We LOVED Perth! Let us show you why…

After spending several days in Singapore, we flew five hours south to Perth, the capital of Western Australia. We spent six nights and five days there, and loved it!

Perth seemed friendly, vibrant, and safe. It has a clean, efficient public transit network of trains and buses. Its downtown has many visually interesting buildings and its suburbs (which we mainly saw from trains) look attractive. The Swan River, which is wide enough to be a lake or bay where it runs through the center of town, is beautiful. It all combines to make Perth a liveable, welcoming place.

The fact that we visited in their early summer, with temperatures in the high 70s and no rain, made our stay especially enjoyable. It was windy, though.

Just west of Downtown Perth, a large city park called King’s Park offers a beautiful, serene escape from the city and spectacular views of downtown, the Swan River, and South Perth.

The Western Australian Museum was impressive! We spent several hours there learning about Western Australia’s geology, plant and animal life, indigenous people, the arrival of Europeans, mining and farming, and its cultural development over the years.

One day, we rode the metro train to Fremantle, a city at the mouth of the Swan River, about 20 km southwest of downtown Perth. The mouth of the river was originally very treacherous for ships to navigate, but after jetties were built and the riverbed was dredged, it became a major shipping port.

The Maritime Museum (associated with the Western Australian Museum, above) presented the history of the town and the port.

And, of course, we ate. We found a Tony Roma’s a few blocks from our hotel. There was once a Tony Roma’s in Mesa, but now there are no locations in Arizona. We enjoyed it enough that we ate there three times.

At most places we ate in Perth and Adelaide, water was served in a delabeled wine bottle. So, whereas Jesus turned water into wine, you could say these restaurants turned wine into water! (The bottles, anyway.)

We also enjoyed eating at Simple Italian Cucina Pizzeria – once at their location in the heart of downtown and once at Elizabeth Quay, overlooking the water (below).

We spotted this establishment at Elizabeth Quay:

Visiting foreign countries often provides an opportunity to try flavors of familiar foods that aren’t available in the US.

In the late afternoon on Saturday, as we walked from Elizabeth Quay to our apartment hotel a couple of blocks away, we passed a man dressed in a kilt and carrying a bagpipe. We thought that was a little unusual, but whatever. Later, we discovered why he was dressed like that and where he was headed.

An hour or so later, as we were walking through downtown to go to dinner, our route was interrupted by a blocked-off street that was the staging area for a Christmas parade. Above the crowd noise, we heard the unmistakable sound of bagpipes. Headphones on as you watch this video clip!

Our most enjoyable days in Perth were the day we visited Rottnest Island, just off the coast of Western Australia, and the day we took a wine tasting tour in the Swan River Valley, northeast of Perth. We’ll share photos and stories of those excursions in separate posts.

We’ll be returning to Australia in March 2026 to visit Hobart, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Sydney. But of course, they’re on the opposite side of a continent that’s about the same size as the continental US. Perth is the most isolated major city in the world. We hope to return someday, but who knows if or when that will happen. It’s a long journey!