Hillarys Beach

Hillarys is the answer when the open coast is too rough for the swim you want. The man made beach tucked inside Hillarys Boat Harbour sits behind a breakwater that shelters it from both the swell and the afternoon sea breeze, so while the famous western beaches are turning choppy this small crescent stays soft and flat. For a traveller who needs the calmest possible water, for a gentle float, for nervous swimmers, or for very young children, it is the kindest swimming spot in the northern suburbs and one of the most genuinely sheltered on the whole Perth coast.

Come at first light and it can even be peaceful. Before the precinct wakes, the harbour beach is quiet, the water lies like glass, and a slow early swim or a long float is deeply restorative, with the marina still and the light soft on the masts. Carry a coffee onto the quay as the shops open and you have eased into the day before the crowds arrive. Taken at this hour, Hillarys delivers both the calm and the stillness that a wellness minded traveller is really after.

Now the honest part, because Hillarys is sold as a family paradise and it is, but it is not a serene escape. This is a busy commercial harbour, and by the middle of a warm day the Sorrento Quay precinct hums with restaurants, shops, the aquarium, ferries and crowds. The beach itself is small, so it fills quickly, and the mood is firmly that of a popular day out rather than a quiet shore. The calm water remains its great gift, but if you arrive at noon in January expecting tranquillity you will find a lively, crowded harbour instead.

Who should come: anyone who wants the calmest, most sheltered swim on the coast, families with small children, and day trippers who want food and attractions alongside the water, ideally early. Who should look elsewhere for true quiet: go a short way south to the reef pool at Mettams Pool for sheltered water with far fewer people, to the reef softened calm of North Beach, or to the gentle open sand at Sorrento right next door.

Hillarys sits about twenty five to thirty minutes by road north of central Perth in the northern coastal suburbs, with large car parking around the harbour. A bus service runs to the area, but a car is the simplest way to arrive at dawn before the precinct fills on a warm day, and the early hour is the difference between a quiet float and a crowded harbour.

Plan your swim for the early morning before the crowds and the boats stir the water, and bring your own shade, because the small harbour beach has limited natural cover. Toilets, showers, cafes and the quay surround the beach, with the aquarium and the Rottnest ferry close by for a longer day out. Supervise children closely, do not assume lifeguard cover at the harbour beach, read the conditions, and remember even sheltered water is typical and never guaranteed.