Cape Range National Park
Cape Range National Park
4.5
9:00 AM - 3:45 PM
Monday
9:00 AM - 3:45 PM
Tuesday
9:00 AM - 3:45 PM
Wednesday
9:00 AM - 3:45 PM
Thursday
9:00 AM - 3:45 PM
Friday
9:00 AM - 3:45 PM
Saturday
9:00 AM - 3:45 PM
Sunday
9:00 AM - 3:45 PM
Tours & experiences
Explore different ways to experience this place.
Full view
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
Top ways to experience Cape Range National Park and nearby attractions
The area
Address
Reach out directly
Best nearby
We rank these restaurants and attractions by balancing reviews from our members with how close they are to this location.
Attractions
3 within 10 kms
See what travellers are saying
- bobjanhBrisbane, Australia2,421 contributionsAbsolutely stunning national parkBrilliant: Cape Range itself, the beaches, the reef, the campgrounds, Yangie Creek. If you plan on staying in the national park at a campground, book a long way out. We did 6 months prior and still had difficulty finding sites we wanted. Ended up staying tow nights at South Lefroy Bay campground (45km off the highway on Ningaloo road in the south) and three nights at Mesa campground. Both were great with Mesa being a good base for all the attractions of the park.Visited August 2023Travelled as a coupleWritten 20 June 2024
- Tom G24 contributionsPristine location. Right on the reefAmazing camping. If you are planning to camp in the national park book about 6 MONTHS in advance as it is very popular and books out quickly. We stayed at Tulki Beach which was so quiet and only 200 metres away from the beach. The only facility was a bush toilet which was very clean and good quality. If you need a few basic supplies like ice, maps, etc, the Milyering Discovery Centre is not far away and even has a cafe. The staff here also provide great recommendations of where and when to snorkel (and advice on the tides to ensure your snorkeling responsibly). To top it off, our campsite caretakers were lovely people, always up for a chat and even had a happy hour at their site each arvo. Advantageous location if your planning to explore the national park and ningaloo instead of driving all the way from Exmouth. Best snorkel spots were Lakeside, Oyster Stacks, Osprey Bay and Turquoise Bay. The hiking trails at Mandu Mandu Gorge and Yardie Creek were both short but equally breathtaking.Visited May 2024Travelled with familyWritten 4 August 2024
- 221jodiOuttrim, Australia406 contributionsLove this park!Camped at Kurrajong camp ground having booked online 5 months out! Well worth the stay. Nice flat sites with space between next camp and 80 metres to the beach. Drop loos are nice and clean. $15 pp per night. No water or power or phone service. The visitor centre has limited coverage but the Yardie camp has heaps! Quiet location. Camp hosts on site. Explore the area over 5 days and don’t miss a snorkel at the Oyster Stacks!Visited July 2024Travelled as a coupleWritten 10 August 2024
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Contribute
Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
We perform checks on reviews.
Tripadvisor’s approach to reviews
Before posting, each Tripadvisor review goes through an automated tracking system, which collects information, answering the following questions: how, what, where and when. If the system detects something that potentially contradicts our community guidelines, the review is not published.
When the system detects a problem, a review may be automatically rejected, sent to the reviewer for validation, or manually reviewed by our team of content specialists, who work 24/7 to maintain the quality of the reviews on our site.
Our team checks each review posted on the site disputed by our community as not meeting our community guidelines.
Learn more about our review moderation.
4.5
149 reviews
Excellent
111
Very good
30
Average
2
Poor
3
Terrible
3
221jodi
Outtrim, Australia406 contributions
July 2024 • Couples
Camped at Kurrajong camp ground having booked online 5 months out! Well worth the stay. Nice flat sites with space between next camp and 80 metres to the beach. Drop loos are nice and clean. $15 pp per night. No water or power or phone service. The visitor centre has limited coverage but the Yardie camp has heaps! Quiet location. Camp hosts on site. Explore the area over 5 days and don’t miss a snorkel at the Oyster Stacks!
Written 10 August 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
GrannyAC
Canada97 contributions
Mar 2019
From all the beaches to visit, the excellent sandy beaches with some with rocks, the snorkeling is amazing. We really enjoyed Oyster Stacks, Turquoise Bay and Lakeside as our favorites. Lakeside and Turquoise Bay provided us with the opportunity to drift. We were able to see emus, kangaroos, all different kinds of birds, etc. and to hike. There is camping however, we had our base in Exmouth as we stayed in town. This Park is amazing and so beautiful.
