Explore Perth

Elizabeth Quay is a waterfront precinct on the north shore of Perth Water, built around an artificial inlet on the former Esplanade Reserve and opened in January 2016. A pedestrian bridge crosses the mouth of the inlet to a small island, and the promenades lead past the Spanda sculpture, a water play area and the jetty for Transperth ferries to South Perth.

The Bell Tower is an 82.5-metre copper and glass campanile on Barrack Square, beside the Swan River, opened in 2000. It houses the Swan Bells, a set of 18 bells that includes twelve historic bells from St Martin-in-the-Fields in London. Visitors watch the bells and ringers, see displays on bell ringing and go up to an observation deck on level 6.

The Art Gallery of Western Australia is the state art gallery in the Perth Cultural Centre. Its main building, a brutalist design by Charles Sierakowski, opened in 1979 and is linked to the former court house, now the Centenary Galleries. The collection includes Aboriginal art from Western Australia and the Northern Territory and Western Australian art from the 1820s onwards.

St Mary's Cathedral is the Roman Catholic cathedral of Perth, at the head of Victoria Square. It joins three stages: the Gothic church opened in 1865, the transept and sanctuary of 1930, and a nave with curved glass walls and a second spire completed in 2009. Inside are sanctuary mosaics based on the Book of Kells and stained glass by Hardman of Birmingham.

WA Museum Boola Bardip is the state museum of Western Australia in the Perth Cultural Centre, reopened in November 2020 after a rebuild designed by Hassell and OMA. Its new wings join five heritage buildings, among them the Old Perth Gaol of 1855. Exhibitions cover the state's natural history, Aboriginal cultures and people, and Hackett Hall displays a blue whale skeleton.

The Perth Mint opened in 1899 on Hay Street in East Perth as a branch of the Royal Mint, refining gold from the Western Australian gold rushes and striking sovereigns. The limestone building still houses Australia's official bullion mint. Tours show the historic melting house, where gold is poured, and displays of gold bars, nuggets and coins.

Perth Zoo is a 17-hectare zoo in South Perth, across the Swan River from the city centre, opened in 1898. Visitors walk through an African savannah exhibit, enclosures of Asian rainforest animals and areas with Australian native species. The zoo has bred Sumatran orangutans since 1970 and has released zoo-born apes into the wild in Sumatra.

Kings Park is a 400-hectare park on Mount Eliza, overlooking Perth Water and the city centre, opened in 1895. Two-thirds of it is native bushland; it also holds the Western Australian Botanic Garden, opened in 1965, and the State War Memorial. The hill, called Kaarta Gar-up by the Whadjuk Noongar, has long been a ceremonial and camping place for them.

Optus Stadium is a stadium in Burswood, on the east bank of the Swan River opposite East Perth, opened in January 2018 with room for about 61,000 spectators. It is the home ground of the West Coast Eagles and Fremantle in Australian rules football and of the Perth Scorchers in cricket. Guided tours go behind the scenes, and a rooftop tour walks along the roof edge.

Cottesloe Beach is a 1.5-kilometre sandy beach on the Indian Ocean in Cottesloe, west of central Perth, known in the Noongar language as Mudurup. Offshore reefs shelter its swimming area, and the Indiana Tea House, completed in 1996, stands on the beachfront. The beach is the start of the Rottnest Channel Swim and hosts Sculpture by the Sea each year.

Fremantle Prison is a former prison in Fremantle, south-west of Perth, built of local limestone by convicts in the 1850s and in use until 1991. It is one of the Australian Convict Sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Guided tours lead through the main cell block, the gatehouse and the yards, and one tour goes down into the water tunnels dug beneath the site.