There are so many good reasons why you should visit Perth in Western Australia. I will tell you why in the next few hundred words as a 'local boy' who has lived here for the past 25 years. I believe Perth is still one of those hidden gems that many tourists know nothing about, or confuse as being the same as Australia's better known Eastern capital cities such as Sydney & Melbourne.
The truth is, Perth is very very different from these larger larger cities that are comparable with other major cities in the world such as London & San Francisco. Perth is simply not in the same size bracket as these cities. Perth is a small city of approximately 1 million people & is the size of many large towns in other parts of the world.
This much smaller size, coupled with the remoteness, the pristine beaches & coastline, world class wineries & surfacing breaks, magnificent caves, tall timber forests, & an excellent road system to get these places within a half a day from the CBD, makes Perth a fantastic city to visit & live.
I moved here with my family from Sydney looking for a better quality of life with my young family, seeking to get out of the rat race as so many people do. What we found was a much slower pace of life, with significantly less traffic, allowing us to travel much greater distances in much less time than a city the size of Sydney. The people were much more relaxed & very friendly & welcoming. There is a saying in the other major Australian cities that WA (Western Australia) stands for 'wait awhile', sarcastically suggesting that the pace of life is too slow, & the locals too laid back & relaxed.
Well I think this is exactly what Perth's unique appeal is based on. We are not a thriving metropolis with a population of millions of people, living in a predominately over-crowded city with an infrastructure that is struggling to cope. Instead, there is room to spread-out, with a spacious feeling that is best demonstrated on local beaches & tourist destinations that are often sparsely numbered with visitors during the week, & even on weekends there is plenty of room for all. Contrast this with common scenes of packed beaches, zoos, & other tourist destinations in other capital cities around the world.
As a tour operator I probably get to appreciate more than most these unique benefits of living in & visiting Perth. I take visitors on wine tours through the week, & many times we are almost the only ones at some locations. The roads are almost empty with traffic allowing a most enjoyable trip & the ability to fit so many more stops into the trip. I do fully appreciate how fort I am as I often take time-out to look up at the clear blue sky on a beautiful sunny day as I sit outside with a tour group, & say Thank you for my great job in such a great city . I get to share this experience over & over again with many different people, all agreeing what a great time they have had while visiting this lesser-known and under-appreciated tourist destination.