Margaret River Town is synonymous with the wine country that surrounds it, but the town has serious pull beyond the vineyards. From farmers markets and destination restaurants to small bars, surf breaks and towering karri forest, there’s plenty to build a weekend around. Add working farms, benchmark cellar doors and a bakery worth queueing for, and you have the makings of a particularly well-fed 36 hours.
Before you go
- Lock in the essentials. Book the weekend’s headline dinners, de’sendent and Miki’s Open Kitchen, along with the Noongar in the Bush cultural experience. Arriving early on Friday? Ease into the weekend at MEND Margaret River with a massage, or move between Finnish sauna, ice bath and hot plunge in its hot-and-cold circuit.
- Choose a good base. Stay close to town at the charming Margaret River Guest House, set in a former convent, or head to Cowaramup for Rústicoq, a beautifully restored 1938 village bakehouse.
- Get ahead of Friday traffic. If you’re driving from Perth, aim to be on the road before the 4–6pm rush. An earlier start also leaves room to check in and unwind before the first martini.
- Queue the road-trip listening. To get you in the mood for some incredible hospitality, tune in to WAGFG’s Paper, Scissors, Stock podcast, featuring conversations with WA’s best chef and restaurateurs
FRIDAY
7pm: Settle in at favourite local haunt
Start at Pearl’s Bar at the top of the street, a compact, retro-leaning drinking den with wine-barrel tables, a pinball machine out back and a drinks list that takes its cocktails seriously.
There are seven martinis alone, alongside classics such as the Southside and Dark Manhattan, plus mostly Australian wines and local beers. Add some salumi, cheese or pickles for a pre-dinner bite.
1/151 Bussell Highway, Margaret River
8pm: Sample award-winning regional fare
Cross the road to de’sendent, the intimate restaurant from Evan Hayter and Ann Spencer, whose former venture Arimia Estate helped pioneer Margaret River’s sustainable, hyper-local approach to dining.
The $135 degustation changes with the seasons, with recent dishes including pickled Albany rock oyster, dhufish ceviche and Futari Wagyu with XO cuttlefish. Settle in, let the kitchen lead the way and enjoy one of Margaret River’s standout dining experiences.
3/152 Bussell Highway, Margaret River
10pm: Catch the late set
Finish the night at Settlers Tavern, a Margaret River institution and home of live music since 1977.
Friday nights often bring DJs to the tavern, with recent sets from DJ Marcel and DJ Layerz spanning house, tech house and DnB. If bands are more your thing, check the Saturday and Sunday gig guide; Peter Garrett, Birds of Tokyo and San Cisco are among the acts to have played here over the years.
The bar keeps pace with a serious wine list and 16 beer taps, including brews from its own Margaret River Ale Co.
114 Bussell Highway, Margaret River
SATURDAY
7.30am: Breakfast with the growers
Saturday begins at Margaret River Farmers Market, WA’s oldest farmers market, where South West growers and producers have been setting up since 2002.
Start with coffee from Resident Coffee Roasters, then seek out Mario’s Garden Karridale for chef-coveted heirloom tomatoes and a hefty arancini, and Má Là Dumplings for handmade northern Chinese-style dumplings slicked with chilli oil and black vinegar. Sweet tooth? Harlequin Desserts does freshly filled brioche doughnuts and chocolate-heavy treats, while Cambray Cheese is the stop for excellent ewe’s milk cheeses to take home.
Lot 272 Bussell Highway, Margaret River
9.30am: See the forest through Wadandi eyes
Head south to Mammoth Cave, about 21km and a 20-minute drive from town, for Noongar in the Bush, a two-hour cultural experience led by Wadandi guide Sam Webb.
Walking through the surrounding forest, Webb shares Wadandi stories and knowledge of the six Noongar seasons, bush foods and medicines, traditional tools and caring for Country.
Mammoth Cave itself can also be explored on a self-guided audio tour through vast limestone chambers containing fossils of extinct Australian megafauna, including a zygomaturus jawbone embedded in the cave wall. A boardwalk gives wheelchair access to the first chamber, but the rest of the cave involves more than 300 stairs, so it isn’t accessible for everyone. Allow around an extra hour, so save this for another visit or push lunch later if you want to head underground.
Mammoth Cave, Caves Road, Forest Grove
12.30pm: Feast on the farm
Continue south to Glenarty Road, a fifth-generation farm and vineyard near Karridale, about 38km or just under 30 minutes’ drive from town, where lunch is drawn straight from the paddocks, gardens and vines around you.
Choose the three-course menu ($115) or settle in for the five-course Every Acre feast ($140), which moves through garden produce, house-made charcuterie and grass-fed meats cooked over coals. For the full farm-to-table experience, Paddock to Plate ($175) adds a guided farm experience before lunch.
70 Glenarty Road, Karridale
2.30pm: Rove the cellar doors
Coming back towards Margaret River, spend the afternoon moving between some of the region’s heavyweight cellar doors.
Start at Leeuwin Estate for its celebrated Art Series Chardonnay and collection of contemporary Australian art. It’s about 10 minutes south of town.
Stevens Road, Margaret River
Voyager Estate is nearby on the same road, with a polished Wine Room and a strong focus on Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon.
