Between meetings
If you have a couple of hours…
Comprising institutions such as the Art Gallery of Western Australia, WA Museum, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts and The Blue Room Theatre, the Perth Cultural Centre (ptt. wa.gov.au) in Northbridge is a hub for the arts community. The state gallery’s permanent collections are free to view and the area houses pop-ups over the dynamic summer festival period.
If you have half a day…
Not only is the Swan Valley WA’s oldest wine region, it’s also less than half an hour from the city centre. The new hop-on, hop-off Swan Valley Explorer bus service makes discovering the area a breeze or you can take Take the ferry to Rottnest Island for sand, sea and quokka selfies a 10-minute taxi ride from Guildford train station to the sprawling, family-run Mandoon Estate (mandoonestate.com.au), which makes an ideal acrossthe-board option. Its onsite pub, Homestead Brewery, serves great craft beers and pizza, while families crowd alfresco area The Llawn on weekends. If you’re after a fine-dining option, the upmarket Wild Swan restaurant fits the brief for a special occasion.
If you have a day…
A 90-minute ferry ride from the centre of the city, Rottnest Island (rottnestisland.com) is a summery escape beloved by locals and visitors (faster, more frequent ferries operate from the nearby port city of Fremantle). Rottnest’s alluring bays and swimming spots are coloured 50 shades of turquoise, the island is car-free (you can hire bikes to get around) and the resident quokkas – cute rat-like indigenous marsupials – are more than happy to pose for photographs.
If you have a weekend…
Great wine (and surf breaks) might have put Margaret River (margaretriver.com) on the map but the region’s thriving food scene is the latest reason to plot a weekend escape here. While pioneering cellar doors such as Vasse Felix, Cullen and Leeuwin continue to feature in “where to eat” discussions, some of the area’s more recent options include sustainably minded Arimia (arimia.com.au) and breezy modern Chinese restaurant Chow’s Table (chowstable.com.au), alongside House of Cards winery. Places to stay include Smiths Beach Resort (smithsbeachresort. com.au), right by the ocean in Yallingup, and Cape Lodge (capelodge.com.au), a study in classic European luxury.