A Pinnacles Day Trip from Perth, Hour by Hour

A full Pinnacles day trip from Perth runs from about 8:00 AM to 7:30 PM and stops four times: a wildlife park, lunch in Cervantes, the Pinnacles and the Lancelin dunes. Australian Pinnacle Tours’ Pinnacles, Koalas, 4WD & Sandboarding Tour from Perth does exactly that, from US$185 a person (checked November 2026) with lunch, entry fees and the 4WD ride in the price.

Tuesdays were not on sale on the dates we read (8 December and 12 January), while Wednesday 9 December and Wednesday 13 January were. Free cancellation runs until 24 hours before.

The day in order

First, pickup and the wildlife park. The coach collects you from one of 12 selected hotels in the Perth CBD and Northbridge, and from nowhere else, so check that your hotel is on the list when you book. The first stop is Caversham Wildlife Park in the Swan Valley, for koalas, wombats and kangaroos.

Next, the back roads to Cervantes. The tour then takes quiet back roads north to the lobster-fishing town of Cervantes. Lunch there is fish and chips, included in the price.

Then the Pinnacles. From Cervantes it is 20 km by road to the Pinnacles in Nambung National Park. The walk among the limestone pillars is an easy one. Parks and Wildlife Service WA asks visitors not to climb, sit or stand on the pillars, which can fall.

After that, the Lancelin dunes. The Lancelin dunes are 77 km by road south of the Pinnacles. Here the group swaps into a custom-built 4WD truck for 45 minutes on the sand, then tries downhill sandboarding. The day itself may run in a coach when there are many passengers, but this part always runs in the 4WD.

Last, back to Perth. The drive home follows Indian Ocean Drive, 127 km from Lancelin to Perth, and the calendar gives 7:30 PM as the end of the day.

Who should not book the 4WD day

The 45-minute 4WD part is not allowed for pregnant women, people with back problems or infants. Infants up to 3 travel free with an adult but get no seat and no meal, and a parent stays behind with them during the 4WD ride. Soft sand on the dunes can cause delays.

Of the tour’s 350 most recent reviews on GetYourGuide, 17 give three stars or fewer. Their complaints are the hours on the bus, the 4WD or sandboarding dropped on a day the vehicle broke down or the dunes were soft, and pickup times that changed.

For a first visit to the Pinnacles that also takes in koalas and the dunes, without staying out until 11 PM, this is the day tour to book.

Check dates for the full day

The shorter day: lobster and Lake Thetis

Autopia Tours' Pinnacles Lobster Shack and Yanchep Day Trip is from US$137, cheaper and gentler. It left at 9:30 AM on the dates we read and lasts 9 hours, so you are back about 6:30 PM. The itinerary starts and ends at the Criterion Hotel Perth.

• An hour north to Yanchep, for about 45 minutes at the Yanchep Lavender Farm or the Chocolate Drops Tearoom, with a tasting of local produce.
• Lunch at the Lobster Shack in Cervantes, which you pay for yourself.
• The Lake Thetis boardwalk, past the stromatolites at the edge of the lake.
• The Pinnacles: a stop at the Discovery Centre, then a walk of a few hundred metres to the pillars, with about 45 minutes among them.
• About two hours on the coach back to Perth.

No koalas, no 4WD and no sandboarding; on the other hand nothing to rule you out except age (not for children 5 and under) and a moderate level of fitness.

How the sunset tour differs

The sunset tours turn this day around. Autopia Tours’ sunset and stargazing tour leaves central Perth at 1:30 or 2:00 PM, reaches the Pinnacles for the last light, serves a picnic dinner and sets up a telescope, and gets back around 11 PM. You see the pillars in low orange light rather than at midday, and you add the night sky, but you spend more of the trip in the dark. Pickup points and times sets all the start and return times side by side.