Written 16 February 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Bea T
Wellington, New Zealand388 contributions
Apr 2023
What we have seen was beautiful. Especially Turquoise Bay, but it is a shame that 4WD equipment is needed for most of the park. We tried to drive towards the CHarles Knife Canyon, but the loop road is not suitable for normal cars. And the same for most of the roads going from the visitors centre. Also it is quite a drive from Exmouth to get to the entrance. We came with a normal car and actually it was a bit of a waste if time.
Written 16 August 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Nancybe
Melbourne, Australia82 contributions
June 2012 • Couples
Cape Range/Ningaloo Reef is one of the most beautiful places in the world with snorkelling right off the beach.
However be aware of issues involved with camping if you plan to stay there.The only accommodation within the National Park is unpowered camping sites close to the beach at $7 per person per night. Many of these are small and lack shade and huge caravans with generators are permitted. There are toilets but no showers at the sites. Sites may be occupied for up to 28 days which seems like a long time. Advance bookings are only available for 4 of the areas. During peak seasons the camp sites are popular and you may need to queue up at the entry to the National Park from 6am to secure a site. As we only had a small tent, we decided not to waste time trying to get one of these sites and camped outside the park. Those who camp inside to park are only required to pay the $11 per car entry once, but if you camp outside the park, you must pay the entry fee every day that you visit [though you can purchase a range of passes for multiple entry].
However be aware of issues involved with camping if you plan to stay there.The only accommodation within the National Park is unpowered camping sites close to the beach at $7 per person per night. Many of these are small and lack shade and huge caravans with generators are permitted. There are toilets but no showers at the sites. Sites may be occupied for up to 28 days which seems like a long time. Advance bookings are only available for 4 of the areas. During peak seasons the camp sites are popular and you may need to queue up at the entry to the National Park from 6am to secure a site. As we only had a small tent, we decided not to waste time trying to get one of these sites and camped outside the park. Those who camp inside to park are only required to pay the $11 per car entry once, but if you camp outside the park, you must pay the entry fee every day that you visit [though you can purchase a range of passes for multiple entry].
Written 8 July 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Liz and Dav - Budget Backpackers
Brisbane, Australia74 contributions
Sept 2018 • Couples
If you are heading to Exmouth, then you have made a very good decision! Our reccommendations are to spend 3 nights within the national park and explore as much as possible. We had such a fun experience of wild dingoes as soon as we drove into the park (see pics below) You must go to Turquoise Bay. The water is insanely beautiful. It can be very windy so when you walk onto the beach, if the current is too strong walk to the right and there is a protected beach with snorkelling aswell. It's the whitest sand and bluest water, it's so dreamy. Our next favourite was the oyster stacks! They're really fascinating and the water looks crazy. There is also a lot of corals and marine life in this area. There is a lighthouse on the way into the national park and it provides an amazing view of the bay so don't miss that either. As far as accommodation, there are a lot of beach front camps but you need to book months in advance to secure them. Otherwise there are many caravan parks to choose from. We stayed at Yardie Homestead which was nice. They had clean facilities, hot showers, and nice kitchens. It was one of the best parks we have stayed in so far (because of the bathroom facilities and that is most important to us) If you are heading to west coast, put Exmouth on the list!
Written 19 November 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
OnefamilyaroundOz
Sydney, Australia2 contributions
May 2012 • Family
We have just driven off Cape Range yesterday after spending 5 nights at several campsites. The snorkelling was great at Turquoise Bay and Oyster Stacks where we saw turtles, rays, reef sharks, shovel nosed rays and loads of tropical fish. The coral is fascinating in its shape and form and very different from the Great Barrer Reef.
This trip is highly recommended and well worth the effort but be prepared if you want to camp in the park.
There are 4 campsites which can be booked ONLINE (Tulki, Pilgramunna, Kurrajong and Osprey). These need to be booked at least 48 hours in advance. The other remaining sites in the park are a first come first served basis.
The process is simple: drive to the park gate and wait your turn for a site to be available. I recommend you arrive at the gate around 7am ish. The ranger will tell you which campsite is available and you must arrive there no later than one hour after being allocated your site from the ranger. You may stay at these sites up to 28 days and simply tell the camp host how many nights you wish to stay. Or just tell them the night before and they keep your spot booked.
If you want to stay longer at an online site thn this becomes very tricky! The camp hosts will do there best to accommodate you but they cannot guarantee you a site and do their best to place you somewhere else in the park if you cannot stay at the online sites. These get booked up quickly over the busy period. We had trouble trying to stay at Pilgramunna more than one day because we had NOT booked online.
