Local Finds

Long before it became a food market, the site had been used as a wood yard, ice vendor and village blacksmith. Boat builder Steve Ward began leasing the premises in 1950 for five shillings a week and established a boat-building workshop here. Its most famous project was Australia II, the Ben Lexcen-designed yacht that broke the New York Yacht Club’s 132-year winning streak at the America’s Cup in 1983.

The fresh food market officially opened in December 1988. Upstairs, the Wine Loft carries local and international wines, while BŌTO Teppanyaki serves Japanese food using Australian produce. The market’s old industrial scale still gives the building much of its character, making this a place where Cottesloe’s fine food shopping and a rather famous piece of sailing history sit under the same roof.

Official Boatshed Market history and information

Town of Cottesloe Local Heritage Survey

BŌTO sits on the mezzanine above Boatshed Market, within its Wine Loft. The Japanese menu moves from oysters, sashimi and nigiri to skewers and hibachi dishes, including seafood and Wagyu. There are wines by the glass, sake, cocktails and beers, while the Wine Loft stocks local and international bottles with an emphasis on small, family-run producers. You can choose a bottle from the Wine Loft to enjoy with your meal; a corkage charge applies. Check the current menus and book through the BŌTO website.

The hotel first opened in 1905 and was extensively remodelled in 1937, creating much of the Art Deco character seen from Marine Parade today. Look for the long horizontal lines, pale rendered surfaces and repeated detailing across its unusually broad frontage. The building is included on the State Register of Heritage Places.

These days the hotel is as much a social destination as a heritage landmark. The Verandah Bar is the casual beachfront pub space, the Beach Club & Terrace offers dining and drinks, and Tigerfish adds another bar and much sort after dining option. The hotel also hosts functions and events and has guest accommodation upstairs. Check the current What's On program, menus and bookings before heading down.

Website

What's On

Daisies sits on the corner of Grant and Marmion Streets, about a five-minute walk from Grant Street Station and an easy wander from the beach. The menu covers breakfast and lunch, with coffee, acai bowls, baked goods, sandwiches, salads, sausage rolls and sweet treats, plus gluten-free and vegan options. It also offers takeaway dinners and catering.

The Daisies story goes back to the 1980s, when the site operated as a neighbourhood delicatessen. Since 2015 it has been run by Sam Kaye and Pia Prior, who have developed it into the cafe it is today while keeping the relaxed corner-store character. The grassy verge and outdoor seating are a big part of the atmosphere, especially on busy beach days.

From here, head west along Grant Street towards Grant Marine Park and the coast, or east towards Grant Street Station and Jasper Green.

Website

Menu

Catering

The original Lido complex opened in December 1935 and was designed by architect Howard Bonner for proprietor Lou Hatfield. It included a cabaret, chemist's shop and open-air cinema with seating for up to 650 people. The cabaret had a large dance floor and windows along the Marine Parade frontage, while the picture gardens were styled with Japanese-inspired landscaping and lighting.

The picture gardens closed in 1958 as television changed Perth's cinema habits, and the cabaret later became the Lido Coral Room. The building then went through several restaurant incarnations, including the Mandarin and La Tropicana, before reopening as Il Lido in 2008. Much of the original complex has been altered or lost, but the corner building still carries the Lido name and part of the site's long social history.

Il Lido now serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, with an espresso bar, Italian-inspired food, wine and alfresco tables facing the coast. Walk-ins are welcome, although bookings are available for the main canteen. When you're inside, look up at the ceiling - some of the original decorative design survives overhead and gives a glimpse of the building's earlier life as the Lido Cabaret.

Website

About Il Lido and the former Lido Cabaret

Bookings and contact

Cottesloe History - Lido Picture Gardens and Cabaret

The history is a little more layered than a single 1903 building date suggests. A small timber cottage was erected here around 1903, the main house followed around 1915, and the shop was added in the 1930s. The result is a rare Cottesloe example of a combined house and shop, and the property appears on the Town’s heritage inventory for its contribution to the John Street streetscape.

