A road trip from Exmouth to Esperance with best hotels, restaurants & activities en route:

After long thinking on where the second Australia trip of my husband and me should go, we chose Western Australia. On our first Oceania exploration in 2018, we traveled from Adelaide to Sidney in 15 days and both New Zealand islands in another 15, here are my posts. While we enjoyed it very much, it was quite stressful. This time we longed for a more relaxed journey, meaning staying longer in one place. And we wanted to experience a less visited part of Australia. In terms of destination, our first choice was the north. As it is partly quite difficult to explore by car, my husband voted for the east coast. But I found it too beach-focused. So we agreed on Western Australia, and this to an Exmouth to Esperance itinerary – in style whenever possible.

Travel in style in Australia

Always when traveling, my husband and I long for luxury. We like to stay at nice hotels – here are my WA highlights – and dine at fine restaurants – here are my WA highlights – , as long as they offer value for money. But this is not easy at all in Australia! No offence, Aussies, but travel in style is not necessarily your thing! Australian people love doing their trips in a caravan. Thus they have nice campgrounds but no such hotels.

And they like grilling, so no dining-out. Therefore, there are not many great dining spots around, at least in the countryside.

Regardless of this challenging situation, I managed somehow to put together a four-week Western Australia itinerary in style. You find it in the form of my Google Map with the best hotels, restaurants and activities between Exmouth and Esperance.

My Google Map of a 4-week Western Australia itinerary in style

 

Details on Exmouth to Esperance Western Australia itinerary 

As we flew into Perth

from Singapore, we started with an urban getaway here, the one and only real one on this trip. After four nights here, we flew to Exmouth, part of the Coral Coast, where we rented a car. After exploring the Cape Range National Park/Nigaloo Reef

we drove further south to Denham. Here the Francois Perron National Park was on our agenda.

Next was Kalbarri where we visited the Kalbarri Nation Park.

We left the Coral Coast behind us and continued to the Turquoise Coast, where we made a stop in Jurien Bay,

two hours north of Perth.

As we already did Perth at the beginning of our journey, we bypassed the city and got via the Wheatbelt

to Katanning,

an agricultural hub. From here we drove on to the easternmost point of our Western Australia itinerary, Esperance on the state’s south coast. Here the Cape Le Grand National Park drew us.

Next was Albany

with another national park, Torndirrup.

Margaret River with its wine region

was the penultimate stop. And before flying out from Perth again, we stayed in the nearby Swan Valley wine region.

How was it getting around by car on our Western Australia trip?

As you can guess from the above Western Australia itinerary, it was quite a long road trip. In total, we made 5,600 km/3,480 mi in just under four weeks. And we did this on paved roads only. However, they were a little bumpy in places, rather narrow and had soft shoulders only in 70 percent of all cases. While there was not much traffic most of times, the described road conditions made it difficult to drive and required a great deal of concentration. Every time a car comes towards you, you have to exercise particular caution. The same is true when you have to overtake a vehicle.

And not to forget the existence of road trains. It is defined on every stretch of road how long they are allowed to be. In our case, the maximum was 47 m/154 ft. If you happen to meet such a giant truck, extreme caution is required. And this not only when you overtake, but also when the road train is on the opposite lane. It may be that you need to make room for it. 

In case you are wondering, the speed limit was 110 km/h / 68 mph. Sometimes, when the roads were curvy, it was 90 km/h / 60 mph. And we had quite a large 4WD (an upgrade),

originally we had booked an AWD. But no worries, you need neither of them here. While our rental car fitted well on the Coral Coast (north of Perth), it was way too big south of Perth, where smaller cars are more common and appropriate.

In what season did we do this Western Australia itinerary?

We traveled the state of Western Australia from end of August to end of September, starting in the north (Exmouth/Nigaloo Reef), then heading south. While this timing is ideal for the Nigaloo part, this is a bit less so for Perth and further south (we were a bit too early). The latter is especially so in case you are interested in activities around sun, sea and sand. However, if you are a nature lover or hiker, then September is usually ideal. It is supposed to be the perfect time for incredible wildflowers

and pleasant walking but also for wine tasting, should this be your thing.

As to the weather in our case, it was great on the Coral Coast but not so good around Perth and in its south. From what we heard, the September here was wetter than usual. Having said that, we almost never encountered days filled with rain only. It was rather an on-off thing with alternating half hour shifts of sun and rain. And wind played a role as well.

Generally speaking for a Western Australia itinerary, March to October is ideal for Exmouth. Go in April to July for whale/shark watching and pleasant weather. Visit in September and October for wildflowers and fewer crowds. As to Perth and further south, aim for April and May or October for the sweet spot of great weather. Yet March, September and November are also good for warm, sunny days, fewer crowds and wine events.

Which lodging choices did we make on our Western Australia trip?

In total, my husband and I had 26 lodging nights – here are my WA highlights – on our Western Australia trip. We stayed at a number of hotels, some bed-and-breakfasts and two rental properties. As to the latter, we almost never opt for an apartment or a house when vacationing. We only go for this option if there are no suitable hotels or inns around, precisely if they are not comfortable enough or not well-rated. And this was true in our Western Australia trip in two places. First, we did not succeed on the Turquoise Coast, around Jurien Bay and Cervantes,

two hours by car north of Perth. Second, Esperance

on Western Australia’s South West coast was a tough nut to crack in this aspect too. Thus, we decided to rent in these two spots: Jurien Bay and Esperance.

What is next regarding more Western Australia posts?

Often when doing one of these “My Google Maps”, I add details about all the places we went in the correspondent post. This time, I limit myself to provide a rough route of our Western Australia itinerary only, see earlier in this blogpost. When it comes to specifics such as which lodgings and dining we chose and what activities we did, please refer to the mentioned map. I included all of them along with a short description and a number of pictures. In terms of more reporting on this journey, I will write three more posts with best-of lists. This will be about the top hotels we stayed, the finest restaurant we dined and our favorite activities on our Western Australia trip.

Date of stay: September 2025

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