Three of Perth’s biggest cultural draws sit within a five-minute walk of each other in Northbridge. The WA Museum Boola Bardip, the Art Gallery of Western Australia and the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts cluster around the Perth Cultural Centre, so you can fold all three into one day without touching a car park. Add the two Fremantle maritime museums and the Perth Mint, and you’ve got six venues spanning natural history, Indigenous and contemporary art, shipwrecks, submarines and a tonne of solid gold. Here’s how each stacks up and which suit your crew.
The six museums at a glance
| Venue | Location | Entry | Hours highlight |
| WA Museum Boola Bardip | Perth Cultural Centre, Northbridge | $15 adult, $10 concession, free 15 and under | 7 days, 9:30am–5pm |
| Art Gallery of WA (AGWA) | James Street, Northbridge | Free (donation) | 10am–5pm, closed Tuesdays |
| PICA | 51 James Street, Northbridge | Free (exhibitions) | Galleries Tue–Sun 12pm–5pm |
| WA Shipwrecks Museum | Cliff Street, Fremantle | Free | Open daily |
| WA Maritime Museum | Victoria Quay, Fremantle | $10 adult museum; $15 joint ticket with submarine tour | Open daily |
| The Perth Mint | 310 Hay Street, East Perth | Shop free; Gold Tour $26 adult | 7 days, 9am–5pm |
Perth Cultural Centre: three venues, one day
The Perth Cultural Centre in Northbridge is the easiest cultural hit in the city. The WA Museum, AGWA and PICA share one pedestrian precinct, a 200-metre walk from Perth Train Station through the Cultural Centre. You’ll find most visitors do the museum in the morning and the galleries after lunch.
WA Museum Boola Bardip
Boola Bardip means “many stories” in Noongar language, and lives up to it across eight galleries of WA’s natural and cultural history. The headline draw is Otto, the suspended blue whale skeleton. General admission now runs $15 for adults and $10 concession (students, seniors, health care card and Veteran Gold Card holders), with entry free for visitors 15 and under and for carers presenting a valid WA Companion Card; special exhibitions may carry an additional fee on top. Members get unlimited entry for the year, which is worth comparing against ticket costs if you’re planning more than a couple of visits. It’s open seven days, 9:30am to 5pm (hours can shift around public holidays, so check first). Allow two to three hours. See our WA Museum Boola Bardip guide for the full rundown.
Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA)
AGWA holds more than 18,600 works valued at around $361 million, including a significant collection of Indigenous WA art alongside colonial and contemporary pieces. Entry to the permanent collection is free, with a voluntary donation invited and some special exhibitions ticketed. The 1979 building is worth a look too: a Bauhaus-influenced Brutalist design whose central gallery has no right angles. The rooftop is currently closed but, when reopened, will be worth the trip up on its own. See the full AGWA writeup for more.
One trap to avoid: AGWA is closed every Tuesday, plus Good Friday and Christmas Day. Plenty of visitors turn up on a Tuesday to find the doors shut. Families are well looked after, with the year-round Gallery 09 space and school holiday programming. Check the AGWA what’s on page for current exhibitions before you go, since the program rotates through the year. Allow 1.5 to 2.5 hours.
Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA)
PICA sits about 50 metres from AGWA at 51 James Street, so pairing the two is easy. Unlike AGWA, PICA holds no permanent collection: it commissions and shows contemporary and experimental work by living artists, so what’s on changes constantly. Exhibitions are always free; performances are ticketed. The signature annual event is Hatched, the National Graduate Show, which typically runs through winter into spring; check PICA’s website for current dates.
The timing catch here is real: the galleries open at 12pm, not 10am, Tuesday to Sunday, and close Mondays. The building opens at 10am, as does the co-located Picabar (draught beer and alfresco seating). Allow 45 minutes to 1.5 hours for the exhibitions.
The Fremantle museums: a maritime pair
Fremantle sits about 30 minutes from the Perth CBD, and its two museums make a natural same-day pairing. Both centre on WA’s maritime story in different ways.
WA Shipwrecks Museum
On Cliff Street, the Shipwrecks Museum (also known as the Museum of the Shipwrecked Dutchmen) holds the original timbers of the Batavia, wrecked in 1629, alongside Dutch VOC artefacts and anchor collections. It’s the home of WA’s Dutch maritime archaeology, and entry is free. Read our full WA Shipwrecks Museum guide for the detail.
WA Maritime Museum
A short walk away at Victoria Quay, the Maritime Museum is the more hands-on of the pair. General museum admission is $10 for adults. To also walk through the HMAS Ovens, a decommissioned submarine moored alongside, and see Australia II, the yacht that won the 1983 America’s Cup, the joint museum-and-submarine ticket runs $15. Our WA Maritime Museum guide covers tours, the submarine and ticketing in full.