The site later traded as Arcadia Deli before gradually evolving into John Street Cafe in the 1980s. Today it serves breakfast and lunch daily, with outdoor seating, kid-friendly options and gluten-free choices. The mature Norfolk Island pines and quiet residential setting are a big part of the atmosphere, so it works well as a pause between the beach, Civic Centre and surrounding streets.

Website

The Ocean Beach Hotel opened in January 1908 and quickly became part of Cottesloe’s growing beach culture. During the Second World War it was even used by the US Navy as a recreational leave base. The buildings have changed substantially over time, but the OBH name and this corner of Marine Parade and Eric Street have remained part of North Cott life for more than a century.

Today the hotel includes Cblu restaurant, the Saloon Bar, Public Bar, accommodation, functions and a bottle shop, with regular food, drink and entertainment events. It is an easy place to meet before a beach walk, stop for a meal or drink, or use as the starting point for a wander along the coast.

The North Cottesloe Surf Life Saving Club and beach are close by, while public art including Centrefold can be found along the coast. Major redevelopment plans have been proposed for the OBH site over recent years, so it is worth checking the OBH website before arriving.

Website

Reservations

Pause for a coffee or make it a proper breakfast or lunch. UpTown’s food ranges from café favourites to Asian-influenced dishes, with options such as eggs, bowls and fried rice appearing on its menus. Choose what appeals on the day rather than relying on an old menu or saved opening hours.

The café sits at 19 Napoleon Street, handy for a browse around the Village’s shops and bookshop. Make an outing of it with the Cottesloe Village guide.

Bébé Boutique is a family-owned and operated boutique nestled on Napoleon Street offering a carefully curated selection of clothing, shoes, hats, toys and gifts for newborns through to 10-year-olds. With offerings spanning from everyday essentials to beautiful keepsakes for life’s most precious moments, this a very useful village shop.

Bébé Boutique is a warm, welcoming and child-friendly space where families can browse, explore and discover something special. With a passion for quality and a personal approach, the Bébé team prides themselves on providing honest, helpful advice and friendly reliable service.

You can browse a glimpse of their collection online but if you’d rather see it all you’d best visit the lovely team in store.

Perth Studio Potters formed in 1957 when a group of friends with a shared interest in clay began meeting in artist Owen Garde’s boatshed on the Swan River. Fundraising by those early members allowed the group to buy this small house at 1 Burt Street in September 1963, and it has remained their home ever since. Over the years the original house has been extended to include well-equipped workrooms, a gallery and kiln shed.

Today the volunteer-run organisation supports a community of ceramic artists and runs pottery classes for beginners through to experienced makers. Burt Street Gallery, at the front of the building, hosts exhibitions throughout the year and sells work by members. Opening times vary with each exhibition, so check the program before visiting.

Perth Studio Potters

History

Burt Street Gallery

Classes

Planet Books opened its Cottesloe shop in 2024. Browse the shelves, ask for a recommendation and find something unexpected, whether you live nearby or are visiting the beach. It makes an easy stop between coffee, the Village’s galleries and lunch.

Make a morning of it with the Cottesloe Village guide.

The designated Allen Park ovals are dog exercise areas, with off-lead exercise allowed when approved sport or other permitted activities are not underway. For a quieter wander, take the surrounding bush trails. Keep your dog on lead in the bushland and stay on marked paths. Keep your dog clear of playgrounds, signed conservation areas and active sport, and use a lead in car parks.

The park is on Kirkwood Road. The map pin marks the general Allen Park precinct, so follow the signs when you arrive to find the walking paths and designated dog exercise areas.

The Indiana name has been part of Cottesloe Beach for more than a century, beginning with an earlier Indiana Tea House around 1910. The building you see today is much newer: Scanlan Architects won a Town design competition in 1994 and the present Indiana opened in October 1996. Its nostalgic architecture deliberately echoes the grand three-storey Centenary Bathing Pavilion that stood on this part of the beachfront from 1929.

