The Editors Have Cabin Fever
WAGFG Editor in Chief Georgia Moore and Guide Editor Max Brearley put their heads together to map out two clash free weekends across the festival – like programming your approach to not missing your favourite band at the Big Day Out, this itinerary ensures you can cover maximum ground without sacrificing a thing. This is by no means a list of our favourite events (there are another ten we could easily add) but it is the closest thing to a guaranteed good time we can offer.
Weekend One: 17 – 20 July
Friday 17 July, 3pm – 7pm Food of Gods, Kings & Pigs – Margaret River Truffle Farm, Cowaramup
Peak truffle season in the South West is a genuinely singular thing, and the Margaret River Truffle Farm sits at the heart of it. Food of Gods, Kings & Pigs with wines from LS Merchants will deliver the long, unhurried afternoon that immediately reminds you why you made the drive – good produce, black gold shaved generously and nowhere else to be. This one sells out, so book quickly.
Friday 17 July, 6pm – 10pm FAST.FOOD.FANCY. Express Edition – Normal Van, Margaret River
Chefs Rob Webster and Blaze Young are behind this cocktail style party where retro fast food gets a serious glow up. The format is roaming: bite sized throwback canapés, flame kissed hibachi eats, and a trifle trolley doing dessert on its own terms. Jess Waldron’s Jingalup Wines will pour alongside retro cocktails, keeping things appropriately loose. Guests are encouraged to dress like it’s your mum’s cocktail party and stay until the vinyl has reached its last spin.
Saturday 18 July, 10:30am – 12pm Ransack The Cellar – Cape Grace Wines, Cowaramup
Cape Grace quietly gets on with making very good wine without making much noise about it. This year’s focus is the limited release Reserve Basket Pressed Cabernet Sauvignon ‘the King of Grapes’ – a wine only produced in outstanding vintages, with just two barrels (600 bottles) made each time. This is a morning spent inside the cellar with the people behind it and if you love cabernet, worth your full attention.
Saturday 18 July, 12pm – 4pm Flint & Folklore: A Barrel Hall Banquet – Si Vintners, Rosa Glen
Si Vintners is one of Margaret River’s best producers, and this is their lunch. Fervor – one of WA’s most compelling culinary projects – brings the food, and the Si Vintners Barrel Hall provides the kind of setting that makes four hours feel exactly right. This is the most considered lunch of the festival. Book it first and build everything else around it.
Saturday 18 July, 5:30pm – 9:30pm Italo Disco Supper Club – Southcamp, Dunsborough
Southcamp is one of our favourite places to stay in the South West. This year its restaurant Piccolo hosts a proper supper in the form of a long table feast taking you through three courses paired with a Credaro wine icon. Add to that a healthy splash of Euro house disco and The Italo Disco Supper Club is the kind of night that tips a good weekend into a great one. Dress for it.
Sunday 19 July, 6pm – 8:30pm Cheese Toastie Battle – Strange Brew Wine Bar, Cowaramup
Strange Brew hosts the people’s court. Five toasties, one winner, and the judging panel is everyone in the room. The Toastie Takedown has become one of those Cabin Fever fixtures that sounds silly until you’re three samples in and suddenly very invested. Contestants to be announced.
Weekend Two: 23 – 26 July
Thursday 23 – Friday 24 July, 6pm – 10:30pm de’cadent at de’sendent, Margaret River
Two chefs, two nights, one pass. de’sendent’s Evan Hayter and Hearth’s Brian Cole are not obvious collaborators, which is precisely what makes this worth booking. The menu is seasonal and produce-led, the room is intimate, and the beverage pairings – alcoholic or non-alcoholic – have been thought about properly. This is the kind of dinner that de’sendent does better than most.
Saturday 25 July, 3pm – 5pm Forage & Ferment – Wayfinder, Dunsborough
From soil to sip. Head Market Gardener Amy Dyson leads an afternoon in the Wayfinder garden – practical, unpretentious, and genuinely useful if you’ve ever wanted to grow something worth eating. There’s a pickling demo, a jar to take home, and the Wayfinder winemaking team pouring low-intervention wines alongside antipasti from chef Felipe Montiel. A good way to spend a Saturday afternoon before the night gets going.
Saturday 25 July, 6:30pm – 11:30pm Street Eats at Chow’s Table – Yallingup
Hot off the wok. Mal Chow is back at the burner for a roaming night of bold Chinese-Malay street eats that moves station to station and doesn’t really stop. The Chow’s Table crew cover a lot of ground – punchy bites, modern takes on the classics, food designed for going back for seconds. Once the eating slows, the DJ takes over and the night runs late. A proper Saturday in week two.
Before you go – the accommodation. The South West fills fast in July and Cabin Fever, now in its tenth year, is a big reason why. Get your stay locked in. WAGFG Stays has some excellent properties; Bina Maya in Yallingup, RAC Busselton Holiday Park, Rusticoq in Cowaramup, Southcamp in Dunsborough, and The Timothee Resort in Busselton.
Cabin Fever Festival runs 17 – 26 July 2026 across the Margaret River Region. Tickets at cabinfeverfest.com.au.
