrill with Skydive Jurien Bay, which offers tandem skydiving, so you can see the incredible hues of the turquoise waters from above and get a bird’s eye view of the reefs along the coral coast.

Spend the night outdoors with beach camping at Sandy Cape. A pristine stretch of beach 8 miles north of Jurien Ba,y where you can camp, swim, fish, and snorkel off the beaten track. Take the trail to North Head to see the remains of some World War II bunkers and a radar installation.

Offbeat Adventures in Australia

Imagine diving through crystal clear turquoise waters, sipping vintage Cabernet in a leafy vineyard, watching whales frolic off the coast, and catching the sunset as it dips between towering red rock arches. You just imagined life in Western Australia. Offbeat and otherworldly, this magical region promises a vacation like no other. From the wineries of Margaret River to the dazzling coral coast, there is a little something for every traveller in the western wilderness of this diverse continent.