Indiana is also useful Cott geography. Marine Parade runs behind it, the promenade passes underneath and the main beach spreads out in front. Public toilets, showers and changing facilities are on the lower beach level, so if you're meeting someone here it helps to specify whether you mean above Indiana, under it or down on the sand.

Big changes are coming to the public foreshore immediately north of Indiana. The funded first stage of Cottesloe's Foreshore Revitalisation is planned to begin in 2027, replacing much of the existing Carpark 1 with terraced seating, an event plaza and landscaped public space, while widening footpaths and improving walking, cycling and beach access. The project is separate from Indiana itself, where redevelopment proposals have been debated for several years and the building's next chapter is still being worked through.

For now, check the current venue arrangements before heading upstairs specifically for food or drinks.

Scanlan Architects - Indiana Tea House

Sculpture by the Sea - Indiana Tea Rooms history

Town of Cottesloe - Foreshore Redevelopment

The Grove’s Community History Library is a great place to dig into the Cott that came before. Its collection covers Cottesloe, Mosman Park and Peppermint Grove, with more than 3,500 historic photographs, oral histories, newspapers, reports and records of local people, properties and events. Many of the photographs can also be explored online.

The wider library is a useful stop in its own right, with books and magazines, free Wi-Fi, computers, study and meeting spaces, children’s Story Time and Rhyme Time, author talks, exhibitions, concerts and other community events. Membership is free for WA residents.

The Grove is at 1 Leake Street, Peppermint Grove, just east of Stirling Highway from Cottesloe Village. Use the pedestrian crossings to get there safely, and check the current opening hours and events before visiting. If you find a historic photograph you’d like to reuse, ask the Community History Library about permissions rather than assuming an online image is free to reproduce.

The Grove Library

Community History collection

Events and bookings

Historic photographs

The pylon began with a much bigger idea. Cottesloe councillor and engineer R. G. Foreman promoted a protected ocean swimming enclosure during the 1930s, with three concrete pylons intended to support the structure. Engineering difficulties, storms and mounting costs meant the project was never completed as planned, earning it the enduring local nickname “Foreman's Folly”. The other pylons disappeared, but this one survived.

Its colours have become another piece of Cott folklore. The pylon has traditionally carried Cottesloe Surf Life Saving Club's yellow, black and white, only for rival clubs - including North Cottesloe - to head out and repaint it in their own colours. The unofficial tussle has often flared around ocean swimming events, turning the landmark into a very visible piece of surf-club rivalry. All those extra coats of paint may even have helped protect the concrete from the elements.

The original enclosure never succeeded, but almost 90 years later Cottesloe does have one. A seasonal protected swimming enclosure is generally installed off the main beach from late October until the end of April, stretching about 170 metres north from the groyne and 140 metres offshore.

Decades of waves and storms have repeatedly damaged the pylon and required substantial repairs, yet its slightly improbable silhouette has become one of the defining images of Cottesloe Beach. Watch it change with the coast - bright and graphic on a clear morning, surrounded by white water in a swell, or reduced to a simple silhouette at sunset.

Most people enjoy and photograph the pylon from the beach, although more adventurous swimmers sometimes head out and even try to climb onto it. With waves, submerged reef and conditions that can change quickly, there are plenty of days when this offshore icon is better appreciated from the shore.

Cottesloe Beach Pylon Conservation Management Plan

Town of Cottesloe - Protected Swimming Enclosure

The story began with Summerville, a house built here in 1897 for Richard Pennefather. Mining entrepreneur Claude de Bernales bought the property in 1911 and, particularly from 1936, transformed it into the elaborate Spanish Mission-style estate known as Overton Lodge. The arches, pale rendered walls, tiled roofs, terraces and formal gardens still carry much of that character. The Town of Cottesloe bought the property in 1950 and turned it into its Civic Centre.

