Lake Cave is 325 stairs down into a collapsed limestone sinkhole, and 325 back up. Humpbacks blow in the blue of Geographe Bay below the balcony at Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse, 59 steps up. Perth is a three-hour drive away.
Three caves on Caves Road
Lake Cave sits in a collapsed doline ringed by karri trees, with a long timber staircase dropping into the sinkhole. At the bottom, a huge suspended table of calcite hangs just above a glass-still underground lake, the formations uplit in amber. Tours are guided on scheduled departures and booking is essential. Adults pay A$26 and children aged 4 to 16 pay A$13. Seniors pay A$24, and under-4s go free. The 325 stairs rule out wheelchairs and prams. It is the prettiest of the Capes caves and the one most day trips from Perth include.
Jewel Cave, deep underground near Augusta, holds the biggest chamber of the four caves, crossed by tiered steel walkways. A straw stalactite 5.9 m long and thin as a hair hangs from the roof, and the floor is a fossil bed under pale flowstone curtains. Guided tours run hourly and booking is essential. Adult entry is A$26, the same as Lake Cave, with children aged 4 to 16 at A$13 and seniors at A$24. Count 250 stairs and a reasonable level of fitness. It is the southern end of the standard day trip, and it pairs with the lighthouse at Augusta on the same leg.
Ngilgi Cave & Ancient Lands Experience at Yallingup is self-guided, so you walk it at your own pace. Last entry is 4 p.m. The entrance is an open-sided sinkhole in low peppermint bushland, and shawl and helictite formations are lit inside. Above ground, a boardwalk runs past interactive story installations. It is the only cave here built around Wadandi story. Adults pay A$32 and children aged 4 to 16 pay A$16. Seniors pay A$30. The above-ground Ancient Lands section on its own is A$16 for adults and is wheelchair accessible, while the cave below is 350 steps. Backpack baby carriers are not allowed.
Cape Naturaliste and Cape Leeuwin
Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse is a short squat whitewashed tower with red-roofed keepers' cottages, standing on a heath-covered headland. Guided tours run for 30 minutes through the day and finish in the glass lantern room. Adults pay A$18 and children aged 4 to 16 pay A$10. Seniors pay A$16. Anyone not climbing gets the view from the accessible observation platform at the tower base.
Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse is a tall white stone tower on a bare limestone headland at Australia's south-west tip, where two oceans meet and the swell smashes the rocks. A calcified old timber waterwheel sits nearby. Tower tours leave every 30 minutes, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., in small batches, and a party of any size gets split across departures, so book ahead. The tower tour is A$23 for an adult and includes the museum and the grounds. Grounds and museum on their own are A$7.50 for an adult. The climb is 176 steps and the minimum age to go up is 4. Selfie sticks, tripods and drones are not allowed. It is the most photographed stop on the route and the reason for driving all the way to Augusta.
Cellar doors at Vasse Felix, Leeuwin Estate and Voyager Estate
Vasse Felix pours hosted tastings at the bar daily, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and has a wine lounge. The building is limestone, steel and glass above the original 1967 vineyard, with an art gallery upstairs and a gravel courtyard at the door. A hosted tasting is A$15, or A$25 with the icon wines included. This is Margaret River's founding winery. Restaurant lunch runs 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. and needs a reservation.
Leeuwin Estate keeps its cellar door open daily, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with tastings at A$$. Modern Australian art hangs through the room, and the lawn amphitheatre outside, edged by towering karri trees, is where the summer concerts are staged. The restaurant serves lunch Wednesday to Sunday, 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., plus dinner on Saturday, at A$$$$, and you need to reserve well ahead. Lunch is a sit-down booking at white-clothed tables looking into forest. International visitors know the name from the Art Series chardonnay, and the setting earns the stop as much as the wine does.
Voyager Estate on Stevens Road has white Cape Dutch gables under a dark-trimmed roofline, formal rose gardens and clipped hedges, with vines running to the treeline. An oversized Australian flag flies on a tall flagpole out front. The Wine Room opens daily, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with tastings from A$$, and bookings are recommended for all of them. The estate is fully certified organic. An estate tour with a menu is A$$$$. Come here if you want the gardens and the architecture as well as a tasting bench.
Chocolate, beer and gin
The Margaret River Chocolate Company at Metricup sets out big steel bowls of dark, milk and white pastilles on the counter, and the glass-walled production room behind shows trays of truffles. Cows graze the paddock out front. Entry and the tastings cost nothing, takeaway chocolate is A$, and the doors are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily with no booking taken. Arrive before 11 a.m. It is elbow-to-elbow by midday.
Beerfarm is a converted 1940s corrugated-iron dairy shed with long communal tables, bean bags on the grass and dogs on leads, backed by green paddocks. Pints are A$ and shared plates A$$. Walk-ins are fine most days, and 10 of you can turn up without a reservation. Friday nights need a booking. Kids are welcome, which makes it the easy stop after a run of cellar doors.
Margaret River Distilling Co works out of a shed on the edge of town, in walking distance of the Margaret River townsite, with a copper pot still behind glass and a bench of botanicals in jars. It opens daily from 10 a.m., closing at 6 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday. A tasting flight is A$$. The hands-on Giniversity blending classes are A$$$ and send you home with a 500 ml bottle; capacity is limited and the places go early. Book one if anyone in the car does not drink wine.
