Esperance, AU

Family-run waterfront eatery in a 1930s timber building at the foot of Taylor Street Jetty, the town's only proper bay-view dining room. Modern Australian plates leaning on local pork, scallops and Esperance seafood, plus the largest outdoor deck on the foreshore.

BYO seafood counter on Dempster Street with a daily-changing chalkboard built around whatever the Esperance boats landed that morning. Pick your fillet, choose grilled, battered or crumbed — the format hasn't changed in two decades because it works.

The town's fancier option a block back from the foreshore, white tablecloths and a wine list that takes the south-coast and Great Southern seriously. Bacon-wrapped grilled prawns and local gummy shark are the long-standing signatures.

French-leaning all-day cafe in the Museum Village heritage precinct on Dempster Street, croque-madames and buttery pastries by day and a small-plate bistro a few evenings a week. The closest the south coast has to a Paris corner cafe.

Family-run roastery and cafe in a Dempster Street arcade, beans roasted weekly on the premises under the Upward Spiral label and a serious tea wall packed in-house. Brunch plates served on handmade ceramics from a local potter.

The walk-up coffee window on Andrew Street that locals stop at on the way to the foreshore — small kitchen, big cold brew, turmeric latte that became a town in-joke. No table service; the bench out front is the queue and the seating.

The 1897 corner pub on the Esplanade, the town's social switchboard and the only place open late most nights. Pub kitchen with parmas, steaks and burgers; the public bar, beer garden and the upstairs nightclub all run from the same building.

Family-owned production microbrewery on Bandy Creek Road, eight kilometres east on the way to Cape Le Grand — twelve taps brewed with locally grown barley and a woodfired pizza oven out the back. The town's only craft tap room and the standard pre-park stop.

The town's takeaway pizza and pasta institution on Dempster Street, family-run for decades with a long Italian-American menu and the only proper carbonara on the south coast. Dine-in tables are basic; most locals call ahead and collect.

The compact coffee container next to the Esperance Jetty foreshore, the standard espresso stop on a Tanker Jetty walk. House-roasted single origins, a couple of pastries and an outdoor bench facing the bay.

The eight-kilometre sealed shared path from the Esperance foreshore west along the cliffs to Twilight Beach, then on to the Rotary Lookout. The single best half-day on foot or bike in town and the only safe way to do the start of the Great Ocean Drive without a car.

The seven-kilometre loop through the Lake Warden wetland system on the north-east edge of town, boardwalks across reed beds and three timber bird hides over the lake. Ramsar-listed waterbird habitat — pelicans, black swans and migratory shorebirds in season.

The four-kilometre downhill walk from the Wireless Hill granite outcrop to Twilight Beach, dropping through coastal heath with the Recherche Archipelago dead ahead the whole way. The shortened version of the Great Ocean trail when you only have a morning.

The flat two-kilometre return walk around Bandy Creek Boat Harbour, the working fishing port six kilometres east of town. Trawlers, abalone boats and the morning catch lines on the wharf — the town's least-touristed walk and the best place to see the seafood economy on display.

The two-kilometre clifftop stretch of the Great Ocean Path between West Beach and Chapmans Point, the most dramatic section of granite headland on the drive. Whale-watching territory in season — southern rights cruise within a few hundred metres of the cliffs.

Half-day wildlife cruise departing Taylor Street Jetty, looping eight of the 105 islands in the Recherche Archipelago. Australian sea lions on Cull Island, NZ fur seals at Lion Island, bottlenose dolphins around the boat — the standard one-trip way to see the offshore islands.

The tap-room side of the Bandy Creek production brewery, twelve craft beers on tap, woodfired pizza on open afternoons and regular live music on Friday and Saturday nights in summer. The town's only proper craft beer venue and the standard pre- or post-park hangout.

Father-and-son micro-distillery on Norseman Road, a 30-litre still producing 50-bottle batches of gin and vodka built around local coastal botanicals. The cellar door does seated tastings; they also run a gin school where you build a bottle.

The grassed Esplanade strip between the new jetty and Taylor Street Jetty, the town's outdoor living room — barbecues, the skate park's intermediate bowl, the Whale Tail sculpture and the safest swimming beach in town directly in front.

Ferry and overnight eco-camping on Woody Island, 15 kilometres offshore in the Recherche Archipelago. Bushwalks to two beaches, snorkelling off the jetty and an honesty-system pantry — the only overnight option on the archipelago and the closest you get to the Lake Hillier corner of the bay.

The 415-metre replacement for the demolished 1934 Tanker Jetty, opened in 2021 with lower fishing platforms, fish-cleaning stations and wheelchair set-downs. Dolphins, stingrays and the occasional New Zealand fur seal cruise underneath, and squid is the standard evening catch from the rails.

The horseshoe of white sand and granite islets eight kilometres west on the Great Ocean Drive, with the 'Hole in the Rock' offshore boulder that is the town's photo. Patrolled by surf lifesavers on summer weekends and the safest swim on the drive.

The elevated platform off Pink Lake Road that overlooks the 270-hectare salt lake five kilometres west of town. The lake stopped going reliably pink in the early 2000s after the road causeway changed its salinity, but the panorama over white salt flats to the sea behind is still the Great Ocean Drive's quietest stop.

The granite-outcrop viewing platform on Wireless Hill at the start of the Great Ocean Drive, 360 degrees across town, the Bay of Isles and the Recherche Archipelago. The orientation point every local sends first-time visitors to before they head west.

The Bay of Isles community museum in a 1900s railway goods shed on James Street, run by the historical society. The standout exhibit is a charred panel and oxygen tank from the 1979 Skylab space station, which broke up over the Esperance shire and famously had the town issue NASA a litter fine.

Australia's only fish and shark leather tannery, started in 1989 by two local fishermen tired of throwing skins away. The Woods Street workshop is open to wander, with barramundi, snapper and shark hides hanging in racks and finished wallets, belts and bags for sale.

The fenced foreshore playground next to Taylor Street Jetty, with the climbing whale, timber maze and the volunteer-run Esperance Miniature Railway that loops the park on school holidays and weekend afternoons.