Broome is a pearling town on Yawuru Country at the south-west edge of the Kimberley, in a shire of about 17,000 people. Come in the dry season, May to October. Ride a camel on Cable Beach at sunset, find the dinosaur tracks at Gantheaume Point on a low tide, walk Chinatown to the pearl luggers, see a film at Sun Pictures and, around a full moon, watch the Staircase to the Moon.
Broome grew rich on pearl shell, and the town still shows it: Japanese graves by the port, luggers on Dampier Terrace, a 1916 open-air cinema in Chinatown. Spring tides run to about 10 metres, so plan days by the tide table and evenings by the Cable Beach sunset.
Cable Beach runs 22 km and takes its name from the telegraph cable to Java that came ashore here in 1889. Camel trains walk the sand at sunset; in the dry season the rides book out weeks ahead, so reserve before you fly.
Red pindan cliffs drop to the sea at the south end of Cable Beach, and the reef below holds dinosaur footprints about 130 million years old. They show only at very low tide; casts on the clifftop stand in when the water is up.
On a few evenings around each full moon from March to October, the moon rises over the bare mudflats and its light breaks into steps. Town Beach is the place to watch, and a night market runs there on many of those evenings.
Sun Pictures opened on 9 December 1916 and is billed as the oldest working picture garden in the world. You sit in deckchairs under the stars, and the cinema lies under the airport approach, so jets pass low over the screen.
The largest Japanese cemetery in Australia, begun in 1896, holds about 919 people in 707 graves, most of them pearl divers. A stone obelisk remembers the men drowned in the 1908 cyclone. Go early, before the heat.
Two original pearling luggers sit on a replica tidal jetty on Dampier Terrace. The 90-minute tour covers the diving years, passes round pearl shell and ends with a taste of pearl meat. Call ahead for the day’s times.
Chinatown, between Carnarvon Street and Dampier Terrace, was the pearling town’s commercial heart, and pearl showrooms still line it. Take Johnny Chi Lane to Streeter’s Jetty, in use by 1897, and go when the creek is full.
Partly housed in the old Customs House near Town Beach, the museum covers pearling, the Japanese crews and the 1942 raid that destroyed 15 flying boats in the bay. Hours shrink in the wet season, so check before you go.
A working pearl farm about 38 km north of town, where guides show how a cultured pearl is seeded, grown and harvested. The access road is partly unsealed, so take the coach transfer unless you have a 4WD.
BirdLife Australia runs this base on Roebuck Bay, about 25 km east of town, on a Ramsar wetland used by over 300,000 waders a year. For many it is the first Australian landfall from Asia. Come on a rising tide, when flocks push close.
A pride festival at the Roebuck Bay Hotel, closing in early March.
Full-moon rises over the mudflats, with night markets at Town Beach.
Local and touring acts across town in late June and early July.
Eleven weeks of racing at the Gantheaume Point track.
The season finale, on a Saturday in mid-August after Ladies Day.
A one-night open-air concert under the dry-season sky.
The Festival of the Pearl: 17 days in 2026, with a float parade.
Lions Club weekend at the end of November: tastings and chef cook-offs.
Qantas and Virgin Australia fly direct to Perth in about 2 hours 40 minutes. The airport sits inside the town, a short taxi ride from Chinatown.
The state took over the town route in August 2025. It links Cable Beach, Chinatown and Town Beach; check TransRegional for times.
A car opens Gantheaume Point, Willie Creek and the Dampier Peninsula. The Cape Leveque Road is sealed; many side tracks still need a 4WD.
Chinatown, the museum and Town Beach are walkable from each other. Cable Beach is a bus or taxi ride, and the midday heat argues for both.
The pearl oyster’s muscle, a pricey local delicacy.
Grilled or roasted whole on most menus in town.
Roebuck Bay’s prize catch, back in numbers since netting ended in 2013.
Caught on the mangrove flats; crabbing trips run on the bay.
A tart native plum from the Dampier Peninsula, very high in vitamin C.
The fruit the town throws a festival for each November.
Matso’s fruit beer, brewed in town.
Matso’s alcoholic ginger beer, its best-known pour.
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