The beautiful coastal town of Esperance is located in the southern part of Western Australia, 720 kilometres from Perth. If you decide to visit this city from Perth, you need to prepare for a very long journey, which can take up to 8-9 hours. However, the destination will definitely be worth it.
Esperance is our favourite town in all of Australia. The small town is surrounded by beautiful beaches with turquoise waters, national parks and great places for hiking. Among other things, it is also a paradise for surfers, so the atmosphere on the beaches here is really excellent.
Camping in Esperance
There are no unpaid campsites in Esperance, but there are more than enough paid campsites. Some of these complexes offer many common areas, playgrounds and different types of accommodation. Others offer simpler accommodation options, sites for caravans (with or without electricity), communal showers and a kitchen.
Even though life in Australia is very much geared towards caravans, there are some restrictions that need to be adhered to. The main rule is that camping or sleeping in public car parks in town or around beaches is not allowed. These places are subject to inspections by local rangers, and you can be fined up to several hundred dollars for violating this prohibition.
The most famous campsites include Lucky Bay Campground, Cape Le Ground Camp Ground and RAC Esperance Holiday Park.
The most beautiful beaches around Esperance
A popular route around Esperance is the Great Ocean Drive, which runs along the coast. In total, it is a 40-kilometre scenic circuit that will show you beautiful beaches, viewpoints and beautiful nature. The Great Ocean Drive includes famous places such as Pink Lake, which is not as pink as you would expect, Observation Point and the wind farm. The full route of Great Ocean Drive can be found on the map below. So let’s take a closer look at our favourite beaches that are also part of this iconic route.
Twilight Beach
Twiligh Beach is also located on Great Ocean Drive and is one of our most popular beaches in the entire region. It is a beach with beautiful white sand, turquoise water and a huge rock in the middle, which makes it unique and different from all the other beaches in Esperance. A wooden pier leads to the beach, offering spectacular views. The water is very calm at this point, making it ideal for swimming or paddleboarding. For the more adventurous, there is the possibility of jumping from the rocks directly into the water.
There are public toilets and showers on the beach. Again, however, you cannot camp or sleep in a car or caravan in this car park. During one visit to the beach, we even had rangers come to check on us around 4:00 p.m. and they wrote down our license plate number and asked us where we were planning to spend the night. Luckily, we booked a campsite for the night. In this case, if you were found at night in one of the car parks in or around the city, you would probably face a hefty fine.
Blue Haven Beach
Blue Haven Beach is a 10-minute drive from Esperance. Again, this is a beautiful beach with turquoise water, which also offers ideal conditions for snorkelling. Another advantage of the beach is its location, as it is situated between the rocks and therefore the conditions are ideal for a day at the beach even on a windy day. There are no public facilities, cafés or restaurants in the area.
West Beach
The nearest beach to the town is only 5 minutes away by car. It’s called West Beach. There are public toilets and showers on this beach, and there is also excellent internet coverage and signal. We used to come here when we wanted to enjoy the great atmosphere, nice views, but we needed to work, so the internet was just a bonus.
Salmon Beach
Salmon Beach, like the previous beaches, is part of Great Ocean Drive. This is a slightly less popular beach, so you can expect fewer people on it. The water at this beach is a bit more choppy and there may be stronger currents. This environment may be suitable for advanced surfers.
Cape Le Grand National Park
Cape Le Grand National Park is located 60 kilometres from Esperance. It is especially known for its beautiful white sand beaches, interesting rock formations, but also beautiful hiking trails. You will also encounter a large number of kangaroos and various species of birds. You have to pay an entrance fee to get into the national park. In addition to the day pass, you can also buy a holiday pass for different lengths of stay. The prices are as follows:
1 day entry = 17 AUD
5 day entry = 30 AUD
14 days entry = 50 AUD
28 days entry = 70 AUD
Camping in Cape Le Grand National Park
There are two paid campsites in the national park – Lucky Bay Campground and Cape Le Grand Campground. These are two of the most popular campsites not only around Esperance, but throughout Western Australia. The thing about these campsites is that you have to book months in advance. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get any free space a month before our adventure and so we had to visit the national park on the turn around and always travel back to Esperance. You can book your place at this link.
Beaches in Cape Le Grand National Park
Although all the beaches in Western Australia are beautiful, we think the ones in Cape Le Grand National Park are the most beautiful. Just imagine. Beautiful clear water in contrast with the white sand, kangaroos on the beach, dolphins in the water and a great atmosphere all around. That’s what beaches like Lucky Bay, Wharton Beach, and Hellfire Bay are all about, and they’re in our top 3.
Lucky Bay
Lucky Bay is the most famous beach in the entire national park. It is a tourist attraction especially because you can see kangaroos right on this beach. It’s a truly unique experience that you just don’t get to experience anywhere else. If you want to meet them, we recommend to arrive in the early morning hours. Kangaroos are very friendly, but it is not recommended to pet or feed them.
Lucky Bay also has the advantage of having hard sand, which allows you to access the beach even if you don’t have a 4×4 vehicle. This is the only beach in the entire Esperance area that we were able to go to with our caravan and it was really worth it. Officially, only 4×4 vehicles are allowed here, but you really have nothing to worry about. You can set up your seating on the beach and spend the whole day there. Again, you cannot stay overnight on the beach.
Hellfire Bay
Hellfire Bay is famous not only for its beautiful beach, but also for the granite headlands that can be found all around. The water here is calm, making it the perfect place to relax, swim or snorkel. If you walk the whole beach you will get to an even smaller bay , Little Hellfire Bay. There are also other beautiful beaches nearby, such as Thistle Cove and Rossiter Bay.
Wharton Beach
And as is our custom, the best at the end. The award for the most beautiful beach in Esperance and Cape Le Grand National Park goes to Wharton Beach. This beach is located a bit further away, about 60 km from Esperance, so you won’t meet as many people there as at the famous Lucky Bay, for example. There is also no campsite nearby, so you need to plan your visit really well to make sure you make it back in time. It is not recommended to walk in the national park after sunset, as there is a huge increase in kangaroo movement, so walking in the dark can be very dangerous.
If we said it was a beautiful beach with white sand and turquoise water, we’d probably be repeating ourselves, but it’s true. The water here was even clearer than on previous beaches. Even though after visiting the Maldives in October 2023 we thought we would never see more beautiful beaches, the opposite was true. We have never seen such beautiful, clear water as at Wharton Beach.
Caravan on the beach
During your visit to this beach, you’ll probably meet many locals who come there for days on end. They set up their gazebos and barbecues and just relax, play sports and enjoy the day. The sand on this beach is loose, so we recommend only entering with a 4×4 vehicle to avoid getting stuck and not being able to get away. Of course, you cannot sleep on the beach. There is a lot of surfing on this beach, which adds to the atmosphere. If you are lucky, you can also see dolphins swimming very close to the shore. However, there is no signal on the beach, so you need to prepare for that. Above the beach there is a viewpoint from which you can watch a nice sunset.
During our stay in Australia we visited several cities and although Sydney, Gold Coast or Perth also charmed us, it is Esperance that is the clear winner for us. We can’t wait to go back again!
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