Thousands of limestone pillars standing in yellow sand, two hours north of Perth in Nambung National Park.
Walk between them as the sun drops and the shadows stretch, then stay for a sky dark enough to show the Milky Way.
Time at the pillars, said plainlySunset, midday or after dark, per tour
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Free cancellationUp to 24 hours before on every tour
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Tours
Choose your Pinnacles tour
In the centre, the sunset trip with a picnic dinner and a telescope, the most booked day out of Perth.
Either side, a long day of koalas, a 4WD and sandboarding, or an easier one with Yanchep and the Swan Valley.
Koalas and kangaroo feeding at Caversham, fish and chips in Cervantes, the Pinnacles walk, then a 4WD truck over the Lancelin dunes and a go on a sandboard.
What's included
Caversham Wildlife Park entry
Fish and chips lunch in Cervantes
Pinnacles walking tour and park entry
About 45 minutes of 4WD plus sandboarding at Lancelin
A late-start day north along the coast to reach the pillars as the sun goes down. Dinner with a glass of wine under the sky, then the telescope comes out.
What's included
Guided walk among the Pinnacles at sunset
Picnic dinner with a glass of wine
Telescope stargazing, weather permitting
National park entry and an air-conditioned mini-coach
Every tour spends roughly four hours on the road for a much shorter stay among the pillars. What changes is the
hour you get there and what fills the rest of the day: koalas, dunes, lobster, wine, or the night sky.
Every tour cancels free up to 24 hours before, and all but the pub-dinner tour list park entry as included.
Driving yourself, the park fee is A$17 per car.
Before you book
Two hours each way. The light decides the rest.
Here is what nobody puts on the tour cards. The Pinnacles are about 200 km from Perth, so every day trip is mostly road:
two hours or more up, two hours back, with the pillars somewhere in the middle. The loop through them takes half an hour by
car, and most people are done in one to two hours. The question is not really which tour. It is which hour.
At midday the limestone goes flat and pale, the sand throws the heat back at you, and in summer the bush flies find you
within a minute. In the last hour before sunset the same pillars turn orange and their shadows run ten metres across the
sand. After dark, with no town nearby, the sky does the rest. That is why the sunset and stargazing tours sell best,
and why a day tour that arrives at noon makes up for it with koalas, dunes or lobster.
A$17
The whole park fee for a car with up to 12 people. No booking, no timed
entry, and a normal 2WD is fine on the sandy loop. A tour is a choice, not a requirement.
SunsetStargazingKoalasSand dunesSelf-drive
Not termite mounds or petrified trees: the pillars are limestone made from ancient seashells, worn out of the dunes by water and wind.
01
Tour or self-drive?
Self-drive is cheap and easy. Book a tour for the stars, the extras, or to skip four hours at the wheel.
02
Sunset or daytime?
Sunset for the light and the stars. Daytime tours fit in koalas, dunes and lunch instead.
03
How hot?
Average highs run from about 20°C in July to 31°C in February, with very little shade among the pillars.
04
The flies
Bush flies arrive in spring and peak in summer. A head net costs a few dollars and saves the day.
Your day
How a Pinnacles day runs
Leave Perth after breakfast, or around midday for a sunset trip. Be back late in the evening either way.
01
Up the coast
North out of Perth on Wanneroo Road, which becomes Indian Ocean Drive, through banksia scrub and past the sea.
About 2 to 2.5 hours
02
Stops on the way
Koalas at Yanchep or Caversham, the white Lancelin dunes, a lookout at Guilderton. Each tour picks its own.
30 to 90 minutes each
03
Among the pillars
The Desert View Walk runs 1.5 km between the pinnacles; the sandy loop drive is about 4 km with bays to stop.
1 to 2 hours
04
Lobster or the stars
Lunch in Cervantes, 17 km north, on a day tour. On a sunset tour, dinner and a telescope after dark.
Desert View Walk1.5 kmA short accessible path, then sandy trail between the tallest pillars.
