Cape Le Grand National Park & Lucky Bay

In Cape Le Grand National Park, you will find paradise-like beaches. These are especially ideal for swimming. The most famous bay is called Lucky Bay, as Australians have repeatedly voted it the whitest beach in Australia. Additionally, Lucky Bay has been ranked among the top 10 most beautiful beaches in the world multiple times. It's no wonder the beach is world-renowned. Also famous are the kangaroos that you can see daily on the beach.

Here are my personal highlights from Cape Le Grand National Park and my experience visiting Lucky Bay.

A hiking trail connects all the bays together. In about 8 hours, you can take a day hike and cool off in the water along the way.

The sand at Lucky Bay is so fine that it squeaks underfoot when you walk on it. The sound is reminiscent of walking on snow. The only downside to this fine sand is that it has a very high salt content, making it always somewhat damp.

However, many visitors are not drawn just by the snowy white sand beach. The majority come to encounter the kangaroos (Western Grey Kangaroos) right on the beach. Lured by freshwater seeping through the dunes, dead fish, or birds, the animals come daily to the beach. They are not shy - quite the opposite. I suspect (and have seen) that they are frequently fed by tourists. Please do not follow this practice; kangaroos are wild animals that should find their own food.

The beach is very wide and long. Because you can drive onto the beach, it gets quite crowded on weekends. We chose a weekday and were able to enjoy the beach relatively alone.

At Lucky Bay, there is a food truck called 'Lucky Bean Café' offering drinks, coffee, cakes, muffins, and sandwiches.

If you wish to walk to the end of Lucky Bay (about 40 minutes), you will reach stairs that lead to a lookout. From here, you have a panoramic view of the entire bay.

In total, you will find five beautiful bays with turquoise, crystal-clear water in Cape Le Grand National Park, where you can swim as well. Idyllic well-maintained campsites and large granite rocks frame the bays. These coasts are wild, untouched, and stunningly beautiful.

Most tourists visit Cape Le Grand National Park to see Lucky Bay and the famous kangaroos on the beach. Naturally, that is our highlight as well. Nevertheless, you should not overlook the other bays. Each person must decide for themselves which they prefer most.

The busiest are Hellfire Bay, Thistle Cove, and of course, Lucky Bay. Additionally, there are Le Grand Beach and Rossiter Bay, which is the furthest from the park entrance.

I particularly enjoyed the beaches at Thistle Cove and Hellfire Bay. These beaches are less crowded than Lucky Bay. Furthermore, vehicles are not allowed on these beaches. At low tide, you can drive along the beach from Esperance to Le Grand Beach with a 4x4. Locals take advantage of these opportunities; they love it. Thus, this route is heavily trafficked, especially during the peak season and Australian holiday periods.

I would not want to drive along the beach in a national park. To me, it is contradictory.

This section of the beach is beautifully situated in a protected bay. You can easily climb the flat rocks surrounding the bay and enjoy the view from here. Hellfire Bay is less frequented than Lucky Bay, making it much prettier and quieter, in my opinion. Thankfully, there are no cars on this beach.

Even though the campsite at Le Grand Beach offers nice and shady spots, I found the bay itself less idyllic. Many cars drive directly onto the beach from Esperance, disturbing the peace. Additionally, there was a lot of seaweed lying around, giving off a foul smell and deterring other tourists from staying here.

For us, this beach was not only difficult to access with a regular car (gravel road and a maximum speed of 20 - 30 km/h) but also full of seaweed mounds. Additionally, there is a small beach section where you can drive. It was my least favorite bay, and I would skip it if you're short on time.

On the way there, you can often spot kangaroos off the road. Keep your eyes open!

From the mountains Frenchman Peak (262 m, a 3 km round trip, about 1.5 hours of steep ascent-don't forget sun protection), Mount Le Grand (345 m), and Mississippi Hill (180 m), you can gain a great view over the bays and the national park. We decided against the ascent in the hot 28°C since we would have needed to start early in the morning.

The estimates vary depending on how fast you walk and how many photo stops you make along the way.

There are no gas stations or shops in the park (except for the food truck at Lucky Bay). Bring enough food and especially water if you plan to stay here longer.

Just 60 km and one hour drive from Esperance, the national park is perfect for a day trip for those who, like us, do not have a campervan and cannot stay overnight at the really well-located campsites in the park.

You pay the entrance fee to the national park per vehicle. This is 13 AUD per day. If you are traveling longer in Australia, either a Holiday Pass for four weeks (46 AUD) or even an annual pass for 92 AUD is worth it. Therefore, you should consider before your trip which parks you want to visit and whether the entrance is included in the Holiday Pass.

For more information and current prices, visit the Cape Le Grand National Park website

You can reach all bays with a standard car. Only the access to Rossiter Bay involves a very bumpy track. An all-wheel-drive vehicle would be better, but with a regular car and a little patience and caution, it's doable. Honestly, you can skip a visit to this bay.

During our visit, seaweed was piled almost 2 meters high on the beach, creating a terrible beach experience. I didn't see any other people either.

Unusual for us Germans, driving a 4WD on some beaches is allowed (Lucky Bay, Cape Le Grand Beach, and Rossiter Bay). At the beaches of Lucky Bay and Cape Le Grand, even launching your own boats is permitted.

Before my trip, I purchased almost all existing travel guides about Australia as ebooks. As a printed guide, I only had the Western Australia and the Top End.

I found this, in combination with the Lonely Planet Australia (ebook) and the English edition of Lonely Planet along with the guidebook West Coast Australia, to be the best. The guides complemented each other perfectly.

For campers, the Iwanowski, Baedecker, and Loose guides for Australia might be okay. I didn't receive any more valuable tips in any of the travel guides that I couldn't find in more detail in one of the above guides.

What was your highlight? If you have any additional tips, I would love to hear your comment at the end of this article. If you are currently planning your trip and have questions, feel free to leave them here as a comment!