The Perth to Albany is a 7-day, 1,200 km loop from Perth by campervan. Any 2WD campervan is fine - it's rated easy. Best in Autumn (Mar-May) or Spring (Sep-Nov). Budget from about A$1,200 per person, plus roughly A$288 in fuel.
There are road trips you drive, and road trips you sink into. The loop from Perth through the South West of Western Australia is firmly the second kind. In a single, unhurried week you’ll trade the city for cellar doors hidden among the vines of Margaret River, wander beneath karri trees that were already ancient when the first Europeans arrived, and stand at the edge of the continent where the Southern Ocean throws itself against granite cliffs. It is, quietly, one of the great drives of Australia - and one of the easiest to do in a campervan.
Seven days is the sweet spot. Long enough to slow down, taste properly, and walk among the giants; short enough to loop back to Perth without a single day feeling like a transit leg. Every kilometre is sealed, the towns are close together, and the caravan parks are among the best-run in the country.
Morning wine tasting among the vines, afternoon beneath 400-year-old tingle trees, evening watching the Southern Ocean break over granite. That’s a single day on this route.
Why drive the Perth to Albany loop?
This is one of the most forgiving campervan trips in the country, which makes it a superb first big drive - but it never feels beginner. The variety is what does it. You can be swirling a glass of Margaret River cabernet before lunch and threading through the Valley of the Giants by mid-afternoon, the light falling green and dim through a canopy forty metres overhead.
Because it’s a loop, the logistics stay simple: one pickup and one drop-off in Perth, no costly one-way relocation fees, and no backtracking that feels like backtracking - the return leg up the Albany Highway is a genuinely different landscape, all wide farmland and, in spring, roadsides on fire with wildflowers.
Hire your campervan from Perth
From A$1,200 per person for 7 days. Compare the main operators:
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Day by day
1,200 km total · about 15 hours behind the wheel across 7 days.
- 1
Perth to Margaret River
270 km · 3hLeave Perth early and follow the coast south to Busselton, where the longest timber-piled jetty in the Southern Hemisphere reaches nearly two kilometres out over water clear enough to watch fish from the boardwalk. From there it's a short run into Margaret River - settle into your campsite, then spend the golden late afternoon at a cellar door or two among the vines.
Highlights Busselton Jetty · Margaret River cellar doors
Stay Margaret River Tourist Park · from A$45/nightcheck availability
- 2
Exploring Margaret River
40 km · 1hA full day among wineries, breweries, limestone caves and surf breaks. Vasse Felix, Leeuwin Estate and Voyager Estate are the icons; Lake Cave and Surfers Point are worth the detour.
Highlights Vasse Felix · Lake Cave · Surfers Point
Stay Margaret River Tourist Park · from A$45/nightcheck availability
- 3
Margaret River to Pemberton
130 km · 2hDrive south through the towering karri forests. Walk the Boranup Forest, then climb the Gloucester Tree if you have a head for heights.
Highlights Boranup Forest · Gloucester Tree
Stay Pemberton Caravan Park · from A$40/nightcheck availability
- 4
Pemberton to Walpole
120 km · 1.5hToday you walk in the treetops. The Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk lifts you 40 metres into the canopy of the red tingle forest - trees so vast and so old they exist nowhere else on earth - on a steel walkway that sways gently in the breeze. Back at ground level, the Ancient Empire boardwalk winds between buttressed trunks you could park a van inside. Finish on the coast at Conspicuous Cliff as the light drops.
Highlights Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk · Conspicuous Cliff
Stay Coalmine Beach Holiday Park · from A$42/nightcheck availability
- 5
Walpole to Denmark to Albany
120 km · 2hThe coast today is the reason people fall for this route. In William Bay National Park, Greens Pool is a lagoon of impossibly clear turquoise water, sheltered from the ocean swell by a wall of granite boulders; next door, the giant rounded stones of Elephant Rocks look exactly as advertised. Swim, dry off in the sun, then roll east through Denmark's wineries into the historic port town of Albany as the afternoon fades.
Highlights Greens Pool · Elephant Rocks · Denmark wineries
Stay BIG4 Middleton Beach Holiday Park · from A$55/nightcheck availability
- 6
Exploring Albany
40 km · 1hAustralia's oldest colonial settlement, with a wild Southern Ocean coast. Visit the National Anzac Centre, then feel the power of The Gap and Natural Bridge in Torndirrup National Park.
Highlights National Anzac Centre · The Gap & Natural Bridge · Middleton Beach
Stay BIG4 Middleton Beach Holiday Park · from A$55/nightcheck availability
- 7
Albany back to Perth
420 km · 4.5hThe return leg north via the Albany Highway. Break the drive with a stop at the Wave Rock turnoff or the wildflowers around Kojonup in spring.
Highlights Albany Highway · Kojonup wildflowers
