Things to do in  Fremantle

Housed in a Victorian marketplace more than 100 years old, the Fremantle Markets are a Western Australian institution. A visit to the markets offers not only the chance to shop for fresh food and unique gifts, but also to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the entertainment offered by a rotating schedule of street performers.

Cottesloe Beach’s gentle waves and sugar-soft sand might make you forget that you're in the middle of a major Australian city. Cott, as it’s affectionately known, is one of Perth’s most popular spots for swimming, surfing, snorkeling, or sipping cocktails while watching the sun set over the Indian Ocean.

Watching over the west end of Fremantle from atop its staircase, the Round House is a lasting piece of Fremantle’s colonial heritage as its oldest surviving public building. Coastal paths and a stone staircase lead up to this 12–sided building, which now hosts displays of its history inside small rooms that once housed prisoners.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of Western Australia’s oldest buildings, Fremantle Prison is an important reminder of Australia’s convict history. Built in the 1850s by the very convicts who inhabited its cells, the prison was notorious for its deplorable conditions and brutal capital punishment.

Set inside an old heritage-listed psychiatric hospital, the Fremantle Arts Centre looks quite traditional from the outside. But inside, its rooms are home to an ever-changing roster of innovative, expressive, and thought-provoking exhibitions created by resident artists using different media.

Learn about Western Australia’s long and unfortunate history of nautical disasters at the WA Shipwrecks Museum in Fremantle. This destructive heritage is illustrated through exhibits with reported accounts and recovered items, including coins and cannons, as well as the remains of the VOC ship Batavia, whose reconstructed stern fills an entire museum gallery.

On the edge of the Swan Valley less than an hour from Perth, the Maze is a fun family attraction. Mind-boggling mazes, miniature golf, and an animal park with koalas and kangaroos tempt visitors all year round, while summer visitors can also cool off at the Outback Splash water park.