The reason why we decided to head for Perth in Australia’s west coast rather than take the popular route to Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane is that Perth seemed closer to our preferences with its many green areas, beautiful parks and amazing beaches. Besides it is not as packed with tourists as Sydney, it’s quieter and although you should expect high prices during the season, it’s stil a cheaper city than the ones mentioned above. True, you will also encounter skyscrapers and bustling life in the city center, but it’s very easy to get away from it, and you can explore many city center attractions by walk (if you don’t mind walking the distance of 4-5km). 🙂

The attractions in Perth that are available for free are: Elizabeth Quay, London Court (climatic British street), Northbridge district (with a small China Town), King’s Park with Botanical Gardens and other smaller parks.


Right next to the Elizabeth Quay you will see a pointy Bell Tower, which requires an entrance fee and doesn’t seem to be worth spending the money as the view from the tower will incorporate the same area around Elizabeth Quay surrounded by skyscrapers and you can snap nice photos just walking close to the quay.

Perth Zoo is considered one of the main attractions of the city and the admission fee there is quite expensive (about 30AUD). To see kangaroos and koalas you can skip the visit there and instead go by car to the Yanchep National Park heading to north from Perth. The entrance fee to the park is 12AUD per vehicle and the same ticket includes also the Pinnacles Desert (the famous desert near the town of Cervantes). If you decide to do the same, rent a car for one day and take your time to visit all the area including a stunning coastline around Cervantes.

Another famous park in the vicinity of Perth is Cavernsham Park, where the admission fee is equally high as in Perth Zoo and it makes no sense to spend so much money as in Yanchep you will see Australian animals in an environment being much closer to their natural habitat 🙂

We were being tempted to visit Rottnest Island but the price of the ferry to the Island was jaw-dropping… the cost is 100AUD per person (including the entrance fee to Rottnest Island), not to mention additional expenditure on the spot .. the beaches there for sure are beautiful and you can encounter there small rat-like animals called rottnests, but isn’t it better to go to a similarly beautiful beach just north of Perth, called Cottlesloe Beach? Get on the train from any station close to Perth city center (you have to buy a ticket for 2 zones in a vending machine, the cost is: 4,60AUD one way and it’s valid 2h) and get off at the stop: ‘’Costtlesloe’’ after about 20 minutes, then you should continue walking to the left up the road and in 10 minutes you should reach this beautiful beach. The best part is that we didn’t meet there the maddening crowds although we were there during the hot season. Besides, if you do not want to spend the whole day in one place, you will not get disappointed as the beach is incredibly long (you cannot see its end while walking), and the colour of water will encourage you to have a hop in the ocean and enjoy a bath. Just be careful, the waves can be really high and strong there!

Another option for relaxing in Perth on a budget is to stay in Billabong Backpackers Resort, where you will pay 22AUD per person per night and the price includes breakfast + you have a possibility of relaxing by the pool, which is of course available for all guests. The resort is located 1.5-2km from the city center, so it is really a nice place for a little rest and still quite close to the city attractions!

What places can you explore going south of Perth?

We recommend you rented a car and explore towns near the coastline. You can go to a small and charming Rockingham, visit Mandurah which is the second largest city in WA, stop for a while in Bunbury and Busselton located about 30 minutes away from each other. In Mandurah you can watch the beautiful districts with low houses belonging to rich locals; the area looks very impressive. In front of each and every house you can see 2 luxurious cars, one of them carrying a boat, and the location is close to the coastline. Besides, some of the houses are situated in a lovely cove, where you can see neat boats. Living in a place like this for sure is ‘’something’’! 🙂

On your way do not skip the famous town of Busselton with its attraction: Busselton Jetty. Why is it so famous? It is the longest jetty in the southern hemisphere; it has exactly 1.8km and you can even visit it by train. Admission fee to the pier is 3AUD per person and there are also some additional attractions, which BTW may be skipped e.g. Sea Trek (going under the water and watching marine life for 125AUD – you’d better do it in Singapore in one of the largest aquariums in the world where you should pay much less: 60SGD/AUD and certainly see a lot more: raysmantas, whales, sharks) and visiting the aquarium – charged extra (around 30-40AUD). Besides, there is a decent beach near the pier (there is a free parking lot there).

One of the places located south of Perth that we didn’t visit and we regret it a bit is Fremantle. There is an interesting prison (entrance fee is about 30AUD /like everywhere else for this type of attractions). We didn’t have enough time for that and of course the price deterred us a little bit. In general, as you can see we were able to visit many interesting places without spending a fortune. If we agreed additonally to pay 30AUD for admission to each park, Fermantle prison, the ferry to Rottnest Island, the expenditure per person would be almost 200AUD more! It is worth to calculate everything beforehand and think over all the attractions that are indispensable to make us happy 🙂 If you really cut the budget, like us, do not force yourself to spend your money on the things that you can’t afford, relish in stuff that is affordable for you! Just bear in mind our pieces of advice and you will see that squeezing your budget and stil having fun don’t contradict each other if you do some research before your trip and skip the most expensive attractions that can be replaced by others less costy but similarly exciting 🙂

2 Replies to “Perth, the capital of Western Australia – how to do it cheaper?”

    1. Dzięki, Alicjo! Cieszymy się, że się podoba 🙂 Zawsze staramy się uciec od tłumów, tym razem się udało, chociaż różnie z tym bywa 😛 Pozdrawiamy serdecznie!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *