Perth (Australia) hotel / activity recommendations please
Discussion
Off to Perth for a few days in October and as I'm only there for a short period of time I'm really interested in recommendations for:
Hotel - good location and standard. The Richardson is looking the favourite from Google / Tripadvisor
Must do stuff - never been to Perth so no idea what it's famous for
Thanks
Hotel - good location and standard. The Richardson is looking the favourite from Google / Tripadvisor
Must do stuff - never been to Perth so no idea what it's famous for
Thanks
I got back from Perth on Monday and whilst I can't really recommend a hotel (we stayed in the Ibis!) my impression of Perth is that, whilst it's a clean and pleasant city, the central shopping and business districts are quite small. Kings Park and the botanical gardens are well worth a visit, they are perched about the city so give excellent views and are a pleasant place to wander around or just sit and watch the world go by. There's a free bus route or it's a shortish walk out of town.
If I was visiting Perth again I would concentrate my attention on the neighbouring suburb of Fremantle. Despite being swallowed up by the urban sprawl it's a (relatively) historic harbour town and retains a lot of old buildings and thus character. There's excellent indoor markets of a weekend and Fremantle prison (now a museum I hasten to add) is well worth a visit. It's a huge and mostly Victorian complex that only closed down in 1991, so it's very well preserved.
I would also look into a day trip to Rottnest Island, which 19km offshore and with a ferry service from Fremantle or Perth. The island is basically a nature reserve and there are no cars (apart from tour buses) and there is a good network of walking/cycle tracks. It also has excellent unspoilt beaches and the sea tends to be a few degrees warmer than the mainland beaches.
If I was visiting Perth again I would concentrate my attention on the neighbouring suburb of Fremantle. Despite being swallowed up by the urban sprawl it's a (relatively) historic harbour town and retains a lot of old buildings and thus character. There's excellent indoor markets of a weekend and Fremantle prison (now a museum I hasten to add) is well worth a visit. It's a huge and mostly Victorian complex that only closed down in 1991, so it's very well preserved.
I would also look into a day trip to Rottnest Island, which 19km offshore and with a ferry service from Fremantle or Perth. The island is basically a nature reserve and there are no cars (apart from tour buses) and there is a good network of walking/cycle tracks. It also has excellent unspoilt beaches and the sea tends to be a few degrees warmer than the mainland beaches.
Edited by IROC-Z on Saturday 1st June 23:16
WeirdNeville said:
They're 20 mins apart by public transport.
If you want to eat out, drink out, etc in the evening then I'd say staying in Fremantle would be better. Then you can visit the city in the daytime, go to the museums etc.
Fremantle is however the only part of Perth I've found so far with an "edge" to it. I have a coppers eye, spot junkies and dealers, ne'er-do-wells and rapscallions from a mile off. Fremantle is the only area I've seen overt drug dealing on the street, and plenty of vagabonds and junkies. I'm sure if you wandered off the main street at night you could see some unpleasant things. DOn't let that put you off though, it's not that bad at all, just the only place in Perth I've noticed such things.
Are you doing business or is it three whole days to kill? Are you traveling with someone?
It's a holiday off the back of a business trip, I'll be with the Mrs. Don't mind an 'edge' I've had fun in Tijuana at 3am in the morning with no trouble at all, although there the druggies don't seem to bother tourists.If you want to eat out, drink out, etc in the evening then I'd say staying in Fremantle would be better. Then you can visit the city in the daytime, go to the museums etc.
Fremantle is however the only part of Perth I've found so far with an "edge" to it. I have a coppers eye, spot junkies and dealers, ne'er-do-wells and rapscallions from a mile off. Fremantle is the only area I've seen overt drug dealing on the street, and plenty of vagabonds and junkies. I'm sure if you wandered off the main street at night you could see some unpleasant things. DOn't let that put you off though, it's not that bad at all, just the only place in Perth I've noticed such things.
Are you doing business or is it three whole days to kill? Are you traveling with someone?
We like fun and talking to randoms but want high standards.
I would recommend staying in Fremantle over Perth city centre. I only spent a couple of days there and felt that I'd pretty much sampled all the city had to offer. It doesn't really have any character and it is expensive. We popped in to an innocuous looking Belgian styled pub near our hotel for a drink and were stunned when two pints set us back $32. Now that is taking the piss.
