Perth
Australia
The most isolated big city on earth, with white beaches on its doorstep and quokkas on the island offshore
Photo by Joshua Leong on Unsplash
Photos by Hc Digital, Urlaubstracker, Eddie Mark Blair and Nathan Hurst on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Australia
March to May, and September to November — the summer is dry heat in the high thirties
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 145mm in Jul
Where it is
31.95°S, 115.86°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Cycle Rottnest and meet a quokka without feeding it
- Watch the sun go down into the Indian Ocean at Cottesloe
- Walk Kings Park for the view back over the river
- Take the train to Fremantle on a Sunday
- Drive down to Margaret River for two days
Perth travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Australia
Good valueEffectively a cashless country. Cards and phones work everywhere including the smallest coffee cart, and a surcharge of one to two per cent on card is normal and is signed at the till.
ATMs & cards
The big four — Commonwealth, Westpac, ANZ and NAB — charge foreign cards a few dollars. The machines in pubs and corner shops charge more and say so on screen.
Avoid these
- the independent machines in bottle shops and pubs
Use these instead
- Commonwealth
- Westpac
- ANZ
- NAB
Cards work everywhere including the coffee vans. Draw before going out to the Pinnacles or down the coast, where the towns are far apart.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Australia
SafeSafe and low-key. The sun is the real hazard — the UV index here is among the highest measured anywhere, and burning takes about fifteen minutes in the summer. Swim between the flags; the rips on the open beaches are strong.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (9 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- Northbridge in the small hours — the city’s one late-night strip and where the drinking is
- unpatrolled beaches — rips are strong on this coast and the flags mark the only watched water
- the sun — among the highest UV measured anywhere; burning takes about fifteen minutes
- driving north or east without water — the distances are enormous and the phone signal stops
Low-key and very safe. The environment is the hazard here, not people..
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Australia visa rules
Travel authorisation requiredup to 90 daysA$20
Electronic Travel Authority, applied for through the official Australian ETA app.
Other passports
Travel authorisation requiredup to 90 daysfree
eVisitor (subclass 651) — free, and applied for online. Valid twelve months, 90 days per visit.
Visa required in advancefrom A$200
A Visitor visa (subclass 600), applied for online.
How to get it: EU and UK passports use the free eVisitor at immi.homeaffairs.gov.au; the ETA is only available through the official mobile app. Nothing is ever stamped in the passport — it is all electronic.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Before you fly: travel authorisation
Electronic Travel Authority (ETA)RequiredAUD20
Before you fly. Usually granted quickly, occasionally not.
Have these in front of you before you start:
- passport
- a phone that can read the passport chip
- the Australian ETA app
App only. There is no way to do this from a laptop, which catches people out — install it before you need it. The AUD20 is a service charge for the app; the ETA itself is free.
Use the official link above. Sites that charge a "service fee" to submit one of these for you are not the government, and they want the same passport details the real form does.
Health & emergencies all of Australia
Good and affordableRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
Getting treated
Excellent. The UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Italy, Malta and Slovenia have reciprocal agreements giving their citizens access to Medicare for immediately necessary treatment; everyone else pays and should be insured.
Sun is the underrated one — the UV index is extreme by European standards. Swim between the flags; rip currents, not sharks, are what actually drown people.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodA city that eats outdoors. Fremantle for fish and chips off the boats, Northbridge for Asian, and the Margaret River region three hours south makes wine that competes with anywhere.
Nightlife
A small-bar city since the licensing changed, with the drinking split between Northbridge and the beach suburbs.
- Northbridge — the late strip, and where most of it is
- the CBD small bars — Print Hall, Petition, and the laneways behind St Georges Terrace
- Fremantle — the Sail & Anchor and Little Creatures on the harbour
- Scarborough and Cottesloe — sunset first, drinks after
Closing: Most bars by midnight or 2am, the Northbridge clubs later. Sunday is quiet.
A beer in a bar: A$11–15
Getting around
Workable- UberWorks here
- DiDiWorks here
- OlaWorks here
- 13cabsWorks here
DiDi usually the cheapest · 13cabs the taxi fleet
- Against a taxi
- A little under the meter, and far better supplied.
Time zone and your working day
Australia/Perth — 12 hours ahead of you
0 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — — your time, — theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 21:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 21:00–05:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Australia
Why these are Australia's numbers and not Perth's
Home broadband — Fast. Several people on calls at once, large uploads, 4K. Broadband here runs at 1.3× the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Good. Maps, calls and streaming, and enough to tether a laptop for an afternoon. Mobile runs at about the global median of 109 Mbps.
Ookla publishes no separate figure for Perth, so these are medians for all of Australia. Cities usually beat the national number and remote islands and national parks fall well below it — treat this as the country's shape, not as a measurement of the street you will be staying on.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Australia, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Australian English — local usage
- HelloHow ya going?
- Thanks / no problemNo worries
- AfternoonArvo
- Flip-flopsThongs
4 more phrases
- SwimwearBathers / Togs
- Petrol stationServo
- BarbecueBarbie
- Genuinely goodBloody good
Religion
No majority faith
Roughly 40% report no religion, the largest single group. Aboriginal spiritual sites such as Uluru carry restrictions that are legal as well as cultural.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Sit in the front seat of a taxi if you are alone; sitting behind reads as standoffish
- Buy your round in turn — shouting is a genuine social obligation
- Swim between the red and yellow flags, always
- Wear sunscreen even on cloudy days; the UV is genuinely extreme
Don't
- Do not tip routinely; it is not expected and staff are paid properly
- Do not boast — tall poppy syndrome means standing out invites deflation
- Do not take Aboriginal cultural sites lightly; some are closed to climbing or photography
- Do not underestimate the sun, the surf or the distances
Where to stay in Perth
No Holistay rentals in Perth yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Perth on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Perth PER
20 minfrom the airport· 10 km as the crow flies
20 min on the airport line.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
