Things to do in Margaret River Nine stops down the cape, lighthouse to lighthouse

Start at the top of the cape. Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse is visited on a guided tour only, which takes about 30 minutes and climbs 59 steps. The park around it costs nothing to enter, and the walk trails and whale lookouts are free.

A sealed 3.4 km path joins the cape to Sugarloaf Rock, the granite cone just offshore where red-tailed tropicbirds nest. It's fine for prams all the way. Watch the rock from the lookout and don't cross to it. Whales pass the cape from September to November, according to the Capes Foundation, which runs the lighthouse.

Coming from Busselton? The cape is about 40 minutes from the jetty, and our Busselton to Margaret River day trip starts there.

Ngilgi Cave is the self-guided one, so you set the pace. The visit starts above ground with the Ancient Lands Experience, which the Capes Foundation says teaches Wadandi place names and seasons, then goes down 350 steps into the cave. Allow about an hour and a half.

Above Yallingup Beach, Rabbit Hill lookout is free, with seating and accessible paths. It's 650 m along Dawson Drive from the centre of Yallingup, and the 6.3 km Wardanup Trail loop starts there and passes the cave.

Canal Rocks is a line of granite split by a channel the sea has cut, with a wooden footbridge across it. Parks and Wildlife says the bridge is somewhere “where you can watch the surge of waves crashing against the rocks”. Parking and the bridge are free.

A few minutes south, the Cape to Cape Track runs about 2.5 km between Injidup Beach and Wyadup Rocks, which has a natural rock pool. It's a short coast walk with nothing to pay. This is an unpatrolled coast with dangerous rips, so stay out of the water here and keep well back from the edge in a swell.

Back on Caves Road heading south for Margaret River, you pass 2807 Caves Road, Swings and Roundabouts' Yallingup venue. We name it only as a landmark.

The town is a main street you can cover on foot, and the main street is Bussell Highway. On Saturdays, the Margaret River Farmers Market runs from 7:30am to 11:30am at the Education Campus, Lot 272 Bussell Highway. Check the market's site before you go. Park in the TAFE area or the High School overflow, not on the highway verge, and leave the dog at home: dogs aren't allowed in the market space.

Street numbers on Bussell Highway rise as you head south, which makes them handy for finding your way: the Margaret River Brewhouse is at no. 35 at the northern end, the Old Settlement Museum at no. 69, Swings and Roundabouts' town venue at no. 85 and the bakery at no. 89. We name them only as landmarks.

Rotary Park, on the river by the main street, has picnic and barbecue facilities, a playground, toilets and the start of the heritage trails. Across the footbridge, the volunteer-run Old Settlement Museum has a restored 1925 schoolroom and a blacksmith's workshop, and the 1890s steam locomotive Old Kate stands back at the park.

For a bite, Margaret River Bakery is at 89 Bussell Highway. It calls itself a European-style bakery and cafe and says it has been on the main street since the 1960s, and its own website lists sandwiches, baguettes, pastries, cakes and pies in the cabinet. Check its website for hours.

For galleries and studios, see our Margaret River artisans guide. The Wadandi Track runs through town for walkers and cyclists, and the mountain bike trails start near Rotary Park.

Ten minutes west of town, Margaret River meets the sea at Prevelly. Surfers Point is the clifftop above the Main Break, the wave the town is known for, and you can watch the surf from the reserve without getting wet.

The break hosts a World Surf League stop, the Margaret River Pro, which the league has confirmed through 2028. The 2026 event ran in April. Dates for 2027 haven't been published yet, and a big event can change access, so check before a big weekend.

The river mouth beach has lifeguards from December to March and over the Easter long weekend. At other times it's unpatrolled, so check Beachsafe before you go in.

The caves start south of town and keep coming. Mammoth Cave is self-guided with an audio guide, and you go down 370 steps. A 50,000-year-old zygomaturus jawbone is still set in the cave wall, and the walk back to the car goes through forest. It's about 15 to 20 minutes' drive south of town.

Lake Cave and Jewel Cave are fully guided, and bookings are essential. Calgardup Cave, run by Parks and Wildlife, is the gentle one: a 300 m self-guided cave with boardwalks and handrails, helmets and torches supplied. From winter into spring, a stream flows into it.

For the adventurous, Giants Cave is Parks and Wildlife's deepest, with ladders and rock scrambles, helmets and torches supplied, enclosed shoes needed, and a minimum age of 6. Its opening days depend on the school term, so check before you drive out. Our Margaret River caves guide compares them all.

South of the caves, Caves Road runs into Boranup, a forest of tall karri trees. A gravel loop road, fine in an ordinary two-wheel-drive car, climbs to a lookout with picnic tables and a drop toilet.

Parks and Wildlife calls the forest “particularly picturesque in the golden light of late afternoon”. The lookout sees over the forest to Hamelin Bay. In spring the understorey flowers with clematis, hovea, hibbertia and coral creeper. No pets: 1080 baits are laid here.

Wild stingrays glide through the shallows at Hamelin Bay, mostly in summer. Watch them from a distance, and don't touch or feed them.

The Coastal Explorer Walk is 800 m and takes about 20 minutes, climbing the headland past what's left of the old timber jetty.

The road ends at Cape Leeuwin. The lighthouse is the tallest on mainland Australia, according to both the Capes Foundation and Parks and Wildlife. It's a guided tour of about 30 minutes, and the climb is 176 steps. Whales pass here between May and August.

Next door, the Cape Leeuwin Water Wheel was built to pump water for the lighthouse and has since been coated in limestone, turned to stone where it stands. It's free, with a sealed car park, and 400 m on foot from the lighthouse car park. Nearby Quarry Bay, on Skippy Rock Road, is where the lighthouse limestone was cut.