Loop driveAbout 4 kmOne way, unsealed but firm, 2WD friendly. No caravans or trailers.
Discovery Centre9:30am to 4:30pmDisplays on the geology and the Yued people, a shop and toilets.
Lake ThetisAbout 3,370 yearsThe age of its stromatolites, seen from a boardwalk near Cervantes.
Hangover BaySwim and picnicA white beach with barbecues and shade, inside the national park.
Cervantes17 km northThe nearest town: fuel, beds, and lobster fresh off the boats.
Getting there
Where to meet
Pinnacles Desert Discovery, Cervantes WA 6511
Tours: pickup in Perth. The sunset tour and the lobster tour meet outside the Criterion Hotel, 560 Hay Street.
The Pinnacles sit inside Nambung National Park on Yued Noongar country, about 200 km north of Perth and 17 km south of
Cervantes. Driving, take Wanneroo Road north until it becomes Indian Ocean Drive and turn at the Pinnacles sign. The road
ends at the Discovery Centre car park, where the gate house sells the day pass and the loop drive begins.
If two hours each way feels like a lot for one desert, keep going north. This trip takes three days up the Coral Coast: the Lancelin dunes, two nights in Kalbarri with its gorges and sea cliffs, the Pink Lake at Hutt Lagoon, and the Pinnacles on day three. Two nights in a hotel are included; meals are not.
Most people know the photo: stone spikes in yellow sand under an orange sky. Fewer know what the spikes are,
how long you really get among them, or that half of what the internet says about "the Pinnacles" is about another park.
What the pinnacles are
Seashells, mostly. Over a very long time, broken shells became lime-rich sand, the wind piled it into dunes, and rain
leached the lime down and cemented the lower layers into limestone. Plant roots and water then worked down through cracks,
dissolving the softer rock and leaving harder columns behind. Wind stripped away the loose sand, and the pillars came out.
That is the most accepted explanation. Scientists still argue about the details, and nobody seriously argues for termite
mounds or petrified trees.
How old? The regional tourism body says the pillars formed roughly 25,000 to 30,000 years ago. The park authority is more
careful, saying they were probably exposed only in recent times, and that Aboriginal artefacts at least 6,000 years old have
been found in the desert. The Yued people are the Traditional Owners. The name Nambung is an Aboriginal word meaning crooked
or winding, after the river. Europeans barely knew the place until a 1934 geological survey, and it joined the national park in 1967.
The Desert View Walk: 1.5 km, the first 300 m on an accessible path.
What a tour really gives you
Time on the road, mostly, and that is not a complaint. From Perth it is about 200 km each way, so a 9-hour sunset trip
or an 11.5-hour activity day spends four or five hours driving. The time among the pillars is shorter than the brochure
photos suggest: the one listing that states it gives about an hour. What you are paying for is the driving, a guide who
knows the stories, and the extras along the way. Koalas at Yanchep or Caversham. A 4WD truck over the Lancelin dunes.
Lobster in Cervantes. A telescope after dark.
Driving yourself is simple. The road is sealed to the car park, the loop is firm sand that a hire car handles, and the
fee is A$17 per car with no booking. What you lose is the commentary, the stargazing kit, and an evening drive back to
Perth in the dark with kangaroos on the road.
The honest small print: two kinds of tour hide behind one search. Daytime tours reach the pillars
around the middle of the day, when the light is flat and the sand is hot, and fill the rest with wildlife, dunes or food.
Sunset tours leave later, arrive for the last light, and stay for the stars. Choose the hour first. The
tours compared guide lines them all up.
The other Pinnacles
Search for Pinnacles advice and you will hit grizzly bears, condors and "which side is better". That is Pinnacles
National Park in California, a 2013 US national park with talus caves and two entrances that no road connects.
Its car fee is US$30. None of it applies here. In Western Australia there are no bears, one entrance, one loop, and the
animals you meet are western grey kangaroos, emus and the odd sleepy bobtail lizard.
