3.5 Week Western Australia Road Trip Itinerary: Costs, Campsites & Route

Introduction

We spent three and a half weeks in a campervan exploring the west coast of Australia. We started by going north from Perth to Exmouth before passing back through Perth and going South to Margaret Rvier and across to Esperance.

I hope this guide will give you some inspiration for your road trip including top tips and how much we spent. Our exact route is below in a table. More detailed guides of each day can also be found on my blog, more coming soon.

Why you should visit Western Australia?

Western Australia is incredible, with such an amazing variety of landscapes and activities. From some of the whitest sandy beaches to the glowing red sandstone of its dramatic gorges, there really is something for every outdoor lover.

It’s also incredibly vast — the whole of Western Europe could fit inside Western Australia! This means that when you’re driving between destinations, you’ll see plenty of remote outback scenery along the way. In my opinion, this makes arriving at these incredible locations feel even more special.

I absolutely loved exploring the west coast of Australia, and I’ve included some of my favourite photos below. I hope they inspire you to visit Western Australia for yourself!

How long do you need to road trip the West Coast?

Although three and a half weeks felt like a good chunk of time it also barely touched the surface. No length of time would be too long, but three and a half weeks does give you enough time to see a lot of the major sites between Exmouth and Esperance. Equally we could have spent 3.5 weeks just doing either Perth to Exmouth or Perth to Esperance as there is so much to see.

With a slower pace you could have more of a ‘holiday’, staying in places for longer periods of time. We opted for a more active itinerary and although it didn’t feel rushed, we packed in a lot and only stayed in an area two nights maximum.

How long do you want to spend driving?

Consider how much you want to drive each day. We don’t mind driving so we had some long drive days of 10+ hours to get from one place to another. This is nothing for an Australian, as you will learn they are used to long drive. If you don’t like driving and prefer slower travel, then I would not recommend you follow this itinerary fully and shorten it as required.

We found driving in Western Australia to be very easy, especially compared to the UK. The roads tend to be very straight, long and wide which makes the biggest challenge boredom. However do be very careful driving at dusk/dawn and don’t drive at night due to the wild animals. A kangaroo would put a big dent in your campervan deposit.

Do you need to book activities/ campgrounds in advance?

Although it would be nice to be flexible with where you are staying each night it is not always achievable. Depending on the season places book up well in advance. Not all of Western Australia has the same season, see more below.

For example, in July (when we went) it was peak season for the northern part of Western Australia. For us this was up to Exmouth but would also include further up into the Kimberley’s. This is the winter in Australia so a lot of locals visit the warmer states for holidays and escape the colder South.

Therefore, if you want to visit Exmouth during its peak season or do any of the activities there, such as whale shark swimming, you will need to book in advance. We overheard other travellers up and down the coast saying they couldn’t stay in Exmouth as it was fully booked.

Obviously, this will vary on the time of year you travel but if it is the ‘peak’ tourist season for that area then I would recommend you book in advance.

Can I just camp for free?

Free camping is not permitted in many areas of Western Australia. There are apps you can get (Campermate and THL App) where you can find free camp spots, however they are not everywhere. For example, no free camping is allowed inside Exmouth or Kalbarri National Park and therefore you need to book to stay nearby if you want to stay in there areas.

Top tip – If you are hiring a campervan a lot of companies will give you a google map pin or similar which shows free/paid campsites. Once you book ask the company to send it as soon as possible so you can use it for planning.

Do I need a 4×4 to road trip Western Australia?

We had such a dilemma when wondering if we should get a 4×4. Ultimately it came down to cost as it was about double if not more of the price to hire a 4×4. I was worried that we would then feel like we missed out.

After completing our road trip, I don’t feel like we missed out by not having a 4×4. There were certainly more remote campsites and national parks that we couldn’t explore, but with the amount of time we had, visiting these places would have meant sacrificing some of the other things we did get to see.

For example, Francois Peron National Park is only accessible by 4×4 and looks incredible. We obviously didn’t get to visit, but looking back, having a 4×4 would have meant allowing considerably more time to get to and from the national park, as well as enough time to properly explore it. With a limited timeframe, this would have taken time away from other destinations along the coast.

So, while a 4×4 would definitely give you access to more remote and off-the-beaten-track locations, it’s worth considering how much extra time you’ll need to reach and explore them. For us, sticking to the main routes meant we were able to see a wider variety of Western Australia within the time we had.

In summary, I would say if you want to see a mix of towns, hikes, beaches and other activities then a 4×4 is NOT essential. We still managed to see some incredible things. I guess the main advantage to a 4×4 is you can access remote locations where you are likely to be the only one on these incredible beaches and national parks. If you want to see less range but have a more off grid experience, then a 4×4 is required.

When to Visit Western Australia?

As Western Australia is so big the weather varies across the different regions, plus there are various ‘seasons’ to be aware of such as wildflower or whale season.

Wildflower season – June to November – Check with the area’s tourist information centre for local information of where they have been seen.

Whale season – Different whales visit at different times of the year but the humpbacks are present May to December, depending on where up the coast you are.

Whaleshark swimming – When we were there the staff on our boat said May/June was the best time for whale sharks in Exmouth. However, you can go between March and August and we did see whalesharks in July.

Therefore, depending on what you wish to do and see you can plan the best time to visit.

If like us you aren’t flexible, I don’t think there is a bad time to visit Western Australia it will just mean some things you can do and others you can’t. We visited Perth to Esperance in what google described as the coldest and wettest month for this part of Australia. We still had a fun time with a mix of sunshine and rain.

