Bathers Beach is the small city-centre beach, tucked between the Round House and the Maritime Museum on a curve of sand a few steps from the High Street pubs. It is the oldest documented swimming beach in Western Australia — the first public bath was built here in 1898 — and one of very few city beaches in Australia where you can walk directly off the cappuccino strip onto sand.
The water is calm, the sand fine, and the setting framed by the limestone bluff and the historic buildings above. Bathers Beach House restaurant has tables on the sand itself and stays open into the evening. A short walk south brings you to the longer South Beach, the local family swimming spot.