The Perth Mint
The Perth Mint at 310 Hay Street in East Perth is a different kind of visit: a working precious-metals operation about 1.7km from the CBD core, or a 20-minute walk, with the free Red CAT bus stopping nearby. The shop and grounds are free, but the experience worth booking is the Gold Tour.
On the tour you’ll watch a live gold pour and hold a 5kg gold bar worth well over AUD $1 million at current gold prices. The Mint also displays the One Tonne Gold Coin, a Guinness World Record holder introduced in February 2012, 80cm across and 13cm thick, minted from 99.99% pure gold with a face value of AUD $1 million, plus Australia’s largest natural gold nugget collection. Minting your own medallion is included in the ticket.
Gold Tour pricing is $26 adult, $16 child (5 to 15, under 5 free), $23 concession. Tours run regularly throughout the day. Walk-ins are accepted, but book ahead on weekends via the Perth Mint website or by phone. Payment on site is card only, and allow one to 1.5 hours. Read More
Who each museum suits
- Families with young kids: Boola Bardip for Otto, AGWA’s Gallery 09 and school holiday programming, and the Perth Mint’s gold pour all land well with children (and entry to Boola Bardip is free for anyone 15 and under).
- Art lovers: AGWA for the historical and Indigenous collection, PICA for contemporary and experimental work. Doing both shows the full range.
- History and maritime buffs: the two Fremantle museums, with the Batavia timbers and the HMAS Ovens submarine.
- Something different: the Perth Mint, the only place in town you’ll hold a small fortune in gold.
Practical information
| Getting to the Cultural Centre | Perth Station is a 200m walk through the precinct, served by the Armadale, Fremantle, Yanchep, Mandurah and Midland lines; inbound buses (routes including 41, 42, 48, 55, 60, 66, 67, 68 and 950) stop on Beaufort Street, and the free Blue CAT has a stop right at the Museum. |
| Getting to Fremantle | Train to Fremantle station (about 30 min), then a short walk to both museums. |
| Getting to the Perth Mint | Free Red CAT bus nearby, or a short walk from Perth Station. |
| Free entry venues | AGWA (donation), PICA exhibitions, WA Shipwrecks Museum. Boola Bardip is free only for under-16s and carers with a Companion Card. |
| Paid venues | WA Museum Boola Bardip ($15 adult / $10 concession); WA Maritime Museum ($10 museum / $15 with submarine); Perth Mint Gold Tour ($26 adult). |
| Combined visits | Three Cultural Centre venues in one day; the two Fremantle museums in another. |
For routes, timetables and CAT bus maps, our Perth public transport guide and Perth train network guide cover what you’ll need.
Frequently asked questions
Which Perth museums are free?
Three of the six are free to enter for everyone: AGWA’s permanent collection (a voluntary donation is invited), PICA’s exhibitions, and the WA Shipwrecks Museum. WA Museum Boola Bardip charges $15 general admission ($10 concession), though it’s free for visitors 15 and under and for carers with a Companion Card. The WA Maritime Museum charges $10 for general admission ($15 with the submarine tour), and the Perth Mint is free to enter but charges for its Gold Tour.
Can I visit the Cultural Centre museums in one day?
Yes. Boola Bardip, AGWA and PICA all sit within the same Northbridge precinct, a few minutes’ walk apart. Most do the museum in the morning, then the galleries after lunch. Just watch the hours: AGWA is closed Tuesdays, and PICA’s galleries don’t open until 12pm.
What time does PICA open?
PICA’s galleries open at 12pm, Tuesday to Sunday, and close at 5pm. The building and the Picabar open earlier, at 10am, which catches some visitors out. PICA is closed on Mondays.
Is the Perth Mint Gold Tour worth it?
For most visitors, yes. The live gold pour, holding a 5kg gold bar and minting your own medallion are all included in the $26 adult ticket. Book ahead on weekends, and remember the Mint takes card only.
How do I get to the Fremantle museums?
Take the train to Fremantle station, about 30 minutes from the Perth CBD. The Shipwrecks Museum on Cliff Street and the Maritime Museum at Victoria Quay are both a short walk from there, close enough to do both in one visit.
Planning your visit
With one day, the Perth Cultural Centre cluster gives the most variety for the least effort, with two of the three venues free (or free for under-16s at Boola Bardip). With a second day, pair the two Fremantle museums and explore the rest of the port city. To map your route by train and CAT, start with our Perth public transport guide.