If you have ever wanted to find a place where ancient history, wild nature, and breathtaking beauty all exist in the same postcode, Broome is your answer. This remote coastal town in Western Australia is home to world-famous sunsets, 130-million-year-old dinosaur footprints, iconic camel rides along one of the country’s most stunning beaches, and a pearling heritage that shaped the town from the ground up. This blog walks you through the best things to do in Broome, so you can decide if it belongs on your travel itinerary in Australia. Spoiler: it does!
Sunsets That Stop You in Your Tracks
Broome sunsets are not just beautiful. They are ‘legendary.’
The combination of the flat horizon, the vast Indian Ocean, and the rich red tones of the landscape creates a canvas that shifts by the minute. Amber bleeds into burnt orange, which melts into deep violet, all of it reflected off the water in a way that feels almost too perfect to be real.
If you happen to be in town during the right lunar cycle, the ‘Staircase to the Moon’ adds yet another layer to Broome’s already spectacular skies. It is a natural optical illusion where the rising full moon reflects off the tidal flats, creating the appearance of a golden staircase stretching up toward the sky. People travel from across the country just to see it.
As John Steinbeck once wrote, “A journey is a person in itself.” And in Broome, the sunset is where that journey truly begins. For the most breathtaking version of it, watching the sky ignite from the water is something else entirely. Booking one of the Broome sunset cruises puts you right in the heart of it, golden light spilling across the ocean while the coastline glows behind you. It is the kind of moment you will talk about long after you have gone home.
A Town Built on Pearls
Broome was not always known as a tourist destination. Before the visitors, the resorts, and the fame of Cable Beach, there were the pearlers.
From the late 1800s, Broome grew into one of the world’s most important pearling centres, drawing workers from Japan, China, Philippines, and beyond. That ‘multicultural heritage’ is still woven into the town’s streets, architecture, and food today, giving Broome a depth that most coastal towns simply lack.
The pearl luggers at Town Beach pay tribute to the divers who risked their lives to harvest treasures from the sea. It is a history worth understanding before you visit, because it changes the way you see the place entirely.
Today, Broome’s pearl farms continue that legacy, producing some of the finest ‘South Sea pearls’ in the world. You can visit working farms to see the entire process up close, from the seeding of the oysters to the moment a finished pearl is revealed. And if you are looking for a keepsake that actually means something, a Broome pearl is hard to beat.
Gantheaume Point Dinosaur Tours
Not many towns can say that dinosaurs once walked their coastline. Broome can. At ‘Gantheaume Point,’ a dramatic headland of deep red rock that juts out into the Indian Ocean, dinosaur footprints estimated to be around 130 million years old can be seen during low tide, which makes spotting them feel all the more special.
A guided tour brings the site to life in a way that simply turning up on your own never could. You get the geological context, the cultural significance from the perspective of the Traditional Owners, and the full scale of what you are actually looking at. Ancient imprints in rock, preserved by time, sitting at the edge of one of Australia’s most dramatic coastlines.
Cable Beach Camel Ride tours
Cable Beach is 22 kilometres of white sand, open sky and Indian Ocean. It is the kind of beach that makes you want to cancel your return flight.
But the experience that most visitors remember long after the tan fades is the camel ride. Riding a camel along the water’s edge as the afternoon light softens is as ‘Broome’ as it gets. The animals are gentle, the guides are friendly, and the whole thing moves at a pace that forces you to actually look at where you are.
Mark Twain wrote, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did.” Book the Cable beach camel ride. Especially the sunset one. The view from atop a camel as the sky turns gold behind the dunes is one of those sights that earns its reputation entirely.
Final Thoughts
From its pearling past and prehistoric footprints to its world-famous sunsets and iconic sandy shores, every part of this town has a story to tell. It moves at its own pace, and once you settle into that rhythm, you will understand why so many people come for a few days and end up staying far longer than planned.
If you are visiting between ‘June and October,’ keep your eyes on the water. Humpback Whales migrate along the coast during these months, while the rare Snubfin Dolphin calls these waters home year-round. Plan, book early and give yourself enough time to actually breathe it all in. Broome does not rush. Neither should you.