Best Walks in Perth: Kings Park, Coastal Path & Darling Range

Perth has one of Australia's finest urban walking environments: the Kings Park bushland (one of the world's largest inner-city parks at 400ha, largely natural bushland on the Kings Park ridge) provides outstanding bush walking within 2km of the CBD; the 60km Indian Ocean Coastal Path provides the finest urban coastal walk in Australia; and the Darling Range (30-60 minutes east) provides extensive national park walking in a remarkably varied bush environment. Perth is frequently under-rated as a walking city and represents one of the finest values for walkers of any Australian capital.

Kings Park Bushland Walks — the DNA Tower walk, the Lotterywest Federation Walkway (a 620m treetop canopy walk above the Botanic Garden), and the Federation Walk provide outstanding Kings Park walking with views across the Swan River and the Perth CBD. The Kings Park Wildflower Walk in spring (August-October) is one of Western Australia's finest seasonal walking experiences, with over 3,000 species of WA native plants in flower simultaneously.

Indian Ocean Coastal Path — the 60km off-road coastal path from Two Rocks to Fremantle (completed in sections over many years and now largely continuous) follows the Indian Ocean foreshore along the entire metropolitan Perth coastline. Individual sections (Cottesloe to Scarborough, 10km; Trigg to Hillarys, 8km) provide outstanding half-day coastal walks. The path passes through coastal heath, limestone cliffs, and beach foreshore with Indian Ocean views throughout.

John Forrest National Park — 30km east of Perth in the Darling Range, John Forrest is Western Australia's oldest national park and provides excellent bush walking in jarrah and marri woodland. The Hovea Falls walk (4km circuit), the Eagle View Walk (7km circuit), and the longer trails through the Darling Range provide outstanding day walking accessible within 45 minutes of Perth.

Rottnest Island walks — the Wadjemup Bidi trail network on Rottnest Island provides 50km of walking through the island's extraordinary coastal heathland, salt lakes, and heritage buildings, with quokka encounters and Indian Ocean views throughout. The Basin to Kingstown circuit (8km, graded easy to moderate) is the finest introduction to Rottnest Island walking.

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