41 Stevens Road, Margaret River
If time allows, continue to Cape Mentelle, one of Margaret River’s founding wineries and particularly well known for Cabernet Sauvignon, just 4km and under 10 minutes from town, before heading back into town.
331 Wallcliffe Road, Margaret River
For something smaller, Stella Bella Wines is another excellent option, about a 10-minute drive east of town rather than on the same route. Its intimate cellar door pours current, limited and museum releases.
205 Rosa Brook Road, Margaret River
Two cellar doors is comfortable; add a third if the afternoon allows. If everyone wants to taste, book a wine tour or private driver and leave the car behind.
4pm: Browse the main street
If the cellar doors haven’t swallowed the afternoon, head back into town for a wander before closing time. Start at Margaret River Gallery for contemporary painting, photography, sculpture and glass, then browse the Margaret River Artisan Store for locally made jewellery, ceramics, textiles and leather goods.
Shop 4/1 Charles West Avenue, Margaret River Shop 2/110 Bussell Highway, Margaret River
For a sweet detour, stop at Normal Van, the cult food truck turned bricks-and-mortar American-style diner. Grab a house-made soft serve and keep moving; the burgers and fried chicken are tempting, but dinner is still ahead.
115 to 117 Bussell Highway, Margaret River
Finish at The Lost Knowledge Book Shop, an eccentric trove of old, rare and unusual books spanning history, philosophy, art, science, poetry and Australiana.
71 Town View Terrace, Margaret River
6.30pm: Aperitivo at Rhum Burgundy
Before dinner, stop at Rhum Burgundy, a pint-sized wine and cocktail bar on Bussell Highway.
Co-owned by award-winning mixologist Billy Phillips and the team behind LS Merchants, it has more than 100 cocktails alongside a wine list spanning Margaret River and further afield. Try the Geisha Girl, with pink gin, lychee, vanilla and rose, or the Smashberry Basil, mixing gin with strawberry shrub, basil and black pepper. Add some charcuterie before dinner.
107 Bussell Highway, Margaret River
7.30pm: Margaret River, by way of Japan
Walk down Bussell Highway to Miki’s Open Kitchen, where Japanese-born chef Mikihito Nagai brings Japanese technique to Western Australian produce.
The signature Miki’s Complete degustation ($117) spans up to 23 elements, with dishes such as Cone Bay barramundi, ume duck rillette and Exmouth gold band snapper appearing alongside his distinctive shallow copper-pot cooking. An extensive sake list and Margaret River wines complete the experience.
Shop 2/131 Bussell Highway, Margaret River
SUNDAY
7am: Check the swell
Bring the 36 hours to a close at Surfers Point in Prevelly, about 9km and a 10-minute drive west of town, home to Main Break and The Box and host of the annual Margaret River Pro.
Stand above the limestone coast and watch the first surfers work the breaks below as the Indian Ocean rolls in. It’s a bracing final glimpse of another side of Margaret River, just minutes from town and the vineyards.
Surfers Point Road, Prevelly
Before you leave
Walk the coast to Gnarabup
There’s no need to rush home. From Surfers Point, follow the coastal trail south towards Gnarabup, tracing the shoreline above the Indian Ocean through low coastal scrub. It’s a flat, well-formed path and one of the more accessible walks in the region, suited to most fitness levels.
Finish at White Elephant Cafe, perched above Gnarabup Beach beside the boat ramp, for coffee and breakfast overlooking the bay.
1 Gnarabup Road, Gnarabup
One for the road
Back in town, make one final stop at Margaret River Bakery, a Bussell Highway institution that has been baking here since the 1960s.
The cabinet might hold pistachio cream croissants, raspberry cheesecake cruffins and cinnamon doughnuts alongside beef pies, sausage rolls and sourdough. Pick up something sweet, a loaf for home or a second coffee for the drive north.
89 Bussell Highway, Margaret River
Mix it up
Not everyone comes to Margaret River for the same weekend. Swap out a stop, slow things down or take the itinerary in a different direction.
- Get in the water: Watching the breaks is one thing; surfing them is another. Book a beginner lesson with Margaret River Surf School, with boards and wetsuits supplied. Public lessons run from September to June.
- Trade vines for local producers: If wine isn’t your thing, swap the cellar doors for some of the region’s food producers. Stop at Caves Farm for its farm shop and house-made pies, taste organic olive oils at Olio Bello, grab a scoop of Millers’ small-batch ice cream in Cowaramup, or sample bean-to-bar chocolate at Gabriel Chocolate.
- Take on the Cape to Cape: Get a taste of the region’s famous 135-kilometre trail without committing to the whole thing. The full track is graded 4, difficult, with rough and sometimes exposed sections, so come prepared with proper walking shoes and plenty of water, even for a short stretch. Pick up the track at Gnarabup and head south towards Redgate Beach for coastal heath, beaches and big Indian Ocean views.
- Start the day with a stretch: Book a 45-minute reformer Pilates or hot mat class at Skuhlpt, a boutique movement studio in the heart of town.
- Follow the art: Margaret River’s public art trails link murals, mosaics and sculpture through town and nearby Prevelly and Cowaramup, with QR codes revealing the stories and artists behind the works.
- Come for Open Studios: Visiting in September? Margaret River Region Open Studios runs from 12 to 27 September 2026, when 155 artists across the region open their working spaces to visitors.