Where to Stay in Busselton: A Local's Honest Take

Busselton is where a lot of people spend their first night on the way south. The drive from Perth lands you here around dinner time. You eat. You sleep. The next morning you're meant to be at a cellar door in Wilyabrup by lunch.

So this is a short, honest run-through of where to stay if you're stopping for one night, or two, or a week. I live twenty-five minutes up the road in Yallingup and I've driven past every one of these places more times than I can count.

Photo: Michelle Corcoran, CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

You don't have to. You can push on through to Dunsborough or Yallingup the same evening and wake up closer to the coast. But Busselton has a few things in its favour. For the wider things to do in Busselton — the full case for the town — that's the separate piece.

It's flat, which makes it good with kids and easy on tired drivers. The jetty is genuinely one of the better walks in the South West, and at almost two kilometres out it gives you a sea horizon you don't get from the shore. The town has more grocery options than anywhere further south. And it sits at the top of the wine region, so you can do Wilyabrup as a day loop and come back to a familiar bed.

The downside is that the actual coastline north of Busselton is calm, shallow, and east-facing. Lovely for kids, not what most people picture when they think Margaret River. If you've come for the surf and the cliffs, you'll want to be further south by your second night.

There are four or five real hotels in Busselton that I'd point a visitor at. Here's where they sit.

The Sebel Busselton is the newer one near the foreshore, on the eastern side of town close to the jetty. Apartment-style rooms, kitchens, balconies. It's the one I'd book for a family of four who want their own space. The pool is good. The walk to the jetty is about ten minutes along the water.

The Hilton Garden Inn Busselton is the corporate-feeling option on Queen Street. Reliable, central, easy parking, free wifi that works. If you've driven from Perth and just want a known quantity, this is it.

Mandalay Holiday Resort is older and sits between the foreshore and the river. It's the one with the cabin and chalet feel rather than a hotel. Good for families who want a barbecue and a bit of grass rather than a corridor and a card key.

Aqua Resort Busselton is on Geographe Bay Rd a little east of town, set back from a quieter stretch of beach. Two-bedroom apartments, swimming pool, the kind of place couples and small families book for three nights and don't leave much.

Abbey Beach Resort sits further east at Abbey, about ten minutes out of town. Right on the beach, a long stretch of grass between the resort and the sand, kid-friendly. Worth knowing if the closer options are full.

If you're stopping in Busselton for one night, pick the place closest to the jetty. The morning walk is the whole point.

Busselton has a lot of caravan parks and most of them are along Geographe Bay Rd, on the calm water side. The big ones are:

RAC Busselton Holiday Park at West Busselton. Cabins, powered sites, swimming pool, a jumping pillow that keeps kids entertained for hours. It's well-run and books up well in advance for school holidays.

Mandalay Holiday Resort doubles as a caravan park, with powered sites and chalets next to each other.

BIG4 Beachlands Holiday Park is a longer-standing option, with the same calm beach access and the standard BIG4 family setup.

Kookaburra Caravan Park is one of the more central, walkable options. Older but loyal regulars come back to it every year.

If you're new to caravan parks in the South West, the things to ask about when you book are: is the site shaded (summer matters here), is there a camp kitchen, and how close are you to the amenity blocks. The honest difference between an enjoyable stay and a difficult one is usually shade and amenities, not the brochure.

This is where the value sits if you're in town for three nights or more.

Look on the streets back from Geographe Bay Rd in the suburbs east and west of the centre: West Busselton, Broadwater, Abbey, Geographe. Three-bedroom homes with a deck and a barbecue go for less per night than two hotel rooms, and you'll cook half your meals. The pattern most families fall into is breakfast and dinner at home, lunch out somewhere on the wine trail.

The thing to check is parking and walkability. A Busselton holiday house that's a fifteen-minute walk from the jetty is a different stay from one that's a forty-minute walk. If you're not planning to drive every day, stay within a kilometre of the foreshore.

Photo: Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

If you've booked Busselton for the night and you're heading south the next day, here's the morning I'd run.

Get up at six. Walk the jetty before the sun gets high. It takes about forty minutes round-trip on foot. If your kids won't do it, there's a small train that runs out and back, and the Underwater Observatory at the end is worth the booking on a clear day.

Then coffee somewhere on the foreshore. Sidekick is the regular pick. Toby Inlet at Dunsborough is fifteen minutes south if you'd rather get moving and stop on the way. Pack up the car. By 9am you're on Bussell Hwy heading for Dunsborough or Caves Rd. Lunch later? The Goose on the foreshore is the one I keep ending up at when someone asks where to eat in Busselton.

From Busselton CBD to Dunsborough is about twenty minutes. To Yallingup it's twenty-five. To Margaret River town it's around an hour on the highway, less if you take Bussell Hwy direct.

If you've got the time, take Caves Rd from Carbunup south rather than the highway. It's slower (the limit is 80km/h and it winds through karri country) but it's the road most people remember after their trip. It also drops you past my workshop at the Carbunup turnoff, on Blythe Rd. The viewing window into the workshop is free and most visitors stay longer than they meant to.

From Busselton, drive about thirty minutes south on Bussell Hwy and turn right at the Carbunup store onto Blythe Rd. The gallery has a viewing window into the workshop and you can usually catch me at the bench. Pamela curates the front room.

Summer (December to February) and school holidays book out months ahead. The good places fill first. If you're booking inside three months for January, expect to take what's left.

Autumn (March to May) is the secret. Water still warm, days still long, prices come down, half the cellar doors have just released their new vintages. Easter is the one autumn weekend that books out the way summer does.

Winter (June to August) is cheaper still, often half-price on the hotels. The trade-off is the southerly storms and the shorter days. If you're coming for the storm watching, the wineries, the food, and the fires, winter is a genuine option. If you're coming for the beach, wait.

Spring (September to November) is back to peak by the school holidays.

The honest range, per night, off-peak, for two adults:

• Mid-range hotel: $180–$260
• Family apartment-style: $240–$340
• Caravan park cabin: $140–$200
• Caravan park powered site: $50–$75
• Holiday home (3-bed): $280–$450, drops sharply on the third night and beyond

Peak season can be double these. If the price you're seeing looks high, check the dates against school holidays in WA and the eastern states. Eastern states holidays push prices up too because the flights down are direct from Melbourne.

If a friend rang me tomorrow and said they had one night in Busselton, I'd send them to one of the central apartment-style places near the foreshore. If they had three nights, I'd put them in a holiday home in West Busselton or Broadwater and tell them to cook a couple of meals. If they had a week, I'd tell them to do two nights in Busselton, two in Dunsborough, and three further south near Yallingup or Margaret River town.

The Busselton end is good for arriving, settling in, and getting the kids in the water on a flat morning. The further south you go, the wilder the coast gets. Both are worth your time. Most people just stay too long at one end and miss the other.

Photo: David Stanley, CC BY 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

For a one-day plan through Busselton and on to Yallingup, and the jetty day-trip in more detail, I've written those up separately.

The drive from Busselton to the gallery on Blythe Rd takes about thirty minutes. Stop in if you're driving past.