Perth, the short list

A small, family-run café at 267 William St. Known for oversized breakfast burritos and a tucked-away courtyard out the back. Tiny, and worth it.

Compact specialty-coffee shop on James St. Serious espresso and cold brew, plus a matcha latte they deliberately keep less sweet so the matcha leads. The stop when you want the coffee itself to be the event.

Natural-wine bar, restaurant and bottle shop at 458 William St — described at its launch as Perth's first natural-wine bar. Works just as well solo with a glass and a plate as it does settled in outside while the street goes by.

A working brewery in A Shed, a 100-metre former cargo shed from 1926 right on the Victoria Quay waterfront — beer brewed on site, with the old manifest clerk's office still there inside. About a 7-minute walk from Fremantle station, so the whole trip is train-simple.

Casual beachside wholefoods café at 149 Marine Parade, North Cottesloe, looking straight over the ocean — a revival of a WA institution that started as a 1970s smoothie bar. Pairs perfectly with a swim or a walk along Cottesloe Beach, and the Indian Ocean sunset here is the real thing.

The specialty-coffee stop on the main street — 5/110 Bussell Highway, a couple of doors from the visitor centre, pouring Yahava KoffeeWorks coffee. The morning anchor while you're in town.

The old Busselton–Flinders Bay railway line, now a wide rail trail with gentle rail-grade gradients — the region's own running route, reachable from the town centre via the short Alfred Bussell Trail connector. Unsealed surface, so expect puddles and some mud after winter rain.

The lookout above Main Break, home of the Margaret River Pro — a grassy hill that works as a natural grandstand over one of Australia's most famous waves. In August it's a coast-and-surf-watching stop, not a swim — when the winter swell is running, it's best appreciated from dry land.

Margaret River's founding wine estate, established 1967, and still home to the region's oldest vines. The original earth-built cellar is now "The Vault", keeping every vintage of their Cabernet, and the old winery is a gallery showing works from the Janet Holmes à Court Collection. Cellar door, wine lounge and restaurant on site; sort a driver if you're tasting.

A big limestone show cave on Caves Road you walk through self-guided with an audio tour, at your own pace. Over 10,000 fossils have come out of it, and a 50,000-year-old Zygomaturus jawbone is still embedded in the cave wall. In late winter a seasonal stream can run through it. About 370 steps on the full route.

Pale-trunked karri trees rising past 60 metres, the westernmost karri forest there is. Take Boranup Drive — unsealed but fine in a normal car — up to the lookout over the treetops toward Hamelin Bay. Genuinely at its best in winter rain and mist; check road alerts after a heavy downpour.