Rottnest Island All-Inclusive Grand Island Tour from Fremantle

Not very interesting

I was a bit bored on this trip. The commentary on the bus was hard to hear, and what I did hear was the driver mostly pointing out things. The gun part of the trip was so detailed. Only an engineer needs that level of detail. What about information on how the men and women who worked there lived? The packed lunch was surprisingly good. We couldn't find the train station and we weren't alone. And one last thing- more time at the end of the tour to do shopping would have been appreciated. Tours like this are great for day trippers, but this one needs an overhaul.

A cold day

Very efficient guide. The tour of the guns and tunnels was superb. The guide could have spoken less. A grey day - not her fault

Great tour

We really enjoyed this tour and learnt a lot about Rottnest Island. The ferry/train/bus tour combination was perfect, it covered so much of the island and its history plus we saw a few quokkas along the way 😁 Lunch was great and we had the most spectacular view. The drivers and guides really went the extra mile to make the tour really enjoyable and memorable. Highly recommended

An interesting place to visit and get up close with those darling quokkas.

The island is still quite unspoilt except for the main ferry landing which seemed a bit commercial to us. We had booked a ferry from Fremantle (cheaper than leaving from Perth) and had the train/bus tour of the island (the Grand tour). This was very interesting as we took the train to the cannon lookout and inspected the wartime tunnels, followed by a wrap lunch and bottle of water followed by a bus tour around the island. This was very enjoyable as we stopped at a few places for coastal scenery and ending up amongst the quokkas being able to get up close for photos. Afternoon trip back on the ferry was a little bumpy but OK. The coffee shop at the ferry landing on Rottnest was not cheap but the food was OK. The ticket office had overbooked the bus by 2 people which meant that my partner and I were unable to sit together and some older people on the bus who also had to sit apart kept looking at us as if we were responsible for their separation. This was rather disturbing and spoilt the overall experience. Our bus guide was excellent as were the staff at the cannon lookout.

Comprehensive tour of a historical and beautiful island

Comprehensive tour of beautiful Rottnest Island. Free time from the arrival of the ferry before the tour actually starts is sufficient time to visit the small museum and a few shops. The train and Olive Hill gun experience was interesting—there are stairs and walking on uneven surfaces. The bus tour goes from one end to the other, but felt rushed. Couldn’t hear or understand the guide some of the time. Would have liked more time at the few stops on the tour. You have to choose to either see the sight or go to the bathroom; not enough time for both. Time was constrained due to the ferry schedule.

Fabulous day out !!

Great experience, seamless and well run .. thank you sea link for making the day .. and for the ice pops .. the staff were great !!

Safe and comfortable journey to Rottnest

Safe and timely ferry to Rottnest. Friendly staff and lots of room on the boat to sit and place your bags

Wonderful day

The train trip was very entertaining on the way to Oliver Hill. We had lunch there after an informative tour of the Gun and Tunnel tour. Our bus driver Wayne capped it off with a fantastic tour of the Island explaining it's history and all its outstanding features. He went above and beyond to make sure everyone had a comfortable and enjoyable day.

Fantasic tour - be carefull with parking plan a head.

Great tour. You will see Quoka's they are everywhere even in the Pubs. If you catch the Rotnest Express there is only 3 Hour parking. But they don't tell you that before you get there. We had to park 20 mins away and pay over $30 for the day for parking. be carefull.

Grand Island Tour

The train ride and Oliver Hill with the WW11 gun. Far too long on the bus going to see different bays it would have been more enjoyable to have been able to stop in day Paradise bay for a swim.

Family trip to WA

The trip was very informative. It was a good choice as opposed to biking around the island which is quite hilly in parts. There could possibly been more signage with respect to where you actually need to be to join the tour. A lot of people in our group were quite confused. The bus was very comfortable and the staff were all very approachable and the light lunch was nice. I would definitely recommend the tour overall.

Overall very good and interesting, well worth it.

The whole experience was memorable from the ferry rides to the tour. It was a little rushed and I would suggest you mix the tour with an overnight stay and hop on/off bus ride at your leisure as well. You need more than a day to see it properly. I was disappointed the train ride was unavailable and there was no mention of this when booking

Fabulous day

We had a fabulous day in the island. Seamless boat trip even though Mother Nature was having a rough day! We booked the island tour and throughly enjoyed the tour, learning about the island and seeing the WWII tunnels. Thank you and highly recommended

