Inside Nambung National Park

You do not need a tour to see the Pinnacles. They are in Nambung National Park, run by Parks and Wildlife Service WA, and anyone can drive in: the fee is A$17 per vehicle of up to 12 people (checked November 2026), and a one-way loop of about 4 km runs among the pillars. What the park asks in return is short: do not climb on the pinnacles, keep to the roads, leave the dog outside the park and light no fires.

The park on the map

The Pinnacles Desert is only one part of a 19,268-hectare park that also takes in beaches, coastal dunes and heath. The Pinnacles are 189 km by road from central Perth and 20 km by road from Cervantes, the nearest town. Parks and Wildlife Service WA acknowledges the Yued people as the Traditional Owners of Nambung National Park.

The entry fee

Parks and Wildlife Service WA, checked November 2026. A valid park pass covers the fee.

Day passes are sold at the gate house into the Pinnacles Desert Discovery. If you come on a tour, check the listing: most of the tours sold from Perth include national park admission in the price.

The loop drive

A one-way unsealed loop of about 4 km winds through the Pinnacles Desert, with pull-over bays where you can stop the car and walk among the pillars. The Desert View Lookout is at its northern end. Vehicles longer than 7 m, caravans and trailers are not allowed on the loop; they stay in the long-vehicle bays in the car park. The park’s own pages give the loop as 4 km in one place and 4.3 km in another, so treat it as about 4 km.

The rules

• Do not climb, sit or stand on the pinnacles. The park’s visitor guide says they can be top heavy and unstable, may fall over at any time, and that injuries have occurred.
• Stay on the roads and the marked tracks.
• No pets. Dogs are not allowed in the park. The visitor guide says there are free basic dog kennels for park visitors at the Cervantes Ranger Station, open 8am to 5pm every day ((08) 9688 6000).
• No fires. You may use your own gas appliances anywhere in the park.
• No camping anywhere in Nambung National Park.
• At Lake Thetis, keep to the path and the boardwalk.

Facilities

The Pinnacles Desert Discovery has toilets, a shade shelter, an interpretive centre and a shop. The Emu Walk Trail starts and finishes there, and its first 200 m are wheelchair accessible.

Hangover Bay, 6 km by road from the Pinnacles, has free sheltered barbecues, a toilet and a wheelchair-friendly path across the fore dunes to the beach. Lake Thetis, 2.5 km by road from Cervantes, is one of the few places in the world with living marine stromatolites, and a 1.5 km path goes round it.

What the park pages do not say

Neither the park’s page nor its visitor guide gives opening hours or says when visitors must leave in the evening. Before you plan an evening visit by car, ask the Pinnacles Desert Discovery ((08) 9652 7913) or the ranger station.

The visitor guide asks visitors to download the free Emergency+ app before they go: where there is no mobile coverage you cannot call 000, but the app gives you your GPS location.

When it is hot

Parks and Wildlife Service WA describes December to March as hot and dry with an afternoon sea breeze, and fire danger as often extreme in those months. Wildlife rests in the heat and comes out in the early morning and evening. Carry water, and check park alerts before you set off. The best time to visit goes through the year month by month.

If you would rather not drive, the tours on the homepage set out the ways to go from Perth.