• Australia Guide

  • Introduction to Australia
  • Weather
  • Things not to miss
  • Entry requirements
  • Getting around
  • Money
  • Public holidays

• Explore Australia

  • Sydney
  • Around Sydney
  • Coastal New South Wales and the ACT
  • Inland New South Wales
  • Coastal Queensland
  • Outback Queensland
  • Northern Territory
  • Western Australia
  • South Australia
  • Melbourne
  • Around Melbourne
  • Victoria
  • Tasmania

• Cities

  • Adelaide
    
  • Albury/Wodonga
    
  • Armidale
    
  • Brisbane
    
  • Cairns
    
  • Canberra
    
  • Darwin
    
  • Fremantle
    
  • Geelong
    
  • Hobart
    
  • Melbourne
    
  • Perth
    
  • Sydney
    
  • Warrnambool
    

Australia Guide

Western Australia

Perth

• Accommodation
• Accommodation
• Eating
• Drinking

Western Australia's modern hub of PERTH is home to just over 1.5 million people and has a reputation for endless sunshine and an easy-going lifestyle. After work, it's typical for people to go surfing, sailing, swimming or fire up a barbie somewhere on the shores of the Swan River, which forms a broad lagoon ideal for recreation and sport. This enviable social life partly explains Perthites' contented detachment from the rest of the country. Another factor is simply the physical distance: Perth is Australia's most isolated city, almost 4000km from Sydney by road, and in a different time zone (Western Standard Time, two hours behind the east coast).

The state's wave of mineral prosperity saw the city grow quickly in the 1980s, and, considering its modest population, development continues today. The city's Central Business District (CBD) is essentially an open-air shopping mall with two pedestrian-only retail precincts, museums, galleries, and some beautiful historic buildings. Strangely, the city fails to take advantage of its stunning riverside frontage, which is left to the joggers, cyclists and gulls. Just north of the CBD, Northbridge is the restaurant and club district, as well as being the centre for Perth's Asian community with a buzzy eat street, while the inner western suburbs of Leederville and Subiaco boast boutiques, cafés, restaurants and pubs galore. On weekends, city dwellers head for the hills (York and Toodyay are favourites) or wineries (Swan Valley and Margaret River are closest), or stay closer to home and hit the beaches (Cottesloe is the spot) and markets (Fremantle's are an institution, followed by fish and chips).