As for Fremantle, we stayed about 10-15 minutes walk from the centre of the town and walked back of an evening several times without any issues, although I admittedly don't have the coppers eye I do tend to be wary when outside of my normal surroundings. There were always plenty of people about and I didn't ever feel unsafe. I can't say I felt the same in Perth itself, where everything seemed to be dead after around 6.00pm and once shopping crowds dissipated they were replaced with random bunches of teenage kids hanging around the shopping centres, shouting abuse at each other and generally looking like they were up to no good. I'm sure it wasn't unsafe, but it felt quite intimidating for someone in a strange city.
If you only have a few days I wouldn't bother driving anywhere. There are a few national parks an hours drive or so away from the city centre which I'd recommend if you had more time, but a few days would be just enough to explore Perth and Fremantle without getting unnecessarily caught up in the delights of Perth's traffic. The less said about the driving the better, but the Freeways are something else. I don't think I've ever experienced a motorway standard road where so many people seem determined to get in each other's way as much as possible.
As for Fremantle, we stayed about 10-15 minutes walk from the centre of the town and walked back of an evening several times without any issues, although I admittedly don't have the coppers eye I do tend to be wary when outside of my normal surroundings. There were always plenty of people about and I didn't ever feel unsafe. I can't say I felt the same in Perth itself, where everything seemed to be dead after around 6.00pm and once shopping crowds dissipated they were replaced with random bunches of teenage kids hanging around the shopping centres, shouting abuse at each other and generally looking like they were up to no good. I'm sure it wasn't unsafe, but it felt quite intimidating for someone in a strange city.
If you only have a few days I wouldn't bother driving anywhere. There are a few national parks an hours drive or so away from the city centre which I'd recommend if you had more time, but a few days would be just enough to explore Perth and Fremantle without getting unnecessarily caught up in the delights of Perth's traffic. The less said about the driving the better, but the Freeways are something else. I don't think I've ever experienced a motorway standard road where so many people seem determined to get in each other's way as much as possible.
IROC-Z said:
I would recommend staying in Fremantle over Perth city centre. I only spent a couple of days there and felt that I'd pretty much sampled all the city had to offer. It doesn't really have any character and it is expensive. We popped in to an innocuous looking Belgian styled pub near our hotel for a drink and were stunned when two pints set us back $32. Now that is taking the piss.
As for Fremantle, we stayed about 10-15 minutes walk from the centre of the town and walked back of an evening several times without any issues, although I admittedly don't have the coppers eye I do tend to be wary when outside of my normal surroundings. There were always plenty of people about and I didn't ever feel unsafe. I can't say I felt the same in Perth itself, where everything seemed to be dead after around 6.00pm and once shopping crowds dissipated they were replaced with random bunches of teenage kids hanging around the shopping centres, shouting abuse at each other and generally looking like they were up to no good. I'm sure it wasn't unsafe, but it felt quite intimidating for someone in a strange city.
If you only have a few days I wouldn't bother driving anywhere. There are a few national parks an hours drive or so away from the city centre which I'd recommend if you had more time, but a few days would be just enough to explore Perth and Fremantle without getting unnecessarily caught up in the delights of Perth's traffic. The less said about the driving the better, but the Freeways are something else. I don't think I've ever experienced a motorway standard road where so many people seem determined to get in each other's way as much as possible.
Thanks, Freemantle it is then, just need to find a hotel now.As for Fremantle, we stayed about 10-15 minutes walk from the centre of the town and walked back of an evening several times without any issues, although I admittedly don't have the coppers eye I do tend to be wary when outside of my normal surroundings. There were always plenty of people about and I didn't ever feel unsafe. I can't say I felt the same in Perth itself, where everything seemed to be dead after around 6.00pm and once shopping crowds dissipated they were replaced with random bunches of teenage kids hanging around the shopping centres, shouting abuse at each other and generally looking like they were up to no good. I'm sure it wasn't unsafe, but it felt quite intimidating for someone in a strange city.
If you only have a few days I wouldn't bother driving anywhere. There are a few national parks an hours drive or so away from the city centre which I'd recommend if you had more time, but a few days would be just enough to explore Perth and Fremantle without getting unnecessarily caught up in the delights of Perth's traffic. The less said about the driving the better, but the Freeways are something else. I don't think I've ever experienced a motorway standard road where so many people seem determined to get in each other's way as much as possible.
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