South Terrace, the broad tree-lined avenue south of the Fremantle Markets, is the famous Cappuccino Strip — a continuous run of pavement cafés, gelaterias, pubs, and small restaurants that has been the social centre of the city since the 1980s. The Italian and Croatian fishing families who built Fremantle established the cafés; their grandchildren still run several of them.
Settle in at Gino's, La Sosta, or Bread in Common for a coffee or a long lunch and the parade will provide the rest. South of the Strip the road becomes a quieter run of shopfronts and old hotels — the Norfolk, the Federal, the Sail and Anchor — that turn into the city's better drinking territory in the evening. A short walk in either direction and you are out of the tourist zone.