Where to sit outdoors in Perth, season by season
Perth is one of the easiest cities in the world to practise outside — if you follow the weather rather than fight it. A year of good sitting spots.
Perth gives you more sittable mornings a year than almost any capital in the country, but the good spots move with the seasons. Here is how a year outdoors tends to work.
Summer: go early, go coastal
From December to February the only comfortable window is dawn. The coastal parks — the dune benches above Cottesloe, the northern end of City Beach — catch a sea breeze even in a heatwave, and a 5.30am sit by the water is the best-kept routine in the city. By 8am it is over; do not fight it.
Autumn: the river
March to May is the river’s season. The foreshores at Applecross, Bicton and Matilda Bay are still, warm and quiet on weekday mornings, and the light through the sheoaks in April is worth the trip on its own.
Winter: into the hills
Perth winter is rain in bursts with bright gaps between, which suits walking meditation better than sitting. The jarrah trails through Kalamunda and Mundaring are at their best from June to August — mist in the valleys, nobody around, and the smell of wet eucalypt doing half the work for you. Take something waterproof to sit on and treat the showers as part of it.
Spring: anywhere, honestly
September to November is the season the outdoor groups build their year around. Kings Park before the tourists arrive, Hyde Park under the plane trees, Lake Monger with the morning birds — everything works. Several Perth groups run their outdoor programs only in these months; the directory marks which listings sit outside and where they meet.
