#1 Wining and dining boom

Perth’s redevelopment has inevitably led to a wining and dining boom. Fresh WA produce and wines are available at new bars, cafes, and restaurants in or near the city’s centre, including Shadow Bar and Dining Room, Ku De Ta, The Standard, Isle of Voyage and The Reveley to name a few. The recently renovated State Buildings precinct, with its high ceilings and grand halls, is home to some of the city’s best bars and restaurants including Petition Kitchen, Long Chim and Wildflower. WA is fast developing a reputation as a world-class food and wine destination, with its gourmet produce, fresh seafood, award-winning wines and beverages and premium events including the Margaret River Gourmet Escape in Margaret River (November).

#2 Public and cultural spaces

In 2016, stage one of the city’s new waterfront development, Elizabeth Quay, opened to the public. The precinct, which has reconnected the city to the Swan River, is home to a number of wining and dining options, pedestrian and cyclists’ bridge, promenades, public art, island playground and event spaces, including the annual Perth International Arts Festival (February/March) and Fringe Festival (February).

The Perth City Link project is another major development for Perth that will reconnect Perth City with Northbridge (a cultural and entertainment precinct) for the first time in 100 years. As part of the project, a new public space is being developed – Yagan Square – which will be a place to have fun, meet, play, eat and shop from a showcase of WA produce, with permanent markets, kiosks, cafes, interactive displays, native gardens and public art on offer.

Perth Stadium will be one of the major sporting and entertainment venues for Perth, and one of the major international sporting venues for Australia when it opens early 2018. Premier League powerhouse Chelsea Football Club will play an international match at the stadium next year.

#3 Get a taste of Margaret River

A three hour drive south of Perth, Margaret River produces some of the best wine in Australia with more than 200 wineries, as well as stunning beaches, tall-timber forests, caves and world-class surf breaks.

#4 Snorkel World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Reef

Visitors can walk straight off the beach and snorkel over superb coral gardens teeming with colourful fish mere metres from the shore at World Heritage listed Ningaloo Reef. The world’s longest fringing reef has long been regarded as one of the most reliable places in the world to swim with the gentle whale shark (March to July), and now visitors can experience a humpback whale swimming interaction tour too (August to October).

#5 Discover Australia’s last great wilderness, the Kimberley

The gateway to the Kimberley, Broome, is only a 2.5 hour flight from Perth. Take a camel ride along the 22km white sands of Cable Beach, explore the mangroves with an aboriginal guide, experience untouched savannah landscapes, swim under stunning waterfalls, and see the world’s only horizontal waterfalls.

#6 Watch kangaroos lazing on the sand at Lucky Bay in Esperance

With its sweeping stretches of white sand, Cape Le Grand National Park in Esperance is a place so relaxed, even the kangaroos can’t resist lazing on the sand here.

(Content and Images source: WesternAustralia.com)