The gardens are the real reason to explore. Paths wind between lawns, mature trees, terraces and garden rooms, with glimpses towards the ocean and plenty of corners that feel surprisingly removed from the busy beachfront. There's a children's playground, barbecues, picnic space and public toilets near the Napier Street side of the main lawn.

The grounds are also popular for weddings and community events, so don't be surprised to find one corner dressed for a celebration. The gardens are generally the easy public visit; access to the historic buildings depends on Town activities and events.

Town of Cottesloe - Civic Centre

Civic Centre Grounds

Heritage Council of WA - Cottesloe Civic Centre

Designed and built by Nature Based Play with Cottesloe Coastcare and the Town of Cottesloe, the space opened on 25 July 2020. Natural logs, limestone, sand and planting are mixed with playful details including a humpback whale climber, fairy bridge, cubby frames, carved creatures and a limestone formation containing shells, corals and other marine elements. Small looking-glass portals invite children to stop and examine patterns in the surrounding plants and landscape.

The play space sits within a much larger Coastcare restoration area. Work at Vlamingh began years before the playground, removing invasive Victorian tea trees and replanting thousands of local coastal species. In 2022 the Nature Discovery Space received the Parks & Leisure Australia National Award for Best Playspace under $500K.

Keep exploring to the formed paths and play areas so the surrounding dunes and vegetation can continue recovering. The Vlamingh Memorial is nearby, with the former Cottesloe Cable Station across Marine Parade.

Coming without a car? Victoria Street Station is the closest train stop, about a 5-minute walk.

Cottesloe Coastcare - Vlamingh

Nature Based Play - Cottesloe Nature Discovery Space

The skatepark sits at 20 Napier Street and includes multiple riding zones designed for skill progression from beginner through to advanced, with some more challenging obstacles mixed in. It is great for skateboards, scooters and BMX riders. If you're new to the park, watch the flow for a few minutes before joining in, especially with younger riders.

It was developed after years of community campaigning, beginning with local kids asking for somewhere to skate, a 2017 petition that drew more than 1,100 supporters, and a long process of surveys, site studies, workshops and debate over where it should go. John Black Dune Park was eventually chosen after strong support for a Cottesloe skatepark, alongside opposition concerned about antisocial behaviour and the impact on dune vegetation.

John Black Dune Park has changed dramatically with it. Once officially described as a highly degraded, weedy reserve, the dunes are now being progressively restored with local native planting by the Town, Cottesloe Coastcare and Perth NRM. The skatepark has also become a busy community space, without the antisocial behaviour some opponents feared becoming a defining problem. Together, the skating, planting and new paths have turned a neglected patch of Cott into a much more active and greener public park.

The Civic Centre gardens and tennis club are nearby, so it's easy to make this one stop in a wider Cott outing. For toilets, head to the Civic Centre across the road via the Napier Street stairway entrance.

Cottesloe Skate Park - Town of Cottesloe

Cottesloe Coastcare - John Black Dune Park

The club was founded in 1909 as swimming at Cottesloe became increasingly popular, bringing organised surf rescue and lifesaving skills to the beach. More than a century later, volunteer members still patrol Cottesloe Beach, train in rescue and first aid, compete in surf sports and help younger members build confidence and skills through the club's Nippers program.

On summer mornings the area around the clubhouse can be full of boards, skis, flags and young athletes, giving you a glimpse of the work and training behind a beach that can otherwise look effortlessly relaxed. The clubhouse itself is a working club rather than a visitor attraction, so keep equipment and beach-access routes clear.

The location also helps make sense of this part of the coast. Cottesloe's main beach and Indiana are immediately north, while Mudurup - the significant Whadjuk Noongar limestone headland - and the sundial are just south.

If you're swimming, always check the current patrol flags and beach conditions rather than assuming the presence of the clubhouse means the beach is patrolled. For current shark alerts, tagged-shark detections and reported sightings, check the WA Government's SharkSmart service before heading into the water.