Free stops at Hamelin Bay, Boranup and Surfers Point
Hamelin Bay is white sand and gin-clear shallows at a boat ramp, with the weathered timber pylons of the old jetty still standing in the water. Broad smooth stingrays glide through the ankle-deep water. Parking at the ramp is free and the beach is unticketed and open at all hours. The rays are wild animals. Feeding them is banned by Parks and Wildlife and rangers do fine people, so keep your distance and do not touch them. Spread out along the sand instead of crowding the shallows.
Boranup Karri Forest has no gate and no fee. The 14 km Boranup Drive runs on a hard limestone base that 2WD cars and small coaches can take, past picnic spots and a forest lookout that gives you the trees running down to the coast. Ghost-pale karri regrowth 60 m tall crowds the unsealed track, the light comes through dappled and green, and the understorey is ferny. Most day tours from Perth drive straight through. Check the Parks site after heavy rain or fire before you commit to it. The 20 minutes it takes are the best free part of the route.
Surfers Point is a run of landscaped limestone clifftop terraces and viewing platforms above the Rivermouth. Surfers sit on the reef break below and Indian Ocean swell lines stack up offshore. It is open 24 hours, parking is free, and there are toilets and change rooms at the car park. The terraces give you somewhere to sit. The April pro event is staged here, which is where Margaret River's surf reputation comes from.
Busselton Jetty on the drive down
Busselton Jetty runs 1.8 km of timber dead straight out into pale turquoise water, with a small red open-sided train on the deck. A jetty day pass is A$5 and kids go free. The train plus the jetty is A$17, and A$40 for an adult covers the train and the 45-minute Underwater Observatory tour. The observatory sits 8 m down, with coral-crusted pylons visible through the portholes. Train and observatory departures are fixed and sell out in peak periods. Pre-book a slot. It sits on the drive down from Perth and costs you almost nothing in detour.
Settlers Tavern on Bussell Highway
Settlers Tavern is a brick-fronted pub on the Bussell Highway main street, with a shaded beer garden and a blackboard of local wines by the glass. The bar opens at 11 a.m. daily and the bistro serves 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. Mains are A$$ and a glass of local wine is A$. Live music runs Thursday to Sunday, with the band set up in the corner, and the bistro needs booking on gig nights. The regional wine list has won awards. Eat here before the three-hour drive back to Perth.
Booking ahead or driving yourself
A guided coach day trip from Perth runs four days a week, on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The operator confirms it manually and can take up to 48 hours, so you cannot decide on the morning. The season for it runs from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2028.
Driving yourself buys the first hour at Hamelin Bay and the Boranup detour, and it puts the cave and lighthouse departure times under your control. Either way, the guided caves and the Cape Leeuwin tower come with fixed departures, so the tickets go first and the driving fits around them.
Best time to go in October
October falls inside the September to November window when Cape Naturaliste is one of the best shore-based whale spots in the region. Go up early and watch from the balcony or the platform.
Hamelin Bay is at its clearest in the early morning, when the water lies glassy over the sand. Surfers Point on an ordinary spring morning gives you the same wave as the April event and an empty car park.
Is it worth the day
The day suits a visitor who will drive and climb, because the stops run from Yallingup down to Augusta and the road home takes three hours. Skip it if stairs are the problem, or build the day around the above-ground Ancient Lands walk, the Cape Naturaliste platform, the cellar doors and the beaches, all of which stay flat.
Planning notes
Book the two guided caves, the Cape Leeuwin tower tour, a jetty departure and any restaurant table before you leave Perth, and treat the Leeuwin Estate lunch days and the Ngilgi last entry as the fixed points everything else moves around. See the Perth guide and the Perth hotel search.
Questions
How long does the drive from Perth take?
Allow three hours on the road back to Perth and plan the stops around that. Busselton Jetty is on the drive down, so it costs almost no detour. Jewel Cave and Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse are at Augusta, the southern end of the route.
If I only have time for one cave, which should it be?
Lake Cave is the prettiest of the Capes caves and the one most day trips include: a suspended calcite table hangs above an underground lake, and you climb 325 stairs. Jewel Cave has the biggest chamber of the four caves, and 250 stairs. Ngilgi Cave at Yallingup is the self-guided one, and the only one built around Wadandi cultural story.
Can I see whales in October?
Yes. From September to November, Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse is one of the best shore-based whale spots in the region, and you can watch humpbacks blowing in Geographe Bay below. The balcony is 59 steps up, and there is an accessible observation platform at the tower base if you would rather not climb.
What has to be booked and what can I just turn up to?
Lake Cave and Jewel Cave need booking, as do the Cape Leeuwin tower tours, which run every 30 minutes in small batches. Busselton Jetty train and observatory departures are fixed and sell out in peak periods. The Margaret River Chocolate Company takes no bookings at all, and Beerfarm is fine for walk-ins most days. Hamelin Bay, Boranup Karri Forest and Surfers Point are free and unticketed.
Can I feed or touch the stingrays at Hamelin Bay?
No. Parks and Wildlife bans feeding, and rangers do fine people. Keep your distance, do not touch the rays, and spread out along the sand so the shallows do not get crowded.
First published on perthtrips.com, the Perth guide.
