8 best family-friendly road trips in WA

Imagine if you released the need to get from A to B in record time: how different might your drive look? Planning stops is key to making a family road trip not only do-able, but fun. Sure, multiple stops increase travel times, but they also transform a mission into an experience.

We can’t promise there won’t be plaintive whimpers of “Are we theeeere yet” (especially if they’re anticipating the country’s biggest free playground – read on), but with this go-to guide of where to pull over and play, you’ll be as set as you’re ever going to be.

1. Perth to Dunsborough

Leap frog between towns on this route, starting with Mandurah, where you can see the newest wooden Giant to be added to the sculptural collection that’s dotted through the region. Yaburgurt Cirkelstone is found laying on the Coodanup Foreshore, clasping a rock – a sight for all ages.

Next stop: Busselton, where teenage kids who are confident swimmers can snorkel along a new trail of 13 underwater sculptures at the end of the 1.8km Busselton Jetty. Smaller children might prefer a new, above-ground trail called The Storytime Way. Positioned along Geographe foreshore between Busselton Primary School and Longlands Park, kids will find 20 panels that slowly unfurl a story.

From there, head towards Yallingup and stop at Ngilgi Cave to explore the fully accessible Ancient Lands Experience, which officially opened in November 2023. Interactive viewing goggles show you immersive cave chambers. There are birdsong-emitting levers and a nature playground will engage little ones through to teens. There’s also a clever timeline explaining the spot’s 600 million years of history; a below-ground cave exploration is worth adding-in. Save 10% on your Ngilgi Cave visit with your RAC member benefits.

Head south to sate hunger pains at Beerfarm’s newly expanded and wildly popular, open-air kitchen (bookings essential: arrive before 12noon or after 2:30pm on weekends to avoid food wait times that’ll test little tummies). Pack rashies and towels if the free slip ‘n slide is happening. There’s a playground and alpaca and sheep to keep younger kids engaged, year-round.

Finish at Southcamp, a new tiny cabin village with side-by-side family cabins: bunk cabins are furnished with games, textas and kids’ books while parents get LPs and a record player. The venue’s neighbouring brewhouse is set around a central lawn and has a huge, shaded sandpit with toys that suits kids aged 10 and under.

2. Perth to the Ferguson Valley

This easy road trip can be broken up with a stop at The Crooked Carrot, where an enormous playground will dazzle kids aged 12 and under. Watch them clamber over rope walls, sit in vintage tractors and yell from wooden forts, while you sustain yourself with coffee. There’s loads of parking and a lengthy menu of burgers, rolls, pastries and more.

From there, cut inland to Wellington Dam where you’ll all be wowed by the world’s largest dam wall mural, stretching 8000 square metres. Kids love crossing the bridge at the dam’s base – there’s a safe, pedestrian section on it. Point out the images of local children, mines workers and Aboriginal people and tell them the artist painted from floating platforms that were lowered down the concrete wall.

In nearby Wellington National Park is the shaded Honeymoon Pool campground, where there’s a wooden deck and stairs descending into the natural, freshwater pool – all ages love it on a hot day. Finish with a roam through Gnomesville, where some 7000 garden gnomes smile shyly at visitors. Sprawling through the bush, the free-entry attraction will captivate the whole family – especially if you play eye-spy.

3. Perth to the Turquoise Coast

Most people assume Gingin’s Gravity Discovery Centre is purely for stargazing and only visitable by night. But it makes for an excellent stop during daytime hours, just 12km off the Indian Ocean Drive.

Kids of all ages love the leaning tower, a 4-metre-tall steel structure conquered via 222 steps - it leans at an angle of 15 degrees, which eclipses the Leaning Tower of Pisa’s modest 5.5 degrees.

There’s also the outdoor solar system walk laying out our galaxy over 1km, and the indoor discovery centre, filled with hands-on sci-fi exhibits, like a wave simulator and magnet experiments.

Next, stop at Cervantes’ dunes where bigger – or just braver – kids can tackle sand boarding down steep, white inclines. Drive on to The Pinnacles and pull over to search the bushland for emu and roo prints. Finish your road trip at Jurien Bay. Surprise the brood with the town’s glow-in-the-dark art gallery, Sea Spray Art by Kiera. Wander in the dark, between UV light-illuminated paintings of turtles, sealions and fish.

4. Perth to Kalbarri

Take in the Turquoise Coast tips above, then stop at Geraldton foreshore, where a series of playgrounds clutch the coast. The first one, at Town Beach, suits bigger kids who can burn energy via a climbing cube, fast merry-go-round and roped skywalk. A water park with colourful spouts and sprays is within walking distance.

Further north (via car) is Marina Park, a lesser-known sandpit playground that is fully fenced – great for younger ones. AJ’s Café sits alongside, a container-like German coffee house with suspended rope swings (for bigger kids). From here, stop at Pink Lake by Hutt Lagoon – people young and old marvel at the Barbie-pink hues stretching for miles.

