Sandboarding the White Dunes of Lancelin from Perth

The dune belt off Beacon Road

Lancelin Sand Dunes (carpark off Beacon Road, opposite Desert Road) begin where the hard rock of the plain ends. 4WD tracks run down the dune faces, and orange sand flags fly on whip aerials above the crests.

You walk up a face, sit or stand on a waxed board, and come down. Then you walk up again. Guided rides cover the same ground in a 4WD, on a quad or in a two-seat buggy, and they take 45 minutes or two hours. Board hire is sold by the hour.

The carpark takes coaches and trailers. The dunes have no toilets and no shops, so come with your own water.

Boards at the foot of the dunes

Lancelin 4x4 Adventures (kiosk at the foot of the dunes) is the one hire point on the sand itself. The trailer-style kiosk stands on the hard rock, racks of waxed sitting and standing boards stacked beside it. Hire is $14 an hour. Roll-cage dune buggies idle next to the counter.

The guided 4WD dune ride lasts 45 minutes. It costs $35 for an adult and $25 for a child, priced per head, which suits a family or a small coach load.

Guided quads and buggies

Perth Quad (main dune carpark) departs at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. daily. The ride runs two hours with a guide and includes sandboarding, and it goes ahead in light rain. Riders wear goggles and helmets, and the quads and buggies line up in the carpark before each departure.

A kid quad for ages eight to 13 is $129. A solo quad is $149 and a duo quad $189. The buggy is $239. Groups of 15 or more pay $89 each. They also sell packages for buck's and hen's parties and for birthdays.

At the door or booked ahead

Nothing on the dunes is ticketed. You park, walk on and pay only for a board or a ride. The dune kiosk hires on the spot and holds photo ID or a driver's licence as security.

Online sandboard booking is switched off, so phone or email for anything large. Guided trips here run seven days a week from fixed departure times. Book the departure you want before you drive out.

Boards and fuel in town

Have A Chat General Store (104 Gingin Road) opens at 5 a.m. Monday to Saturday and 7 a.m. on Sunday. Sandboards hire for $10 and lean against the ice freezer out front. Water and ice come from the same counter, with a butcher at the back and eskies in the doorway. It is the realistic stop for boards and water before a dawn run at the dunes.

Gull Lancelin Roadhouse (10 Walker Avenue) is Lancelin's only petrol station, open 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. with the kitchen closing at 7 p.m. Diesel and LPG bowsers sit under the yellow canopy, a hot-food cabinet runs inside, and a rack of hire sandboards stands by the counter at $10. Fill up here, because there is no fuel at the dunes or on the stretch north.

Lancelin Surf (Gingin Road) hires boards for $10 to $15 and sells clothing for $40 to $60. It opens 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. Wetsuits and boardshorts hang across the shopfront, with sandboards and skate decks racked by the door. Come here when the dune kiosk has run dry.

Conditions and what you may drive

Lancelin Community Resource & Visitor Centre (117 Gingin Road) is free to enter and has a wall map of the dune jurisdictions, alongside brochure racks and local craft. Confirm which sections of the dunes are legally driveable before you set off. It opens 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, so a Sunday arrival misses it.

Is it worth the drive

The dunes suit a visitor who will walk up a sand face in the sun and come down it on a board, several times. Bring your own water, start early, and expect no building at the top.

Back Beach, the bay and the island

Lancelin Back Beach (reached over a dune ridge or by 4WD track) is a wide exposed surf beach with tyre ruts in the soft sand. Access is free and unrestricted, and the 4WD track lets a convoy drive in. Kite and windsurf crews launch off this strip, and rows of kites arc over the whitecaps once the afternoon sea breeze fills in.

Lancelin Beach and Jetty has flat, clear shallows behind an offshore reef. Western rock lobster boats work off the timber jetty with pots stacked on the deck, and the crayfishing fleet comes in here. Dolphins feed in the shallows at first light, before the wind. The beach walk from North Point to South Point runs 5.4km.

Lancelin Island Nature Reserve sits 600m to 700m offshore, a low scrubby limestone island with a white sand beach and a protected reef on its sheltered western side. Bring your own kayak, SUP or boat; no operator runs the crossing. Cross early, before the sea breeze builds. A raised timber boardwalk threads the nesting seabird colonies, and you stay on it to keep the birds undisturbed. Landing on neighbouring Edwards Island is prohibited, as it is a closed sanctuary. Allow half a day, and go only if you paddle confidently.

Eating and a bed in Lancelin

Endeavour Tavern (58 Gingin Road) sits low on the sand with a beer garden over the Indian Ocean, the only one in town with that view. Pizza comes out of a wood-fired oven and big-screen TVs run over the bar. It is open to 10 p.m. midweek and midnight on Friday and Saturday, with a recently relaunched menu. Prices are $$. Indoor and beer-garden seating absorbs large tables; call ahead for a big group in January.

Café 6044 (8c Rock Way) opens 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. seven days, pale timber and white inside, with bagels and vegan slices in the cabinet and açai bowls and smoothies on the counter. The gluten-free and vegan range covers a mixed table. Prices are $$.

Offshore Café & Bakery (160 Gingin Road) bakes its pies, pastries and patisserie on site and puts mismatched tables out on the footpath. Published hours disagree across listings, and some days it is closed. Ring +61 8 9655 2828 before you build a plan around it. Prices are $$.

Experience Lancelin Holiday Park (Hopkins Street) has grassy powered sites under tuart trees, new deluxe cabins with pitched roofs that sleep up to six, a camper's kitchen and a one-minute sand path to the bay. Sites take 4WDs and trailers. A night here puts you on the sand at opening, ahead of the crowd driving up from Perth. Book well ahead for the January wind festival window. Prices are $$.

Nilgen Lookout and the Pinnacles

Nilgen Lookout (Indian Ocean Drive) is 22km north of town and free, a roadside pull-off with a short sandy path to a railed platform above Nilgen Nature Reserve. Heath and dunes roll down to a turquoise ocean, and wildflowers come up in the scrub in spring. This is the sunset viewpoint now, because the Lancelin Lookout boardwalk was removed after 2025 coastal erosion and that site is closed to entry. The carpark holds a couple of vehicles and is tight for a coach.

Pinnacles Desert, Nambung National Park lies an hour north, thousands of weathered limestone spires up to several metres tall standing in yellow sand. A one-way gravel loop runs between them. Entry is $17 per vehicle for up to 12 occupants, paid at the entry station. Concession and motorcycle entry is $10. There is no booking and no timed entry. The Pinnacles Desert Discovery Centre opens 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily except Christmas Day, and the desert stays accessible outside those hours until 9 p.m.

Best time to go

Come in the morning. The afternoon sea breeze ruins sandboarding photographs, and the same breeze fills the kites on Back Beach, so the day splits in two. Paddle to the island early as well.

The dunes run year-round, every day of the week. Go to the limestone spires in low sun, when they throw long hard shadows across the sand.

Before you drive out

Plan around two closures: the visitor centre on Sunday, and a bakery whose published hours vary by listing. Book the guided rides before you leave, and a January bed earlier still. See the Perth guide and the Perth hotel search.