WA’s best 4WD accessible beaches

If you are looking for the best beach in WA that you can drive your 4WD on, you’ve come to the right place! WA is well regarded for having some of the best beaches in the world. Being quieter than the Eastern Coast, if you have a 4WD its not hard to get your own slice of paradise on a picture perfect beach.

I’ve had the privilege of exploring plenty of them, from the cold waters of the south east right around to the balmy northern beaches at the top of WA. If there’s one thing you should be doing with your 4WD, its exploring more of our coastline!

With that in mind, here are some of the best 4WD accessible beaches in Western Australia:

Thomas River

Esperance is well known for its incredible beaches. Whether you head east or west, you will find some amazing places to explore in your 4WD. Thomas River is East, and accessible fairly easily by gravel roads. There’s two campsites, several beaches to explore with the main one being nearly 30km long.

There’s amazing beaches that you can access on both sides of Thomas River, and plenty of places to wet a line or have a dive. If you are keen on more information, check out the post I wrote on it; Thomas River Esperance.

Duke of Orleans

A little closer to Esperance lies Duke of Orleans, which is a pretty unique little place. It’s a Caravan Park (you can’t camp outside of this), but almost like a little sleepy town. There are some permanent residents who live in the Caravan park, but its small enough that quad bikes are still ridden (carefully) on the road.

There’s more bays and beaches to explore here in a 4WD than you can poke a stick at, with some truly epic views. This is one of our favourite places to camp on the south coast. Here’s the full post; Duke of Orleans Caravan Park.

Bremer Bay

Last year was the first time I’d been to Bremer Bay, and I can’t believe I didn’t make it a priority sooner. The beaches are just as beautiful as Esperance, with an incredibly big area to explore by 4WD.

There’s plenty of inland tracks, more than a handful of beaches to drive along with some dunes and even mud in the winter. These photos were taken on the eastern side of Bremer, but the west has just as many beautiful beaches! If you are keen to see more of Bremer Bay, check out the last post; Bremer Bay.

Yeagarup

If you are looking for the ultimate 4WD adventure, Pemberton is the place to go, and then head to the coast. Yeagarup has some of the biggest dunes in the southern hemisphere, along with a massive beach and several water crossings. If you are game, give Callcup Hill a crack; probably the biggest sand dune you can drive up in Western Australia. It’s a cracker!

Feel free to read more about it here – Yeagarup

Margaret River

It wasn’t that long ago that we stumbled on some fun 4WD tracks around Margaret River. It’s a beautiful place, but knowing that you can take your 4WD and find a beach to yourself just makes it all the better. Being so accessible from Perth for a weekend and with so much to do in the region makes this place even better. 

There’s 4WD tracks through the forest, coastal tracks and plenty of beach driving. If you want to know more, here’s the link; Margaret River 4WD Tracks.

Wilbinga

In terms of 4WD Tracks near Perth and beach driving near Perth, Two Rocks is the closest for many people. You need to access it through Wilbinga these days, but its got plenty of beach to explore and enjoy.

Please note there is no Two Rocks 4WD beach access anymore, as you are not allowed to drive south of flat rocks into the city of Wanneroo. Fines apply, and people regularly get them. In fact, they fly drones around and take photos of your plates, and then you get a fine in the mail! This is our favourite 4WD beach near Perth.

Lancelin to Wedge Island

Roughly 2 hours drive north of Perth lies Lancelin, a quiet little coastal town that attracts a huge number of 4WDers to its sand dunes and beaches. In the past, the only way to get to Wedge Island was with a 4WD, and along the beach or by taking the inland track.

A while back, someone decided it’d be a great idea to run bitumen in from the Indian Ocean Drive. The drive from the Lancelin off road area to Wedge Island is still popular, and despite being very chopped out and soft on regular occasions, its a lot of fun! Please note Wedge Island Camping is not permitted, although there are rumours of a new DBCA site being opened up that way shortly!

Sandy Cape

There’s a reason Sandy Cape is one of the most popular camp sites close to Perth. It’s got access for everyone including 2WD vehicles, but if you own a 4WD you can head north or south and see some truly magic bays and camp sites. This location is easily doable for a weekend, and is a fantastic place to watch the world go by.

Hutt River

If you fancy driving on bright pink sand, then this place is mind blowing. Located not far from Kalbarri, and just across the road from a brilliant station stay by the name of Linga Longa, is the Hutt River Mouth. You can access it off the main road, and explore around the river, or head north towards Port Gregory.

The beach gets narrow in spots, but the fishing here is fantastic, and the scenery is unreal.

Carrarang Station

EDIT: This is now out of bounds, with camping having being shut down by Mitsui.

Carrarang Station is one of our most recent stays, with our own private beach. There’s heaps of 4WD tracks around the property, with plenty of beaches to explore. It’s located on the next peninsula across from Denham, roughly 850km north of Perth. Here’s the full post; Carrarang Station.

Steep Point

Well, what can I say? The Western most point of WA lies Steep Point, a place that I’ll remember for a long time. I expected it to be big cliffs, set up only for those into hard core fishing, and boy was I totally wrong. The beaches in the Steep Point area rival some of the best I’ve seen. The water is warm, crystal clear and absolutely magic. We only managed one day at Steep Point the first time, but enjoyed it so much we headed back for 9 nights the following year.

Steep Point is about 900km north of Perth, and can be driven in about 12 to 13 hours. The track in starts off as bitumen, then turns to gravel and eventually ends up as a soft, sandy track through the scrub.

Cable Beach in Broome

There’s something magical about Cable Beach. In a big town, you can drive down past the fancy restaurants, and straight onto an amazing beach in your 4WD. The sunsets are phenomenal, and nothing beats sitting there on the back of your 4WD whilst tucking into some local fish and chips!

We like staying at Cable Beach Caravan Park, as you can watch the sunset easily every night, and then cruise back to camp in a matter of minutes.

You can drive along Cable beach for miles; you can guarantee your own slice of paradise with a 4WD.

In 2015, we spent 5 weeks in the Kimberley, having driven up from Perth. It was the best 4WD trip we’ve ever done, and can’t wait to get back there. Keen to know more about where we went, what we spent, our itinerary etc? Here’s the post; 5 weeks in the Kimberley with a 4WD.

If you want more information about the Kimberley, we’ve written the ultimate, free guide which you can check out here – The Ultimate Guide to the Kimberley.

Cape Leveque and Hunter Creek

Even further north than Broome lies Cape Leveque. We spent a few nights at Kooljaman, which was absolutely stunning. They have a beach you are able to access with your 4WD, and on the Brian Lee tagalong Tour we were taken to Hunter Creek for the afternoon. Absolutely amazing.

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