Margaret River Wine Tours

For a first visit, a full day with three wineries, lunch and pickup; which one depends on where you stay and what kind of day you want. On GetYourGuide in October 2026 the most-booked is Wine for Dudes' Margaret River Wine Adventure, rated 4.9 from more than 450 reviews: three boutique wineries with tasting fees included, a wine-blending session and a woodfired pizza lunch, from about US$130. All About Margaret River's hidden-gems full day is the one to pick for family-run wineries plus the farms and food: about 30 wines across three wineries, an olive-farm lunch and a chocolate tasting, from about US$144, rated 4.9. For the founding estates, the Harvest Tours premium day seats you for a three-course lunch at Vasse Felix, from about US$256 with at most 10 guests. The prices guide compares all of them. Prices in US dollars, as listed in October 2026.

Yes, but it is a long day: the drive is about three to three and a half hours each way for roughly 270 km, before you drive between wineries. The route is the Kwinana Freeway south out of Perth, the Forrest Highway after Pinjarra, then the Bussell Highway through Busselton to Margaret River town, and the cellar doors spread north and south of the town along Caves Road and the Bussell Highway. A day trip works best on a tour, because the driver is the one person who cannot drink and the tour knows which cellar doors open on which days. If you can, stay a night in Margaret River, Cowaramup or Dunsborough and join a local full-day tour instead: the same wineries with about four fewer hours on the highway. The day trip from Perth guide compares the two and lists the tours that leave from Perth.

Yes. There is no direct train, but coaches run from Perth and the wine tours collect you from your accommodation. Transwa runs coaches from Perth to Margaret River, and the Australind train, back on the line since June 2026 on some days of the week, goes as far as Bunbury, with a coach from there. Either way the trip takes around five hours, longer than the drive, so check transwa.wa.gov.au for the current timetable and fares. In the region, the full-day and half-day wine tours pick up in Margaret River, and many in Dunsborough and Busselton too, so the easiest car-free plan is a coach down, a night or two in the region and a tour that collects you. The day trip guide covers the tours that start in Perth itself.

For its Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, and for how fast it got famous. The region's first commercial vineyard, Vasse Felix, was only planted in 1967, by Dr Tom Cullity, after agricultural scientist Dr John Gladstones reported in 1965 and 1966 that the climate and soils suited quality wine. In 1983 Cape Mentelle's Cabernet Sauvignon won the Jimmy Watson trophy at the Melbourne Wine Show, and did it again the next year, while Leeuwin Estate's 1981 Art Series Chardonnay came out top of an international Chardonnay tasting run by the London magazine Decanter. Add more than 90 cellar doors, surf beaches a few kilometres from the vines, limestone caves and karri forest, and it is one of Australia's best-known wine destinations.

Two to three days is the sweet spot: one for the wineries, one or two for the coast, the caves and the forest. A single full-day wine tour covers four or five cellar doors with lunch, and that is enough wine for most people in one day. The second day is for what the region is just as good at: the beaches between Cape Naturaliste and Cape Leeuwin, the Busselton Jetty, the limestone caves and the karri forest. A third day lets you add a half-day tasting in a different part of the region, or simply slow down. The how many days guide has a plan for one, two and three days.

March and April, for most wine visitors. The grape harvest runs from late summer into autumn, so the vineyards are busy in March, the days are still warm and the evenings mild, and the crowds thin out by April. Summer (December to February) is the driest and longest-lit season and the busiest, with school holidays. Winter (June to August) is the wettest, with July the wettest month, but the cellar doors are quiet and the tastings are slower and friendlier. Spring brings green vines and wildflowers, and the Pair'd food and wine festival runs in November. The best time to visit guide goes month by month.

Margaret River for the wine you have heard of, the Swan Valley for an easy half day from Perth. The Swan Valley is Western Australia's oldest wine region, first planted in 1829, and only 25 to 30 minutes from the Perth CBD, with more than 40 wineries plus breweries and distilleries. Margaret River is about three hours south, younger (1967) and the source of the state's famous Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, with the coast, caves and forest around the vines. If you have one free afternoon in Perth, do the Swan Valley; if you can give the wine a full day or a weekend, go to Margaret River. The Swan Valley vs Margaret River guide compares them side by side.

Vasse Felix, planted in 1967 by Dr Tom Cullity; it is the region's first commercial vineyard. Its first vines were Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Malbec and Riesling. Moss Wood followed in 1969, then Cape Mentelle (1970), Cullen Wines (1971), Sandalford (1972), and Leeuwin Estate, Woodlands and Wrights (1973). Several of these pioneers, Vasse Felix and Cullen among them, sit close together in the Wilyabrup area north of the town. Vines were grown near Busselton in the 1840s, but the modern wine region starts with Vasse Felix. The best wineries guide covers which of them a tour can take you to.

More than 90 cellar doors, and well over 150 wine producers. The counts differ by source and by what is counted: Wine Companion puts it at more than 90 cellar doors and over 200 vineyards, and the Margaret River Wine Association counted 164 producers at the region's 50th anniversary in 2017. In 1980 there were 20 vineyards. A tour visits four or five cellar doors in a day, so the choice of tour, more than the choice of region, decides which ones you see.

Cabernet Sauvignon among the reds and Chardonnay among the whites. Cabernet makes up just over half of the region's red grape crush, and the two grapes are the ones that made its name in the 1980s: Cape Mentelle's Cabernet with the Jimmy Watson trophy, Leeuwin Estate's Art Series Chardonnay with Decanter. The other style you will be poured at almost every cellar door is the Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc blend, a crisp white the region is known for.

Not on a tasting day: in Western Australia the limit is 0.05 blood alcohol for a full licence, and zero for a novice driver. Novice means anyone who has held a licence for less than two years in total (Department of Transport WA). A few tastings at each of four or five cellar doors adds up quickly, and the roads between them are rural and dark early in winter. That is the practical case for a tour: the driver is the one person who does not drink, and everyone else can taste. If you do drive yourself, nominate a driver who does not taste at all, and use the spittoon.

Some do: check the tour, because pickup areas differ. Wine for Dudes runs a separate Wine Adventure from Dunsborough and Busselton that collects from Busselton first, then Dunsborough, then Yallingup, up to an hour before the start; it does not take cruise passengers, because it cannot guarantee the ship. The Bushtucker winery and brewery tour picks up from hotels in Busselton, Dunsborough and Margaret River, and South West Eco Discoveries' half-day tour starts in Busselton. All About Margaret River's full days collect only within Margaret River town centre, and Harvest Tours' premium day within 20 km of Cowaramup, with a fee beyond. The comparison on the home page lists the pickup for each tour.