Fremantle Favorites

One of our favorite places in Western Australia was Fremantle. Freo, for short, is a coastal city with history, culture, beaches, and more. We spent a week there, exploring the city streets and coastal paths, enjoying the nightlife, food, and history. Here are our Fremantle favorites.

About Fremantle

Located 22km south and west of the city of Perth, Fremantle is a city of its own with a population just over 36,000. In fact, while we were in Freo, we didn’t visit Perth, knowing we would have time there at the end of our month in Western Australia. We found plenty to do in Fremantle for such a small city. For context, it has fewer people than Port Macquarie, but feels much bigger because of the amount of activities on offer.

With lots of preserved Victorian historic buildings, waterfront walking paths, and bars and restaurants, Fremantle is a great place to visit for a long weekend. For us, a week was a good length of time to experience our Fremantle favorites and still relax.

Fremantle Prison

The history of Fremantle, and much of Australia, is dominated by the convicts and the prisons that housed them. Therefore, a visit to Fremantle Prison, which closed operations in 1991, is a must. However, it gets complicated because there are several tour options and we had no idea which one to do. Fortunately, we asked a local friend who recommended the Tunnels tour, one of our Fremantle favorites.

Our tour guide was fun and entertaining, and took us underneath the prison into the tunnels. After we got suited up in harnesses and helmets, we clipped in and climbed several stories below the surface. After walking around and feeling lost, we got into some boats and made our way through the underground tunnels. Then, we had to climb back up. It was dirty and hot, but a fun way to spend New Year’s Day when not much else was open. The prison is definitely worth a visit if you’re in Freo.

Fremantle City and Nightlife

The city of Fremantle is known for its “Cappuccino Strip” of Italian restaurants and cafes on South Terrace. We swung through on the free bikes and were overwhelmed by how many people were visiting so many coffee shops at once. For the most part, we spent our time further north, walking the area between High Street and the Round House. We enjoyed meals and drinks at a few of the hotel pubs and appreciated the absence of pokies and other gambling aparati in WA.

Our Fremantle favorites include Darling Darling, a rustic nautical themed bar with a wait for a seat on a hot weekend afternoon, serving cold beer and all the free peanuts you can eat. We also frequented the outdoor patio at the Federal Hotel, the rooftop at the National, and ate fresh seafood at Kailis Fishmarket on the waterfront.

Similar to the Cappuccino strip, Fremantle is densely packed with dining venues, and the diversity of the menus is vast. If I were to choose our favorite meal in Fremantle it was our dinner at Tonic & Ginger. We went there last minute without a reservation but they fortunately found us a table. The Southeast Asian menu had lots we wanted to try, but we narrowed it down to a handful of sharing plates, including lots of fresh and flavorful seafood.

Live Music

We visited Fremantle between Christmas and New Years, not generally the best timing for theatre and music. We still managed to find some good live music shows while there. Our favorite venue was Mojo’s Bar in West Fremantle, a gritty dive bar where we saw a good local band.

On New Year’s Day, we walked to the Fremantle Arts Centre for their annual outdoor concert. With three live bands, a lovely garden space, it was a great way to spend our first night of 2026.

Biking to the Beaches

Fremantle is known for its beaches. In a country of beautiful beaches, these still stand out. So close to the city, with many meters of white sand and turquoise water, the beaches are popular, but the only time they seemed crowded was sunset on New Year’s Eve. Understandably. We rented bikes and cycled along the paths one day, and it really was one of our Fremantle favorites. What is there about spending a lazy day in the sunshine cycling to beautiful spots? Be forewarned, the wind picks up in the afternoon and can be very strong!

Tip: the Fremantle Visitors Centre offers free bike rental to visitors for one day only. First come, first served. ID required. That deal itself is one of our Fremantle favorites!

Day Trip to Rottnest

While probably the most expensive ferry we’ve ever taken, the trip to Rotto was worth it for the cute quokkas. We chose to take the ferry from Freo rather than Perth because it’s closer and we could walk there from our accommodations.

Once we arrived on Rotto, we rented bikes and cycled around the island, which is much hillier than advertised!

Rottnest Island has some pretty viewpoints and beaches, but the water was cold and the highlight was the quokkas. They come right up to you and are not shy at all! Everybody treats them with care, which we appreciated. That island would probably be nothing without these marsupials, so they know where their bread is buttered.

You don’t need to traverse the island to see the quokkas. We saw tons of them right near the ferry terminal. The best location is even marked on google maps.

Other Thoughts on Fremantle

In addition to the above, we visited the weekend market and found it a bit of a letdown. It was too crowded and smaller than expected. We were spoiled in Cairns, so maybe our expectations were too high. There’s a lot to see and do in Freo and we were lucky to have a whole week to find our Fremantle favorites. Have you been? If so, share in the comments any places you recommend.