Discover Rottnest with Ferry & Bus Tour
Recommended by 90% of travelers
Fremantle, Australia
- 8 hours (approx.)
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Enjoy a hassle-free way to experience the best of Rottnest Island on this full-day trip. Travel to Rottnest by ferry from either Perth or Fremantle, then embark on a sightseeing tour of the island by coach. While listening to your guide’s narration, check out landmarks including the West End and Wadjemup Lighthouse. Then, have free time to explore the car-free island at your leisure, and see the sights that interest you most.
- Pick between departures from Perth or Fremantle to fit your needs
- See spectacular locations you'd have trouble reaching any other way
- Spot Rottnest's famous marsupial, the quokka, and marine life
- Enjoy free time in the afternoon to explore at your leisure
What's Included
- Same day return ferry to Rottnest Island from Perth or Fremantle (selected at time of booking)
- 90-minute coach tour
- Local guide
- Lunch (if option selected)
- Rottnest Island Authority fee
- Round-trip Swan River cruise (if booked to depart from Perth)
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Additional activities (bike, snorkel gear, surfboard or stand up paddleboard hire)
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting points
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End point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.Itinerary
When booking, select your ferry departure location—either Perth or Fremantle.
Your day trip starts with the ferry ride to Rottnest Island. If you’re departing from Perth, cruise along the Swan River to Fremantle, where the river meets the Indian Ocean, to pick up more passengers for the ride across the water to Rotto, as it’s referred to by locals. When you arrive, hop aboard your coach for an island sightseeing tour.
Listen to commentary from your guide about the history, culture, and wildlife of the island, known for its secluded beaches and resident quokkas: small marsupials who call Rottnest home. As you circle the island, make stops at Wadjemup Lighthouse and the West End, where you can hop off to stroll down the boardwalk, admiring coastal views.
When your tour ends, you are free to explore the island independently until it’s time to catch the ferry back. Perhaps rent a bike; go snorkeling or stand-up paddleboarding; or visit attractions such as Lomas Cottage, Rottnest Island Museum, or Pilot Boathouse. (Activities are at your own expense.)
Your day trip ends with the return ferry ride to Fremantle or Perth.
Your day trip starts with the ferry ride to Rottnest Island. If you’re departing from Perth, cruise along the Swan River to Fremantle, where the river meets the Indian Ocean, to pick up more passengers for the ride across the water to Rotto, as it’s referred to by locals. When you arrive, hop aboard your coach for an island sightseeing tour.
Listen to commentary from your guide about the history, culture, and wildlife of the island, known for its secluded beaches and resident quokkas: small marsupials who call Rottnest home. As you circle the island, make stops at Wadjemup Lighthouse and the West End, where you can hop off to stroll down the boardwalk, admiring coastal views.
When your tour ends, you are free to explore the island independently until it’s time to catch the ferry back. Perhaps rent a bike; go snorkeling or stand-up paddleboarding; or visit attractions such as Lomas Cottage, Rottnest Island Museum, or Pilot Boathouse. (Activities are at your own expense.)
Your day trip ends with the return ferry ride to Fremantle or Perth.
1
Swan River
1 hour • Admission Ticket Free
Rottnest Express (Pass By)
2
Wadjemup Lighthouse
5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Rottnest Island Visitor Centre (Pass By)
3
West End
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking, unless booked within 3 days of travel. In this case confirmation will be received within 48 hours, subject to availability
- Wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Service animals allowed
- Near public transportation
- Infants must sit on laps
- Infant seats available
- Transportation is wheelchair accessible
- Most travelers can participate
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 32 travelers
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Cancellation Policy
This experience is non-refundable and cannot be changed for any reason. If you cancel or ask for an amendment, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Traveler Photos
Featured review
This is an amazing experience. The ferry trip is 2 hours and can get a bit rocky so if you get sea sick take tablets. The island is beautiful, the best way to see it is by tour bus.
It can be windy so dress appropriately for that days weather.
You will see plenty of Quokkas so don't worry. They are very friendly and will investigate you and your bags. Thier eyesight is poor so watch your fingers.
This is a must do trip in Perth so don't miss out.
Reviews
4.5
based on 790 reviews
Sort by: Most insightful
Our host Eli was so informative and passionate about the island’s wildlife, history and beaches! We were so lucky on our tour day to see whales migrating, dolphins, seals and osprey. We also saw an osprey nesting on the cliff top. Such a fabulous day! A big thank you to Cos our driver too!
The trip to Rottnest Island by Rottnest Express did not disappoint. We had a comfortable ferry ride and a great bus trip around the island with informative commentary from Sophie. There were plenty of cute quokka to photograph and my grandchildren scored very well from the souvenir outlets.
My experience is that this tour was very nice and my wife and i injoy the descrption of our tour leader . Thank you.
This is a great overall tour exploring the island. Would love have to have stopped at the lighthouses, but that was on a different tour. The tour guide, Eli, was great with all the history and background and enthusiasm of a great tour guide.
The trip from Perth to Rottnest Island was amazing. Wonderful Simon and Malcolm on the bus tour made the experience fun and unforgettable, with Malcolm's knowledge about the area, it was very informative. We really had a great time. I highly recommend.
Good experience but the experience could be planned better with more time needed. We found the time spent on the island very short and had to be on the run and move all day to meet tour and ferry departure times. Need more time on the island.
Very difficult to hear announcements on the ferry. Spoke far too quickly.