Cottesloe Surf Life Saving Club

SharkSmart WA

Surf Life Saving WA - My Beach

The club offers tennis for juniors and adults, from beginners through to competition players, with coaching, social tennis and league play throughout the year. Visitors can hire both hard and grass courts when available, while visiting players can also join selected organised social sessions. The grass courts are a distinctive part of the club, although availability varies as courts are rotated, rested and used for club activities.

Non-members should check availability and book before arriving. The club's current court-hire information lists 10 lit hard courts and 27 grass courts, with online booking for visitor play.

The club sits at the corner of Broome and Napier Streets, close to the Civic Centre gardens, the skatepark and the coast - easy to combine a hit of tennis with more time outdoors.

Website

Court hire

Adult and social tennis

Dutch Inn is a reef break rather than a broad sandy swimming beach. Limestone reef shapes the waves here, making it popular with surfers when conditions line up and interesting to watch even when you're staying dry. If you're looking for a straightforward family swim, Cottesloe's main beach and seasonal protected enclosure are generally the easier option.

Above the beach, the large ship playground has slides, climbing equipment and swings spread beside a grassy reserve, welcome shade in summer. Picnic tables, seating and a drinking fountain make it easy to stay for a while. There's also a Liberty Swing designed to accommodate a person in their wheelchair; access requires an MLAK key, so organise one before your visit if you plan to use it.

April Pine's Pause sculpture is right alongside - walk past the aluminium surfer and watch the figure shift from solid-looking to almost transparent as the ocean appears through it. The coastal path also runs straight past, making Dutch Inn a good stop on a walk or ride through South Cott.

There are no public toilets at the playground, so plan ahead for a longer stay. Check the reef, waves and current conditions before heading into the water.

Town of Cottesloe - Dutch Inn Playground

Surfing WA

The Town of Cottesloe began planning the trail in 2021 to connect two existing play areas along Railway Street. Construction started in 2023, with the finished route keeping around 50 established trees and adding more than 1,700 new plantings. The result stretches through the reserve rather than concentrating everything in one spot.

At the Perth Street end, a fenced toddler area includes a large sandpit, stump climbing, cubbies, carved fossils and a rocky lookout. Further along are a basket swing, fairy bridge, bike-skills track, balance obstacles, climbable fig trees and sensory totems. The larger “Timbersaurus” climbing structure uses reclaimed timber and rope, with more balancing challenges nearby for older children.

There are no public toilets within the trail itself, so it is worth planning ahead for younger children. In 2025, the project received the KIDSAFE National Leycester Meares Award for innovative design.

Nature Based Play - East Cottesloe Nature Play Trail

The playground sits on the lower lawn near Marine Parade, with swings, a slide and climbing fort aimed mainly at younger children. On the upper grass there's more room to run around, kick a ball or use the basketball hoop and small cricket practice area with its back net. The park also includes seating and a drinking fountain. The upper section is a designated off-lead dog area.

Don't miss the quieter side of the park. Cottesloe Coastcare began restoring the badly degraded native dune here in 2003, removing masses of weeds, closing informal tracks and replanting local coastal species. Follow the small trail through the vegetation to the lookout and you'll see how dramatically it has recovered - the dense planting now provides habitat for birds, insects, lizards and bobtails. Coastcare has even re-established Sweet Quandongs here, a native tree with edible red fruit that had become so rare locally that only one small patch was known to remain in Cottesloe.

Ron Gomboc's Relationship: Together Series is the sculpture within the park, while the beach is just across Marine Parade. Getting here without a car is easy: walk straight down Grant Street from Grant Street Station or catch the Transperth Route 102 bus, which stops on Marine Parade at Grant Street. There is also a small car park, but it can fill early on warm beach days. There are no public toilets here - the closest are at North Cottesloe Beach.