Our pick of the sites was Pilgramunna, a small campground of 9 sites, right on the river mouth opening to a beautiful beach. This river mouth floods in high tide so be sure to get in before high tide! Our kids played in the high tide waters directly outside our van, great to keep an eye on them.
Our second favourite was Lakeside, once again, a beautiful white sandy beach with calm clear waters, which was great for kiddies. We stayed there for two night, with only 7 sites and was very relaxing. Not great snorkelling though, however we did see a shovel nosed ray, turtle and stingray here. Great!
The camp hosts are very helpful although be aware that they cannot always make miracles happen when the technology is not available.
Camping costs: $7 per adults per night; $2 per school aged child per night.
Remember, no regrets and Enjoy!
This trip is highly recommended and well worth the effort but be prepared if you want to camp in the park.
There are 4 campsites which can be booked ONLINE (Tulki, Pilgramunna, Kurrajong and Osprey). These need to be booked at least 48 hours in advance. The other remaining sites in the park are a first come first served basis.
The process is simple: drive to the park gate and wait your turn for a site to be available. I recommend you arrive at the gate around 7am ish. The ranger will tell you which campsite is available and you must arrive there no later than one hour after being allocated your site from the ranger. You may stay at these sites up to 28 days and simply tell the camp host how many nights you wish to stay. Or just tell them the night before and they keep your spot booked.
If you want to stay longer at an online site thn this becomes very tricky! The camp hosts will do there best to accommodate you but they cannot guarantee you a site and do their best to place you somewhere else in the park if you cannot stay at the online sites. These get booked up quickly over the busy period. We had trouble trying to stay at Pilgramunna more than one day because we had NOT booked online.
Our pick of the sites was Pilgramunna, a small campground of 9 sites, right on the river mouth opening to a beautiful beach. This river mouth floods in high tide so be sure to get in before high tide! Our kids played in the high tide waters directly outside our van, great to keep an eye on them.
Our second favourite was Lakeside, once again, a beautiful white sandy beach with calm clear waters, which was great for kiddies. We stayed there for two night, with only 7 sites and was very relaxing. Not great snorkelling though, however we did see a shovel nosed ray, turtle and stingray here. Great!
The camp hosts are very helpful although be aware that they cannot always make miracles happen when the technology is not available.
Camping costs: $7 per adults per night; $2 per school aged child per night.
Remember, no regrets and Enjoy!
Written 13 May 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The Blonde Nomads
Australia210 contributions
July 2018
This is one of our favorites places to visit in Australia. With the reef just off the shore it is a magical destination to explore and a must to add to your bucket list! Swim with the Whale Sharks is a must!
Written 31 October 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Sam16
Iqaluit, Canada205 contributions
Sept 2014 • Couples
What a disappointment! There is not a tree or any form of shade in sight. There is not anything to protect you from the relentless wind from the ocean. The soil in the campsites has been mechanically compacted to a point that you won't be able to anchor a tent without a pile driver to put the pegs in. We ended up searching the bush for rocks to weight our tent down. Two long drop toilets and no showers or water. This is really not a campsite I would recommend. If you are going to Cape Range National Park, and you should because it is a magic place, you should stay clear of this campsite because it will impact negatively on your Cape Range experience.
Written 22 October 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Ardlfo
Brisbane, Australia269 contributions
Jan 2018 • Family
This place is incredible. We decided to spend more time here rather than in coral bay and we were so grateful for that. Beaches are stunning and each one of them is different. Best ones, sandy bay (best of all), turquoise bay, Oyster stacks (amazing spot for snorkeling), Lakeside, Yardie creek (tours in the river). Id suggest to go to sandy bay most of the time, then to snorkel at ousters and then to turquoise. Entry is 13 dollars per car. They dont accept card so bring cash. It takes around 1.5hrs to drive from Exmouth to the last beach (yardie). Yo dont need 4wd. Emus, kangaroos and birds all over the way. One spot with stores and efptos (Milyering discovery centre). Lighthouse has great views, recommended to stop there to take pictures. Camping and caravan spots all over the place and toilet facilities and shade in the most important beaches.
Written 7 January 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Colin D
Mallacoota, Australia83 contributions
Sept 2012 • Solo
The best spot on the coast, views over the bay, next to Sandy Bay the best kiteboarding spot. Clean camping spot 20 sites at $7 per adult per night.
Written 26 September 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Are the roads in Cape Range National Park sealed? We have a hire car! We are going to do the 11am Yardie Creek cruise and then thought we would explore afterwards! Maybe the beaches?
