Stunning Albany Beaches – Western Australia

There are so many amazing things to do in Albany. However, the Albany beaches are really the highlight!! There are more beaches than you can imagine on a Perth to Esperance road trip. You can’t see them all, so I’ve got a list of the best ones you really must see!

From Meelup Regional Park in Dunsborough to Greens Pool and Elephant Rocks in Denmark, you will be spoiled for choice with white sand and clear blue sea! Not to mention the huge sting rays at Hamelin Bay, Western Australia is full of amazing hidden gems! In Albany, Little Beach was my favourite. During the whole road trip, the beaches on Rottnest Island were also some of my favourite as well as the beaches in Esperance. I told you there will be a lot! Read on for some Albany highlights.

The best Albany beaches!

Little Beach

This is probably the most famous of the Albany beaches. This beach lives up to it’s name, it really is a cute small beach. However, the huge rock formation right in the middle of the beach is what people come here for. You will see pictures of people on top of this rock but it is actually quite hard to climb on! At your own risk….! It is a lovely beach though, with a toilet and a parking area. The bright blue water and white sand make it a beautiful day at the beach.

It is also very windy here so be careful if you are flying a drone. I started to fly mine out to sea and the wind really picked up fast. The wind also means the weather can change super fast. One minute it was bright sunshine and the next minute it was cloudy. Check the forecast before you schedule a beach day for sure. A lot of people think that Australia is always hot but for any of you Brits reading, apparently a to of Australia has similar weather. This means you can have many seasons in one day. So be prepared!

Two People’s Bay

Not to be confused with Little Beach! I saw a lot of photos tagged on Instagram as Two People’s Bay but there are no rocks here. We had a short walk here but there was quite a lot of seaweed and it definitely wasn’t as nice as Little Beach. Two people’s Bay is a much longer beach with more space in case Little Beach is busy. However, when we were here in February, there was only one other couple on the beach. During Australian summer it is much more busy I’m sure.

This is also a beautiful beach to drone and photograph as it stretches so far. Also remember that these two beaches are located in Two People’s Bay Nature Reserve so you will need to pay a National park entrance fee. These can add up if you go to a lot of places, so be sure to get a national park pass to keep costs down. You will have to leave a pass in your car and rangers come around every so often to check these so best to avoid any fines.

Where to stay near Two People’s Bay?

Another thing to mention is that because basically all of Western Australia is one huge national park, you cannot just stop and camp anywhere. We spoke to someone before our trip who was on the East Coast of Australia and was camping in the ‘wild’ each night. In Western Australia, the rangers patrol at night time and you will get kicked out! Every parking spot says no camping. It is a bit of a shame, but I will be naming a few great campsites later that are more in the wild or right on the beach. The best one of down in Esperance by Lucky Bay. This is the famous beach where kangaroos will hop around you while you relax on the beach. However, this campsite gets booked up very fast so get in there fast!

For other accommodation options check here!

Amazing Albany beaches in Torndirrup National Park

These next Albany beaches are located super close to Albany itself. They are found in Torndirrup National Park, just south of Albany town. If you are heading to these beaches with the intention of staying for a few nights then I would definitely recommend to stock up in the shops in Albany. We really struggled to find any shops or open shops anywhere but large towns. Perhaps it was because it was February! Nevertheless, these beaches are not to be missed!

Frenchman Bay

We had the best lunch on the beach just nearby! There is a large parking area near Frenchman Bay on the land that separates the two beaches. I didn’t realise that there were two as the other isn’t visible over the small hill! As you drive through the first car park, there is a very small road that leads to yet another car park. This car park is right on the beach! We parked up and opened the back of our van and had our kitchen right on the beach. I would definitely recommend this beach for lunch and then go to the ‘other’ Frenchman Bay after! The first beach had quite a lot of seaweed although the sand was stunning, but maybe that was seasonal as it was quite stormy when we were there.

The other Frenchman Bay is just over a small hill. From there, there is a long wooden staircase that leads you right down to the beach. This really is a great viewpoint over the whole beach. In the sun, it looks even more beautiful. Unfortunately, as I mentioned earlier, the weather changes A LOT here and very fast. We had perfect weather while eating lunch on the other beach but of course the minute we stepped foot on the next beach the sun disappeared!

Misery Beach

We didn’t make it here as the weather had turned but it was recommended to us. If you end up going here then let me know whether it is worth a visit on our next trip to Western Australia, I will be back FOR SURE.

Salmon Beach

Another lovely beach! There really are endless amazing beaches in Western Australia. On our whole Perth to Esperance road trip I honestly couldn’t tell you which was my favourite.