Use the roadside parking bay and walk to the water’s edge. Next, drive on to Kalbarri’s seaside gorges; Mushroom Rock’s loop walk is great for active families, while Red Bluff’s shorter, paved and mostly flat trail is where to play ‘spot the whale’, in season.

Inland, assess if super fit teens (who like rising early) can handle the 8km Loop walk in Kalbarri National Park, while agile younger ones may prefer the ladders and rock scrambling along the shorter River Trail. Back in town, bring older kids to the bonfire nights at newly opened Little Leaf Kalbarri, an environmentally conscious café favouring Asian flavours.

5. Perth to Albany

This is a long haul. Make it bearable for all of you by taking a minor detour to Boddington and the Hotham River Foreshore Adventure Play Park. Send active kids to the skate park and pump track, while eager explorers disappear down laddered tunnels, splash in the water trays and balance on the aerial rope walkway. There’s also outdoor gym equipment for teens and adults.

Next stop: Kojonup and the 500m rose maze at The Kodja Place. Enter with a gold coin donation and note that the 2000 rose bushes bloom most profusely in November. The neighbouring café has little kids’ toys inside. As you near the home stretch, reward your brood with treats at the national award-winning Mount Barker Bakery.

About 20mins drive east is the Granite Skywalk at Castle Rock, in Porongurup National Park. A pre-sunset, 2.2km, rocky hike – best for kids aged 10 and up - could be just the thing you need before arriving at Albany. Once in town, beaches, playgrounds and cafes abound – but a great local secret is the bird watching hide on Lake Vancouver. Follow a 1.4km loop trail from the Goode Beach carpark through the dunes.

6. Perth to the Hills

Take a short but sweet drive to an overlooked part of WA. Tackle bush hikes with children of all ages in the cooler ends of the day. Younger ones will gravitate to the gushing water and meandering streams on Whistlepipe Gully’s loop walk in the Mundy Regional Park in Kalamunda – dress them for wet and dirty fun. Those able to handle stairs both down, and especially up, will enjoy Lesmurdie Falls, with its two lookout platforms jutting over a valley at the top, and its boulder-strewn waterfall at the bottom. Make sure to go when it’s running to avoid crestfallen kids.

Head to Pickering Brook to lunch at Core Cider, a sprawling orchard and cidery with a nature playground, fruit picking and bumpy tractor rides. Finish in Jarrahdale, with a family-friendly, guided Sunset and Stargazing Hike delivered by Off The Beaten Track. Weaving 5km through jarrah and banksia forest – where roos may be spotted – the easy but gravelly hike ends at Sullivan Rock, where you can gaze at the planets away from the city’s ambient light. Kids of all ages can look through the telescope as characterful astronomer Rod Hunt answers any questions they can throw at him – he’s like a Dr Karl for stars.

7. Perth to Manjimup

If your kids have never experienced Donnybrook’s Apple Fun Park, factor in an hour and make this your first stop. Suited for toddlers through to teenagers, it’s the biggest free entry playground in Australia. In 2019, a $1.5M government grant allowed for significant upgrades, including improved family changing facilities.

Drive on until you get to Bridgetown, where the small but very, very sweet Ooh La Lollipop shop is found – in 2024, it’s been open for 20 years. Set your kids a budget and watch as they try and choose as many delights as possible - there are 10c and 20c lollies, just like in the ‘old days’.

Once in Manjimup, make a beeline for the Heritage Park’s Adventure Playground. Fearless kids aged six and up will likely be drawn to the 17m-high slide, the 40m-long flying fox and the climbing net. There’s also a dedicated play area for toddlers, as well as swings, animal sculptures and a row of beautiful cubby houses. While in Manjimup, let competent swimmers float on a tractor tyre tube at Fonty’s Pool – it’s memory making at its best (day visitors $4).

8. Perth to Dwellingup

En route to Dwellingup, stop at the tree-shaded Cantwell Park in Pinjarra and let kids aged 12 and under loose on a spiderweb-like rope climbing frame, birds nest swing and flying fox. Little ones can play sailor in a painted dinghy, slide from the pirate ship or just hit the swings. Teens might like the nearby suspension bridge across the Murray River.

On Dwellingup’s forested outskirts, book the whole family in for the zip lines, suspended planks and ropes courses at Treetops Adventure Dwellingup. The bravest among you can climb up 25m to the native tree canopy – kept safe with a cleated harness and helmet. Back in town, head to the free-use skate and pump bike track and its neighbouring playground, next to Dwellingup Trails and Visitor Centre.

The Centre is the departure point for the Hotham Valley tourist train – locomotives set off with a loud toot and clouds of steam. Check departures, as the steam train runs May to October, while the diesel train chugs year-round; there are extra services during school holidays.

The Munda Biddi mountain bike trail runs near the train route; Dwellingup Adventures hires bikes and helmets for all ages, from tiny to tall. There are also riding routes within Lane Poole Reserve, a nature spot fringing Dwellingup, which has more than 150 camp sites across eight locations. Early in the warmer months, its many waterways make for excellent swimming and fishing destinations.

Banner image credit: Sarah Coote