About Bunbury

WA's third-largest city — a working port that became the gateway to the South West.

Bunbury sits 175 km south of Perth, where the Collie and Preston Rivers meet the Leschenault Inlet and open into Koombana Bay. It is the third-largest city in Western Australia: a working port with a growing tourism, food and arts scene, and the natural overnight stop on the drive to Margaret River.

The city occupies a peninsula. On one side is the sheltered bay — calm swimming, the marina, and a year-round pod of wild bottlenose dolphins. On the other is the Indian Ocean: Back Beach, basalt cliffs and the black-and-white checkerboard lighthouse on Marlston Hill. Behind the CBD, the inlet gives you flat water, a foreshore path and the mangrove boardwalk.

French explorer Louis de Freycinet charted this coast in 1803 and named Geographe Bay. The area is Wardandi Noongar country. The modern city grew around the port, the railway and the timber and dairy trades; the history page covers that story, including the lighthouse, the old jetty and the heritage buildings still standing around Stirling and Victoria Streets.

What the city is like

The centre is compact. Victoria Street — the old “cappuccino strip” — is cafes, pubs and street art. A few minutes' walk takes you to the Marlston waterfront restaurants, the Dolphin Discovery Centre and Koombana Bay. Most visitors can leave the car at the hotel for dinner.

The climate is Mediterranean: hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters. The weather guide has the season-by-season detail. For a first visit, two nights is enough to see the dolphins, eat on the waterfront and still get out to the Ferguson Valley — follow the 48-hour itinerary.

Using Bunbury as a base

That is the other reason people stop here. Busselton is 40 minutes south, Dunsborough under an hour, Margaret River about an hour and twenty. Bunbury is usually cheaper than staying in the wine region itself, and you are still close enough for a day among the vines. See all the day trips, or where to stay.

Getting here is a two-hour drive or the Australind train from Perth. New to the layout? Start with the map.