Best campsite near these Albany beaches

East bay Camping Ground

This campground is right at the end of Two People’s Bay. We unfortunately had a lot to charge that night so we ended up going to a campsite with power. I would have liked to have stayed here as it looked lovely right on the beach overlooking the sea.

Other things to do in Albany!

Visit Torndirrup National Park

I loved it here! The drive through this National Park is really scenic and beautiful too. Remember to have your national park pass at the ready so you don’t get any fines or have to pay purely to go and see one beach if you don’t have much time.

‘Walk the plank’ at The Gap and Natural Bridge

So this place is named after a small arch way that was formed in the rock. However, just before you reach this there is an epic platform overhanging the rock. You can see straight down to the waves and sea below and it is incredible! Don’t miss this if you get the chance, it is well worth seeing! This is also a great spot for sunset, we went late afternoon and it was already looking good. This isn’t for the faint hearted, I saw a few people clinging to the edge once they had managed to walk far enough and it took them a long time to get back to the beginning. You really are standing right over the water but it is amazing I promise!

Hike the Bibbulman Track

We actually hiked this track but much earlier in out Perth to Esperance road trip! Back in Denmark, we were trying to get to Elephant Rocks but it was closed for refurbishment and improvements. We just wanted to fly the drone at least to have a look at this amazing place. In the end we walked for 2 or 3 hours down the Bibbulman track from Madfish Bay and Waterfall beach to end up still 1km away from Elephant Rocks and Greens Pool.

Top tip is to take plenty of suncream and water! The path we walked was open the whole way and it was warm! Well worth it to see the amazing small beaches and rocks along the way. The Bibbulman Track stretches so far you will probably stumble upon it at some point anyway.

Other amazing beaches in South Western Australia

We started our road trip in Perth, drove the whole way to Esperance via Dunsborough, Yallingup, Denmark, Albany. There are so many amazing beaches in Western Australia. Some of the best are also located on Rottnest Island. This is a great day trip from Perth to Rottnest Island.

Best beach between Denmark and Albany

Shelley Beach in West Cape Howe

This is a gorgeous beach! Down a long winding road, this beach was one of the least windy ones we went to. I think because it is was shielded by the hills behind it, it was actually very pleasant. We saw people playing cricket here and there is even a small campsite. If you want to camp right on the beach then this is probably one of the best campsites to go for. However, it is not powered and it is of course first come first served. Just to avoid disappointment! If you have a drone, then you definitely have to send it up here for this road!

Further along the coast – Amazing beaches near Denmark

Elephant Rocks

This is a small beach with HUGE rock formations. I hope it is open again by the time you go, as it was closed when we were there in Feb 2020 but it was meant to reopen July 2020. It looks so stunning here. From what I’ve heard, if you’re into photography then head here for sunrise or sunset as it gets busy. And as I said, the actual beach itself isn’t that big. When we were there they were refurbishing the roads so hopefully the access is good now wit some good parking spaces too.

Greens Pool

Just near to Elephant Rocks is Greens Pool. It looked SO STUNNING from our drone, as we never made it here due to road closures. Definitely don’t miss Greens Pool on your Perth to Esperance road trip.

Next stop? Esperance!

Esperance I was SO excited about! However, I think the further south you go, the more the weather is likely to change. Just bear that in mind! We arrived to beautiful sunshine and by the evening there was a storm and it rained the whole of the next day! We decided to drive back up to Perth (9 hours) via Wave Rock and it was like a different country!

Lucky Bay

This is where you will meet kangaroos on the beach! They come and hop right by you and it is amazing to see. Unfortunately for us, they decided to stand right in the stinky seaweed so it wasn’t quite the white sand and kangaroo shot I imagined but it was amazing nonetheless. They clearly knew the storm was coming and didn’t want to risk being on the beach when it hit! Then if you want more time here, stay at Lucky Bay campground. Be sure to book well in advance as it is a very popular campsite for obvious reasons.

You can also drive a 4WD down the beach here, just make sure to deflate your tyres first and read all the signs if you haven’t done this before.

Wiley Bay

We loved this beach! We made it here on the way to Esperance and it is also amazing to drone. Again, you can drive a 4WD down the beach. There are two beaches here, just make sure to go on the one over the small hill, as the other has no cool rock formation and a LOT of seaweed.

I hope you enjoyed this post on the best Albany beaches in Western Australia. There are so many amazing things to do in Albany but the beaches are definitely not to be missed. Western Australia is all about the beaches! Then Torndirrup National Park in Albany has a few gems, so add that to your itinerary for sure. Remember to also go in Australian summer if you can, as there are so many beaches, it would be a shame to go when its chilly unless you want to go for walks and peace without anyone around. We were there in February and we had a lot of the beaches on our trip all to ourselves.

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