Written 24 August 2019
In answer to my own question as we went today, the main road to Yardie Creek and the road to Turquoise Bay is fully sealed good roads! The others to the beaches are unsealed but suitable for 2wd and only a short distance to the carpark. Thought I would post this for those wondering like we were!
Written 25 August 2019
Thanks for the great report. We are planning a trip for April 2019 and I was wondering if you had any advice about whether a 4WD camper is a better option than a 2WD. We are thinking that it would give us more options for camping but it won't be quite as comfortable. Also, at that time is a wet suit necessary for snorkeling? And how about the "Easter holiday" crowds? It does sound like we will need to book in advance
Written 20 June 2018
The campsites at Camp Range National Park are all easily accessible with a 2WD camper and the roads in are all sealed. It would depend on where else you were wanting to camp - though we managed all of the Western Australian coast with a 2WD vehicle.
Wetsuits shouldn't be necessary in April - we swam in July and the water was warm.
You do need to book ahead for camping in Cape Range National Park - if you are planning to be there in holiday times it would pay to book well in advance. The weeks either side of holiday periods are often quite busy as well. There's a limit to the number of people who can stay in the park so the crowds are never huge, it's just that at times it's impossible to get a booking if you didn't book far enough in advance.
Written 22 June 2018
Hi all, We're heading to Kurrajong next month with a tent, what type of pegs were you using? We've bought some screw in things were hoping they'd do the job, but worried now
thanks, Chris
Written 12 June 2018
Hi
We recently stayed in a van. You will be able to tie to a rail so take some rope. Enjoy it is amazing
Written 16 June 2018
Hi, we are planning to go there in 2 weeks. is it necessary to book the camp sites in advance? thanks for info. robert
Written 7 November 2017
Melinda273
Perth, Australia
Hi. Looking to Stay in Cape Range for the last week in September. We have a tent.
I am well read about the great winds and am wondering if there is a campsite that is better suited to tents, that is less windy and with greater ease in hammering in tent pegs.
Regards, Mel
Written 16 April 2017
Sorry for the late response, I only just saw the question. We only stayed at Tulki & Osprey. The 1st 2 nights were quite windy & I wouldn't like to have been in a tent. I believe Kurrajong is a bit more protected. Osprey had a lovely view, better toilets & reasonable snorkelling. Osprey closer to Yardi hikes & Tulki closer to Turquoise for snorkelling. Our favourite spot for snorkelling was Turquoise Bay. You need to swim out a bit to the better coral & marine live. We visited Sandy Bay, Lakeside, Oyster stacks & did the hikes at Yardie & Mandu Mandu which were good but didn't take near as long as they said. We loved Cape Range & 4 nights was sufficient.
Written 22 July 2017
Hi Roger, we are looking at staying at Cape Range NP for 4 nights. Considering 2 nights at Osprey & 2 at Tulki. We have a 14 yo boy & interested in snorkelling & some hiking. Do you think those 2 campsites are probably the best out of the book online parks & is it worth splitting between 2. We're also thinking 3 nights at Coral Bay to swim with whale sharks & 2 nights at Exmouth to do the navy pier dive. Do you have any recommendations re that itinerary? thanks Christine
Written 19 December 2016
Hi Christine
Not sure when you are looking at travelling to the region however the whale sharks are seasonal so be sure to check that before you book!
Cheers
Bryony
Written 16 January 2017
Wie gut sind die Campgrounds zwischen Weihnachten und Neujahr gebucht? Gibt es problemlos Platz oder sind die Plätze während den Schulferien ausgebucht? Reservation ist ja nicht möglich.
Danke für eine aufschlussreiche Antwort.
Written 14 November 2016
hi are all roads sealed, as we will be driving a sedan hire car, woukd a day be enough there
Written 11 November 2016
Definitely not off the main road - we have just completed the trip through this area and our SUV Tiguan Volkswagen struggled off the main roads. Some of the sealed roads are ok but slow going - by choice a 4 wheel drive is recommended! Please allow plenty of time - heaps to see with amazing country 😀
Written 17 November 2016
G'day David
Can you advise whether it's possible to put a tinny in the water at Osprey campground? We've stayed at Tulki before and dragged the boat onto the sand from the campground. I know Osprey borders the marine park there, but if we can put a boat in, we can fish outside the zone?
Cheers
Jayne
Written 28 September 2015
Showing results 1-10 of 11
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
Is this your Tripadvisor listing?
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.
Claim your listing