Very difficult to hear ferry announcements. Spoke too quickly.
A wonderful trip and day, as noted by many others. In addition, a big thank you to the crew and guides who went above and beyond to sort out some snafus for me, making the day especially wonderful.
Really good day overall, ferry check in was easy to find, bus tour was very good, guide was very friendly and informative, free time after the tour was great to have to relax and explore
This was a great trip. The ferry journey was smooth, and the commentary was entertaining; pointing out many points of interest along the Swan River to Freemantle. The tour around Rottnest Island was also very good. Mark gave a great commentary, and Larry was a safe driver, allowing plenty of time to see points of interest along the route.
We did the express ferry to the island. Decided to buy the hop on hop off bus though and didn’t use the bus tour as part of thi viator package. We were able to snorkel in 3 locations which is what we wanted to do. Probably wasted a few bucks to buy the h-on-off and void the tour already paid for, but worth it.
Rottnest Island is beautiful with clear blue waters and the added attraction of the quokkas. The ferry ride to the island takes approximately 30 minutes from the ferry terminal in Fremantle. We took the guided bus tour around the island which I would recommend since it gives great context to the history of the island with stops along the way for photo opportunities. Ella, our guide, did a great job together with Larry our driver.
The knowledge that Eli had about the island was outstanding. Going in the bus allowed us to get away from the crowded over populated main area to really appreciate the beauty and history of the island
A perfect place to immerse yourself in nature and free yourself from constraints and stress. Ideally, you should have a two-day itinerary.
We enjoyed the ferry over to Rottnest very comfortable. However a very hot day 39?degrees. Loved the bus tour Max & Cos were excellent. Max’s knowledge was superb . Brilliant tour!
Beautiful scenery. Quokkas Ocean beaches nice. Lots of walking. Or Reserve a bike in advance and reserve the bus ride
Viatours excellent communication and punctual informative starts. ELI was excellent both on the Ferry and Bus with LARRY the Driver. Used this company all over the world, always found them good.
We had a wonderful trip to Rottnest Island and thoroughly enjoyed the day. The staff on board the boat were all lovely, the island was beautiful with golden sandy beaches and the restaurant we went to was also very good.
This was a well-organised tour, which combined a Swan River cruise with a trip to Rottnest Island. Both the ferry tour and island tour were informative and engaging. It was also great to have some free time to explore the island and get my quokka photos.
Do it a little bit late leaving the dock only because a cruise ship arrived trip over to Rottnest took 30 minutes and the bus (Discovery) was excellent. Mark Bus driver and Holly tour guide were great and went beyond expectations. Recommend this tour for anyone
We travelled over on the morning ferry and did the bus tour before spending a couple of hours wondering ourselves before getting the last ferry home. I would definitely look to do more than 1 day if you wanted to do the tours, walks etc you will be really pushed to do in one day.
Or stay on the island over a weekend - lots to do and see. The bakery is fantastic as was the ice-cream shop!!
Lots of people but once out amongst the village was nice and chilled, beaches are beautiful as is the scenery.
Definitely give it more than one day.
Ferry ride home was a bit bumpy but good fun.
This is an amazing experience. The ferry trip is 2 hours and can get a bit rocky so if you get sea sick take tablets. The island is beautiful, the best way to see it is by tour bus.
It can be windy so dress appropriately for that days weather.
You will see plenty of Quokkas so don't worry. They are very friendly and will investigate you and your bags. Thier eyesight is poor so watch your fingers.
This is a must do trip in Perth so don't miss out.
Very easy boarding and transfer to the island. Decided to do the bus trip around the island and the guide Malcolm was a very knowledgeable about everything on and about the island.
Amazing experience, perfect day trip
And lots of interesting information , good value for money, beautiful place
Well organised ferry trips - nice boats. Not obvious where the bus pick up is as its near the Quokka bus stop but there is no actual stop. Would have liked maybe one more stop on the 90 minutes. Take insect repellent!
We had a lovely time at Rottnest, our driver Cos drove very carefully and comfortably and our tour guide Eli was very knowledgeable and entertaining and gave a great commentary on the island. 10/10.
It’s an interesting place to visit and tour guide gave a lot of information about the island including historical perspective on the role of Rottnest during World War II.
First the ferry ride along the Swan River, picking up more people at Fremantle then it was on to Rottness. It’s almost a definite that you'll see quokkas in the square with the restaurants and shops. They are really cute, hopping onto seats or even tables in their quest for any scraps of food left by tourists. We then had a super bus ride around the island with Max giving us loads of interesting information about the island and its animals. There’s also an interesting WW2 episode that we wouldn’t have know about. Max was great fun, mixing facts with the occasional joke. Once we returned to the main square, we had a look around the souvenir shops and then took the small, one carriage train up to the WW2 gun encampment. Great to see even more of the island with lots of birdlife to spot. Thanks for a really good trip, we would give it a 10!
Overall, we enjoyed everything in the Island … how a fantastic trip today. The lady at the redemption counter and the guide/driver were professional and helpful.
A trip you shouldn’t miss when visiting Perth!
We absolutely loved the biking activity at Rottnest Island — it was the highlight of our day! We only wish we had more time to explore because the island is incredibly beautiful. The bus tour is also worth doing on your first visit since it gives a great overview of the island, but next time we’re definitely going straight to biking and swimming.
November was a great time to visit — a bit hot, but perfect for swimming and enjoying the beaches. ☀️🚲🌊
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