We are British so not afraid to get out and explore even in the cold and wet. If you are coming for a more summers holiday then either go north of Perth in July or pick a more favourable month.

The Seasons At A Glance

December to February is summer, this is a popular time in Perth and nearby regions. Further up north going towards Exmouth it gets crazy hot so I wouldn’t recommend visiting there then.

Winter runs June to August and varies north to south. This was when we visited. North of Perth towards Exmouth was sunny everyday with highs of 29 degrees, so not very winter like. When we went down to Margaret river and Esperance the weather was much more hit and miss. Some days were sunny but only reaching mid/late teens. We also had plenty of wet, windy and cold weather.

I think an ideal time to do the route we did would be the shoulder seasons of spring (September to November) and autumn (March to May). Therefore, missing any extremities.

Top Tip – Make sure you check the school holidays and national holidays. Remember they vary state to state so check them all. These periods can be very busy and best avoided in my opinion.

Our 3.5 Week Itinerary

Below is a table that summarises our route, where we stayed and the main activity for that location. I am also posting more detailed information of our road trip day by day so follow the links for them. The links are on the night no.

Night No	Travel From	Travel To	Night Stay	Price	Main Activity	Powered (P) / Unpowered (U)
1	Mighty Campers, Perth	Jurien Bay	Sandy Cape Recreation Park	$25	The Pinnacles	U
2	Jurien Bay	Kalbarri	Big River Ranch	$50	Geraldton	U
3	Kalbarri	Kalbarri	Tudor Holiday Park	$45	Kalbarri National Park	P
4	Kalbarri Nanga Shark Bay	Nanga Shark Bay	Nanga Shark Bay Caravan Park	$44	Driving	P
5	Nanga Shark Bay	Bullara Station	Bullara Station	$44	Bullara Station	U
6	Bullara Station	Bullara Station	Bullara Station	$44	Bullara Station	U
7	Bullara Station	Exmouth	Exmouth RAC	$52.67	Cape Range National Park	P
8	Exmouth	Exmouth	Exmouth RAC	$52.67	Whale Shark Swimming	P
9	Exmouth	Exmouth	Exmouth RAC	$52.67	Cape Range National Park	P
10	Exmouth	Coral Bay	Coral Bay Peoples Park	$88	Snorkelling in Coral Bay	P
11	Coral Bay	Nilgen Lookout	Nilgen Lookout	Free	Driving	U
12	Nilgen Lookout	Fremantle	Fremantle Caravan Park	$55.49	Fremantle	P
13	Fremantle	Busselton	RAC Busselton	$52	Fremantle Markets, Busselton Jetty	P
14	Busselton	Margaret River	Tasman Holiday Park Yallings Cave	$45	Margaret River Farmers Market & Cape Naturalitic National Park	P
15	Margaret River	Margaret River	Margaret River View Tourist Park	$44	Wine Tasting	P
16	Margaret River	Margaret River	Margaret River View Tourist Park	$44	Margaret River Town & Surfers Point	P
17	Margaret River	Denmark	Big 4 Denmark	$40	Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk	U
18	Denmark	Albany	Panorama Caravan Park	$41.65	Greens Pool Beach and Whaling Museum	P
19	Albany	Albany	Panorama Caravan Park	$41.65	Bald Head Walk Trail	P
20	Albany	Bremer Bay	Bremer Bay Caravan Park	$39	Walk/Whale watching	P
21	Bremer Bay	Esperance	Bathers Paradise	$45	Drive/ beach walk	P
22	Esperance	Esperance	Lucky Bay Campsite	$40	Cape Le Grande walk	U
23	Esperance	Esperance	Lucky Bay Campsite	$40	Lucky Bay beach	U
24	Esperance	Perth	Discovery Parks Perth Airport	$15	Drive	P

How Much We Spent

This was the first part of our travels where we have really worried about money, Australia is not a cheap country to travel. We had budgeted a maximum of £5000 but were hoping for less.

The 3.5 week road trip cost us a total of $7258 (Australian Dollars) or £3871, which includes van hire plus everything we spent. We by no means budgeted as hard as we could have. We are both big foodies so especially in Margaret River region we were spoilt by food options.

This also includes our biggest spending which was swimming with the whale sharks which alone cost $1277 or £680.97.

What if I am on a budget?

I think that the first part of the road trip Perth – Exmouth was cheaper as a lot of the activities we did were walking and swimming on beaches which are free. Especially if you have your own snorkel. Plus, there was less ‘must try’ cafes/ restaurants so we cooked for ourselves almost the whole time. I also think bad weather tends to make you spend more as you seek out places to hide from the wind/rain, like we did in the Southern part of this trip. Whereas in the North the weather was so sunny so you could just spend the day at the beach easily.

Also, down south some of the activities cost a little more. For example, the whaling museum, the tree top walk and wine tasting.

Fuel does amount to a big spending so a big way to cut costs would be to not move around as much. We travelled roughly 4600km over the 3.5 weeks and spent $1041 or £555 on fuel.

Try to cook for yourself as much as possible. Check the towns for what shops they have, there are quite a few Aldi’s dotted around so we always tried to do most of our shopping there as the small local IGA’s etc can be quite expensive.

Also check supermarket reward cards if you are there for a while. I know Woolworths did one. They also did savings on fuel with your supermarket receipt so check and keep your receipts.

Summary

I hope this blog has been helpful in you planning your roadtrip. Please see my other blog posts which have day to day details if you want help with what to see/do/eat. Please don’t hesitate to comment with any other questions.