Written by Sofia Calvert
Perth‘s coastline runs for more than 100 kilometres of near-continuous white sand, backed by the Indian Ocean and facing a horizon with nothing between it and Africa. Within two hours of the city, you can snorkel through a century-old shipwreck, take a ferry to a car-free island and watch quokkas steal chips from unwitting tourists, or find a surf break serious enough to host a competition. The city beaches – Cottesloe, Scarborough, City Beach – are polished and well-serviced, with good food nearby. Go further north, and the crowds thin fast. Here are the best beaches near Perth.
1. Scarborough Beach
Where: 20 minutes from Perth
Why: Scarborough is the liveliest of Perth’s city beaches – patrolled surf, a beachside pool for lap swimmers, and a pedestrian esplanade busy enough to fill a half-day without touching the water. Pizzaca handles coffee and wood-fired pizza from the same kitchen, morning through to late. Insider tip: the Sunset Markets run every Thursday evening in summer and every Saturday in winter. Expect local food, artisan goods and a DJ set that makes it easy to stay longer than planned.
2. Mettams Pool
Where: 25 minutes from Perth
Why: In the 1930s, war veteran Frank Mettam cleared the sharp rocky terrain surrounding a naturally formed lagoon north of Trigg, creating the sheltered conditions that make this spot unlike anything else on the Perth coast. The reef sits at 1.5 metres; calm enough for young children and snorkellers year-round, with fish, starfish and molluscs visible in the clear water below. The stretch between Trigg and Sorrento is flat and well-paved, making it one of the better coastal walking and cycling corridors near the city. Little Bay restaurant is the obvious stop for lunch – sustainable, locally sourced and right on the water.
3. City Beach
Where: 15 minutes from Perth
Why: Just 15 minutes from Perth CBD, City Beach is wide, well-maintained and genuinely central. Consistent waves make it one of the better spots near the city for beginner surfers, while the sea breeze pulls in a reliable kite-surfing crowd further along the shore. Grassy reserves, playgrounds and volleyball courts keep families anchored well past the swim.
The town of City Beach is awash with swanky, high-end eateries, and Bert’s – which opened on Challenger Parade in late 2025 – has quickly claimed the best seat in the house. Order Shark Bay tiger prawns with gochujang or WA goldband snapper at a window table as the Indian Ocean does its thing, then stay for a Black Forest doughnut and something cold from the bar. Open seven days from 6am, it handles beach-day breakfasts as capably as long Sunday lunches.
4. Cottesloe Beach
Where: 15 minutes from Perth
Why: Cottesloe is the one Perth beach most visitors have seen a photo of before they arrive. The white sand, the turquoise water, the art deco Indiana Tea House sitting above it all like it’s been there forever (it has; since 1904). Inside, Indigo Oscar serves Latin-inspired share plates and cocktails with unobstructed ocean views, and is worth a reservation for sunset. The grassy lawns behind the shore are where locals actually spend their afternoons: flat, shaded and wide enough that finding a spot is rarely a problem. The reef and rocky outcrops at either end offer decent snorkelling when the water is calm. Come in March, and the kilometre-long shoreline becomes an open-air gallery for Sculpture by the Sea, a free outdoor exhibition that’s one of the better reasons to time a Perth trip around a specific event.
5. Trigg Beach
Where: 20 minutes from Perth
Why: Trigg draws serious surfers. The reef break here is consistent enough to host Surfing WA competitions, and on any given weekend the water is busy with people who know what they’re doing. It’s worth watching from the shore even if you’re not one of them. Come evening, Island Market Trigg on West Coast Drive is the move: a Mediterranean-leaning seafood restaurant with ocean views, stone-baked pita and Shark Bay prawns that regulars plan visits around. The Summer x Salt markets run every second Saturday from October to March, and offer free yoga and pilates on the grass, plus local makers and food stalls if you want a reason to linger past breakfast.
6. Rottnest Island
Where: 25 minutes by ferry from Fremantle
Why: Rottnest Island operates without a single private car, which tells you something about the pace of the place. Hire a bike at the jetty and you can reach most of the island’s 63 beaches and bays within the hour, including The Basin, a sheltered lagoon shallow enough to wade across, and Geordie Bay, which offers calm water and a casual bar within easy cycling distance of the main settlement. Parakeet Bay and Salmon Bay are the picks for snorkelling: transparent water, stingrays and tropical fish that seem entirely unbothered by company. Then there are the quokkas, small, unhurried marsupials that have made Rottnest famous, and that will almost certainly wander into your eyeline before you go looking for them. Pinky’s Bar & Restaurant overlooks Pinky Beach and the Bathurst Lighthouse from a shaded sunset deck, serving locally sourced seafood, WA wines and cocktails, with one of the better views on the island for watching the light go flat at the end of the day.
7. Coogee Beach & Omeo Wreck
Where: 40 minutes from Perth
Why: Coogee Beach has one of the more unusual drawcards on this list. The Omeo, an iron steamship that went down in 1905, sits at the centre of a 200-metre maritime trail built around the wreck: 55 underwater structures including reef pyramids, replica cannons, sculpture and educational panels, all in water clear enough to make a GoPro worthwhile. Above the surface, a land trail covers restored anchors and a dedicated viewing platform over the wreck site. After a dive or snorkel, Coogee Common on the foreshore serves food and drinks in a heritage setting that makes a good argument for staying longer than you planned.
8. Lancelin Beach
Where: 1 hour and 40 minutes from Perth
Why: Lancelin feels genuinely different from the city beaches on this list. The white sand dunes behind the shore are large enough to sandboard down and wide enough that a full afternoon of 4WD driving barely covers them. The town itself is small and unhurried for most of the year, but draws thousands over Christmas and New Year when the beach fills with fishing rods, boogie boards and convoys of 4WDs working the shoreline. Lancelin is also one of the better spots in WA for windsurfing and kitesurfing, with reliable strong winds that have made it a regular competition venue. If you’re there in season, the local crayfish is worth seeking out.
9. Yanchep Lagoon
Where: 1 hour from Perth
Why: Yanchep Lagoon is genuinely quiet on weekdays, with a reef-protected shoreline that keeps the water calm and clear enough for easy fish spotting. It snorkels differently from Coogee or Mettams Pool: shallower, more open, better suited to a long unhurried drift than a structured dive. Yanchep National Park is directly behind the beach and holds one of the largest koala colonies in Western Australia, worth an hour of your time after a swim. From here, the Pinnacles at Nambung National Park are less than an hour further north, making Yanchep a natural first stop on a longer drive up the coast rather than a standalone day trip.
Discover Perth
Feature image courtesy of Tourism Western Australia.