Town of Cottesloe - Grant Marine Park

Cottesloe Coastcare - Grant Marine Park

Transperth - Route 102

The Northern oval is used by the Cottesloe Roosters and Cottesloe Magpies Junior Football Club, while junior cricket has also used the precinct during summer. To the South, Cottesloe Rugby Union Football Club has called Harvey Field home since 1930 and today fields men's, women's and junior teams. Together they make this one of Cott's main community sporting hubs.

The new Anderson (Football) Pavilion opened in 2024, replacing the ageing club facilities with four changerooms, umpire facilities, public toilets, an enclosed spectator area, kitchen/kiosk and storage. The Harvey Field precinct has also received new spectator seating, paths and great small playground for little kids under giant shady Norfolk Pine Trees.

Cottesloe Rugby Union Football Club

Cottesloe Roosters

Cottesloe Magpies Junior Football Club

Jasper Green sits between Grant, William and Congdon Streets and works as a true neighbourhood park. There’s a children’s playground, basketball hoop, tennis wall, goal posts, seating, drinking fountain and plenty of grass for casual play or a picnic. The reserve is has a designated off-lead dog exercise area, although dogs are excluded from the playground and from areas in use for organised sport.

The mural on the back of the tennis wall was created in 2021 by Whadjuk artist Justin Martin of Djurandi Dreaming after workshops with students from North Cottesloe Primary School. Their ideas helped shape a work representing the Cottesloe area, including animals, plants and places significant to Nyungar people.

Grant Street Station and Swanbourne Station are both close by, making Jasper Green easy to reach without a car. There are no public toilets in the reserve, so keep that in mind if you’re settling in for a longer stay.

Jasper Green Reserve - Town of Cottesloe

Justin Martin mural - Town of Cottesloe

The playground is best suited to younger kids, with swings, a slide and climbing equipment beside a small grassy reserve. There’s also seating and a drinking fountain, and the park is a designated off-lead dog exercise area.

It’s a useful neighbourhood pause rather than a destination park. There are no public toilets, so it works best for a short stop if you’re already nearby.

Ladder Park - Town of Cottesloe

North Cottesloe Surf Life Saving Club was formed in 1918 by a group who broke away from Cottesloe Surf Life Saving Club to establish a club farther north. Its first clubhouse was a tent, with more permanent facilities added as the club grew. The club has occupied this part of North Cott for generations, with its beachside facilities replaced, expanded and substantially renovated over time, including major works completed in 2013.

The club now has more than 2,000 members and remains a major volunteer presence on the coast. Patrols, rescue training, surf sports and the Sunday Nippers program for children bring generations of local families through the club, while early-morning swimmers and surf lifesaving athletes keep the beachfront busy well before most of Cott is awake.

The clubhouse also includes Longview, so the building mixes working surf-club spaces with a public place for food, drinks and ocean views. Public toilets and showers are nearby beneath The Magic Apple.

If you're swimming, look for the current patrol flags and check beach conditions and SharkSmart WA. And if you're arranging to meet someone, say “North Cott surf club” - Cottesloe Surf Life Saving Club is a different club farther south at the main beach.

North Cottesloe Surf Life Saving Club

Longview

SharkSmart WA

Golf has been played on this reserve since 1909, when the original Cottesloe Golf Club established a course among the coastal scrub and sandhills. Sea View Golf Club was formed in 1931 and took over the lease. Today the compact links course runs between Broome Street and the coast, with ocean views, tight fairways, slick greens and the wind adding considerably to the challenge.

Non-members can play outside member competition times, with public availability varying through the week. Book ahead through the Pro Shop rather than simply turning up. The clubhouse also has a Bar + Bistro overlooking the course and coast, open to non-members.

Sea View are also planning for the club's next chapter, exploring upgrades to the ageing clubhouse, hospitality, accessibility and practice facilities. If this happens the nine-hole course layout is intended to remain unchanged.

And don't confuse the names: Sea View Golf Club is the course here in Cottesloe. Cottesloe Golf Club is a different club, located further north in Swanbourne.

Website

Visitor green fees and playing times

Facilities Masterplan

Course and history