10 Things to Do in Margaret River With Kids

The best things to do in Margaret River with kids are Ngilgi Cave, the calm lagoon at Yallingup Beach, the rock pools at Meelup, and a day at Busselton Jetty. Pick one outing a morning, put a swim or a park in the afternoon, and keep a wet-weather plan in your back pocket.

Photo: Western Australian Government, CC BY 2.5 AU · via Wikimedia Commons

I've lived and worked in Yallingup since 1982, and families ask me what to do with the children almost every day. The list below is what I tell them. It runs from the bottom of the cape to the top, mixes free and paid, and says which age each thing suits. Where I've written a longer guide, the link is under the item.

Opening times and prices change, so check each venue's own site before you drive.

Ages: about four and up. Ngilgi sits on the edge of Yallingup, and you move through it at your own pace on solid steps with handrails. Allow about an hour and a half, including the Ancient Lands displays above ground. The operator lists about 350 steps, with rest stops, and a child ticket covers ages 4 to 16 (under-fours go free).

Tip: front baby carriers are allowed, backpack carriers are not, and you should leave backpacks in the car. Take a jumper each, even in summer. Which cave suits which age has the full comparison.

Ages: all, with an adult in the water for under-sevens. The reef at Yallingup Beach breaks the swell, so the north end is calm most days. It is mostly waist to chest deep over sand and patches of reef.

Tip: reef shoes help, and so does a small swell with half-tide to high tide. There is a toilet block at the north end and no cafe. The rock pools and safe swims guide has the swell and wind limits.

Ages: under five, and anyone who likes crabs. The north-facing beaches inside Cape Naturaliste have almost no surf, so the pools are gentle. At Meelup, walk to the eastern end, where the granite holds pools that warm up by mid-morning.

Tip: arrive early in summer when the car park has room, and aim for an hour or two after high tide. Check the Transport WA tide predictions for Busselton before you go.

Ages: about five and up, holding a hand. The pools on the high granite above the channels are sit-down pools, a few deep enough to lie back in and the rest ankle-deep and full of small life. It is two minutes from the car park and free.

Tip: keep everyone on the upper shelf and away from the channel side on a big-swell day. Waves can come over the lower rock without warning.

Ages: toddlers to about ten. Kids spend the morning collecting eggs and feeding animals, and the parents drink coffee on a verandah. Country Life Farm near Dunsborough and Taunton Farm Holiday Park at Cowaramup are the two I hear about most.

Tip: ask whether animal time is scheduled or open all day, and check the heating, because the nights are cold. The farm stay guide lists the questions to ask before you book.

Ages: the train suits any age. The observatory is genuinely interesting from about five. The jetty is nearly two kilometres long, and the observatory at the end takes you down eight metres to windows on the reef that has grown around the pylons.

Tip: the walk is exposed with no shade, and observatory tours can sell out in peak season, so book ahead in the school holidays. Things to do in Busselton has a kid-shaped day plan, and the calm foreshore playground is next door.

Ages: all. It is a timber maze with four difficulty levels, an 18-hole mini golf course, a nature playground and a puzzle cafe with free games. Children aged 8 and under must be with an adult in the maze.

Tip: it is open seven days, 9:30am to 5pm, but closes on a few public holidays and generally for the first two weeks of February. The mini golf area does not allow prams. Check the Yallingup Maze site for prices.

Ages: all, especially the under-tens. The Metricup factory has free tastings and a production viewing window, and it is open daily from 9am to 5pm except Christmas Day.

Tip: it is a half-hour stop, not a day out. Treat it as the start of a loop through the vineyards and the coast. The Chocolate Company loop shows what is within fifteen minutes.

Ages: any child who can walk three kilometres. It is about three kilometres one way along the cliffs on the Cape to Cape Track, easy and well formed. From September to early December you can often see humpback whales from the lookouts.

Tip: there is almost no shade, so take water and hats. More free walks and lookouts are in the free things guide and my Yallingup list.

Ages: kids who like watching a machine run, usually from about eight. Our gallery is on Blythe Rd at Yallingup Siding, about ten minutes inland from Ngilgi Cave. There is usually a machine running and shavings on the floor, and you can watch a piece of jarrah being shaped through the viewing window for as long as the children are interested. It is free, there is nothing to book, and the gallery is open every day from 10am to 4pm. Nobody expects you to buy anything.

Tip: it works best as a twenty-minute stop between bigger outings, not a destination on its own.

Most of the region is outdoors, but a wet day is not a lost day.

• Ngilgi Cave. It stays cool and the same underground whatever the weather. Open 9am to 5pm, last entry 4pm.
• The Margaret River Chocolate Company. Indoors, free tastings, and the window onto production.
• Yallingup Maze. The puzzle cafe has free puzzles and games all day. Some of the site is outdoors, so check the weather before you commit.
• Busselton Jetty and the Underwater Observatory. The observatory is underwater and so is mostly unaffected, but the walk out is exposed, so take the train and a real jacket.
• The workshop window. The gallery is open every day, 10am to 4pm.

If the weather is bad on the coast, the calm water at Meelup and the Geographe Bay foreshore can be fine when the west coast is not. Swell is the thing to check.

This day keeps the driving short and puts the quiet things before the busy ones.

1. 8:30am

   Yallingup lagoon

   Swim before the sea breeze. Reef shoes on, half an hour in the water and half an hour on the sand.
2. 10:30am

   Ngilgi Cave

   About an hour and a half, self-paced. Leave backpacks in the car and take a jumper.
3. 12:30pm

   Lunch on the grass

   Fish and chips or sandwiches at the south end of Yallingup Beach, looking down on the reef.
4. 2:00pm

   The gallery workshop window

   Ten minutes inland on Blythe Rd. Twenty minutes watching the bench. Open until 4pm, free.
5. 3:00pm

   Margaret River Chocolate Company

   Free tastings and the viewing window. Open until 5pm.
6. 4:15pm

   Smiths Beach

   The long white beach to burn off the sugar. Swim at the north end.

For two days, swap the afternoon for a morning at Meelup and a Jetty day at Busselton, which is about 35 minutes from Yallingup. Two outings in a day is plenty for under-eights.

From about four. It is self-paced, with solid steps, and you can turn around at any point. A three-year-old will manage with a hand to hold but may not love it. Under-fours go free, and a child ticket covers ages 4 to 16.

Go underground at Ngilgi Cave, taste chocolate at the Chocolate Company, play puzzles at the Yallingup Maze cafe, or watch the workshop through the window at our gallery. If the west coast is stormy, Meelup on the north side of the cape is often calmer.

Yes, most of the best ones. The beaches, the rock pools, the Cape Naturaliste walks and the Saturday farmers market (7:30am to 11:30am, every week) cost nothing, and the galleries are free to walk into. The caves are the main paid thing. The free and cheap list covers the rest.

The lagoon at the north end of Yallingup Beach, Ngilgi Cave, the rock pools at Canal Rocks, and Yallingup Maze. Keep it to one outing a day and let the beach do the rest. My Yallingup list has the quiet places.

The region follows the WA public school calendar. Term 4 2026 ends on Thursday 17 December and Term 1 2027 starts on Monday 1 February. In 2027 the April holidays run from 10 to 25 April, the July holidays from 3 to 18 July, and the September holidays from 25 September to 10 October. Book caves and observatory tours ahead in those weeks, and check your own school's dates.