Cervantes is an Astrotourism WA town, and the Pinnacles are its astrophotography spot.
Timing it
Come in spring if you can. From September the weather turns mild, and from August to October the wildflowers line the
drive. Summer works too, as long as you avoid the middle of the day: February averages about 31°C on the coast and
it feels hotter on the open sand. Whatever the month, the last hour before sunset is the one to aim for. In winter that
can be as early as 5:25pm, so check the time before you set off.
Lake Thetis, near Cervantes: stromatolites about 3,370 years old, not 3.5 billion.
Straight answers to what people ask most about visiting the Pinnacles Desert.
Is the Pinnacles Desert worth visiting?
Yes, if you go at the right hour. Thousands of limestone pillars, some up to about 3.5 metres, stand in yellow sand two hours north of Perth, and in low sun the shadows make the place look unreal. At midday in February it is hot, flat and full of flies. Our worth-it guide says who should go and who should skip it.
How long do you need at the Pinnacles Desert?
One to two hours covers it. The one-way loop drive takes about half an hour, the Desert View Walk is 1.5 km, and the Discovery Centre needs another 20 minutes. From Perth, a tour day runs 9 to 11.5 hours because of the drive.
Can you visit the Pinnacles without a guide?
Yes. Drive in, pay A$17 per car at the gate house into Pinnacles Desert Discovery, and walk or drive the loop at your own pace. There is no booking and no timed entry. A tour buys you the driving, the stops on the way and, on sunset tours, the stargazing. See tour or self-drive.
Can you drive a normal car to the Pinnacles?
Yes. The access road is sealed and the loop through the pillars is a firm, unsealed sandy track that a 2WD handles fine. Caravans, trailers and vehicles over 7 metres are not allowed on the loop and park in the long-vehicle bays.
How much is entry to the Pinnacles?
A$17 per standard vehicle with up to 12 people, or A$10 with a concession. Larger vehicles pay A$8 per person. A Holiday Pass (A$30 for 5 days) covers every WA park that charges fees, and the tour listings here include park entry (the pub-dinner tour does not itemise it). The entry fee guide has the details.
Can I do a day trip from Perth to the Pinnacles?
Easily. It is about 200 km, or 2 to 2.5 hours each way, up Indian Ocean Drive. Tours leave Perth in the morning, or around midday for the sunset trips, and come back in the evening. Our day trip guide sets out both ways of doing it.
What is the best time to visit the Pinnacles Desert?
Spring, September to November, says the park authority: mild days and wildflowers on the way up from August to October. In the day, come late afternoon for long shadows. February is the hottest month, with an average high near 31°C. More in best time to visit.
Can you enter the Pinnacles at night?
The park publishes no closing time, but the regional tourism body asks visitors to leave by 9pm. Sunset tours stay after dark for stargazing with a telescope. Read sunset and stargazing first.
How long is the walk at the Pinnacles?
The Desert View Walk is 1.5 km: a 300 m accessible path to a viewing platform, then 1.2 km of sandy trail among the pillars. The loop drive is about 4 km, with bays where you can stop and walk in.
What town is closest to the Pinnacles?
Cervantes, a crayfishing town about 17 km north, with fuel, a supermarket, the Lobster Shack and places to stay. There is no camping inside Nambung National Park. Jurien Bay is 20 minutes further north.
Do you have to book the Pinnacles?
Not to drive in yourself: you pay on arrival. Tours are a different matter. The sunset trips sell out in school holidays, so book them a week or two ahead. Every tour here has free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
Are there grizzly bears in Pinnacles National Park?
That question is about a different park: Pinnacles National Park in California. There are no grizzlies there either; the last reliable sighting in California was in 1924. At the Western Australian Pinnacles you are more likely to meet kangaroos and emus.
Ready to book
Pick your hour. The desert does the rest.
Sunset and stargazing, or a full day of koalas and dunes, all with free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
Most activities
★ 4.711.5 hoursFree cancellation
