Australia · State of Western Australia
Where to Stay in Perth, State of Western Australia
Wide water bends through Perth where the Swan River crosses the coastal plain, capital of Western Australia, known for the port of Fremantle.
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Where to stay in Perth
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
Perth rewards a stay chosen by the Swan River and the coast. The central business district gathers the Art Gallery of Western Australia, the Western Australian Museum, and the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts within a few blocks, and St Mary's Cathedral rises over the eastern streets. Stay here for galleries and trains.
The riverfront stretch below the towers opens onto the Swan River, where ferries cross toward Perth Zoo on the southern shore and the water carries the light of the plain. Wesley Church and the Museum of Perth anchor the old civic core nearby. West of the centre, the ground climbs toward the parkland above the river, and the streets there feel quieter than the office grid below.
The old port of Fremantle sits downstream where the Swan River reaches the Indian Ocean, a working harbour with limestone warehouses and its own maritime history, reached by rail along the plain. Fremantle suits travellers who want the sea and the ferries rather than the office towers. Whichever shore you choose, the river and the ocean set the frame.
About Perth
What is Perth known for?
Perth is known for the broad Swan River, the port of Fremantle, and its long distance from every other Australian city. The Western Australian Museum and the Art Gallery of Western Australia gather the state's collections in the centre. Perth Zoo draws families across the river.
Scitech, St Mary's Cathedral, and the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts each hold a corner of the cultural quarter, and the city carries the reputation of being among the most isolated on earth.
What are the main landmarks in Perth?
Perth gathers its landmarks along the Swan River and the central streets. The Western Australian Museum and the Art Gallery of Western Australia stand near the railway in the cultural quarter, beside the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts. St Mary's Cathedral rises to the east.
Perth Zoo sits across the river on the southern shore, while Scitech, the Museum of Perth, and Wesley Church fill out the civic centre with exhibits and heritage stone.
What is the history of Perth?
Perth was founded in 1829 as a British settlement on the Swan River, the free colony that gave Western Australia its capital. The first town rose on the north bank, and the port of Fremantle grew downstream where the river met the Indian Ocean. Convict labour came later.
Public buildings followed as the colony grew, and heritage churches such as Wesley Church and St Mary's Cathedral date from these decades of Victorian expansion along the coastal plain. The long isolation from the eastern cities shaped everything that came after. Separated from Adelaide by the vast Nullarbor Plain, Perth looked to the sea and the goldfields inland rather than to its distant neighbours.
The Western Australian Museum keeps the record of that settlement and the country before it. Fremantle's warehouses recall the shipping that tied the isolated colony to the wider world, and the city carried its frontier past into the modern state capital it became.
Where is Perth?
Perth spreads across the Swan Coastal Plain between the Indian Ocean and the Darling Scarp. The Swan River winds through the metropolitan area to reach the sea at Fremantle, and the flat plain runs from the surf to the wooded ridge in the east. Remoteness defines the site.
Beyond the city, the Nullarbor Plain separates it from Adelaide and the eastern states by a vast dry span of land, leaving Perth alone on the western edge of the continent.
What is the climate of Perth?
Perth has a warm Mediterranean climate shaped by the Indian Ocean and the coastal plain. Summers are hot and dry, cooled in the afternoon by a reliable sea breeze off the ocean that locals know well. Perth's winters stay mild and rainy.
Most of the rain falls in the cooler months, when fronts sweep in from the west across the Swan Coastal Plain and green the land before the long dry returns.
How do you get to Perth?
Perth anchors travel across Western Australia from the western edge of the continent. As the state capital, the city gathers the road and rail routes of the region, and the rail line runs down the Swan River to the port of Fremantle on the coast. Distance defines every arrival.
The long crossing of the Nullarbor Plain separates Perth from Adelaide and the eastern cities, so most long-haul travellers reach the isolated capital by air or by the single transcontinental railway.
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Updated July 2026