Good way of seeing Rottnest

Booked this tour before I left the UK, the price included the ferry return from Fremantle to Rottnest and a bus tour around Rottnest which included lunch. There are cheaper ways of seeing Rottnest, including tours which incorporate the ferry tours and bicycle hire but as I don’t ride a bike and cannot walk any distance this is the best way to see the island. The ferry ride over and back was on time and smooth, they also handed out free ice pops which was a nice touch. There is a bar on board serving coffees and snacks too. The ride takes about 30 minutes. Once we arrived on Rottnest there was about an 1 ½ hours until the bus departed so time for a coffee and to make friends with some quokkas. They are everywhere and at the time of year I visited quite a few of the females have joeys on board too. They are very sweet. The bus was on tour and our driver/guide was very knowledgeable. He gave a running commentary throughout the tour. However this is only given in English and not all the passengers on the bus appeared to speak English so they continued their conversations throughout, making it difficult to hear the driver at times. I eventually asked them to keep quiet which they did fortunately. The coach does a complete circuit of the island. It does state that there is a short trip on the railway but this is not working at the moment so that part of the trip didn’t happen. The trip includes driving past various landmarks and iconic beaches, until you arrive at The Oliver Hill Battery, a WWII gun emplacement. The coach dropped us off and the guides there took us around the site, giving a detailed explanation. There is the option to go down some steep steps into the tunnels, but I can not do this at the moment as I have restricted mobility. When the coach came back the driver bought our lunches, chicken or falafel wraps, a cookie and a bottle of water. The wraps were very tasty and fresh. We ate at the picnic tables at the site before getting back on the coach to complete our tour along the north side of the island. Here we had the opportunity to get off the coach briefly to look at a couple of the most beautiful bays and beaches, before getting back into the little settlement of Thomson Bay in time to catch the ferry back. I enjoyed this tour and thought it was good value for money. We were warned in advance that the train trip might not happen and they had adjusted the trip to take account of this.

Over priced

There was no train rides, bus was not well ventilated. Price was in US dollars (beware when booking). The only positive was the guide was friendly.

Top spot

Excellent day trip. Ferry out and back on time and comfortable, friendly competant staff. Volunteers on the island only too keen to help. Grand Island tour was very well done. Terrific driver and excellent volunteer tour guide showed us the big gun and associated tunnels. Quokkas are gorgeous.

Scenic place

Many scenic areas. Unfortunate that it was raining. Took the grand island tour. Enjoyed the tunnel and gun tour.

Great way to see the island in a day

We travelled with my elderly parents so this was the best way for them to see as much as they could with limited walking. Kevin was our driver and he clearly has a passion for the island and was entertaining and happy to share his experiences. A boxed lunch is included and we ate this on the train to the tunnel tour. The train is unique and the scenery is beautiful. The tunnel tour is very interesting, there are many steps and not suitable if you have limited mobility but there is a place to sit and wait in the shade and enjoy the view.

Expensive but it covers pretty much everything.

We wouldn’t normally do a tour as such, we are very much do it ourselves kind of people, but that’s kind of not possible here as my wife doesn’t do bikes. So we did the whole hog and took on the quite expensive tour. This suited us better as otherwise you’d need at least two days here to get right round the island and check out everything. I think this tour pretty much covered everything that we needed to see, but it was a little pricey. But if you’ve got limited time, this would be a good option. The island itself I found a little disappointing. Very busy, and lots of people lying on the ground next to sleepy quokka

QUOKKAS

Great day out, lots to see. Very nuice guide. Beautiful views and friendly Quokkas! Sandwich and cookie was yummy.

Grand Tour

Not interested in just seeing beaches..I thought there would be more. That is it. I don't want to say more.

4hr tour, don't do it.

I took the extended island tour 4hrs instead of the 1.5hr tour, thinking it would be a longer tour of the island on the bus, and more time to see different parts of the island. On the 4hr tours, you do the exact some tour as the 1.5hr tour, except they get off, the train wasn't running that day,which I was informed when I bought the ticket. We then stayed on the bus, someone brought the food on for us, they took us to the gun, we sat and had our food by the gun, 30 -45mins, then had the gun tour by the volunteers, and had the bus back to the bus station. Had I'd known this, i would have done the 1,5hr tour, and I have done the rest on my own. I'd probably bought a ticket for the hop on hop off bus. I think the 4hr trip has a limited start time, probably for the lunch time snack, which made it leave 10:45, so difficult to join in free volunteers tours.i hope this helps anyone considering this tour.

Excellent to see Rottnest Island highlights

Great way to see the highlights on Rottnest Island and take photos with a few quokkas whilst there. Quite a lot to see so didn't manage to have a dip in the water but looking forward to another trip to do just that next time.

Disappointed with such an expensive tour per head.

We did not get to ride on the train due to mechanical problem and there is no refund for it. The lunch is just a chicken wrap with a bottle of water. Meeting the quokka is by ourselves and by luck.

Worth the trip!

We loved the Driver of our bus He was amazing and informative and so funny. I normally don’t enjoy bus trips, but this guy put it to a different level. We also appreciated the small gauge railway trip out to Oliver Hill. It’s an exceptionally beautiful island and it was fun to see the little quokka everywhere. No need to go to the zoo to see these guys.

Average

There was only 1 opportunity to get off the bus to take photo's which was not long enough. We were expected to take 99% of our photo's through the dirty bus windows. They checked our lunch order when getting on the bus & still got it very wrong. They failed to mention the amount of stairs at the gun tour which was not suitable for 1 family member. Apparently the tour guides tell you when you arrive & the company has not listened to them about advertising it. They need more photo's on their advertising about this and give more off bus photo opportunities.

Grand tour

Good overview. Guides gave very comprehensive tour of island. Need meet and greet person when arriving on island . Somewhat confusing as to need for actual ticket as bus driver has all names therefore ticket not relevant

What a day!

the ferry was enjoyable and efficient, our bus tour showed us so much more of the island than we would have seen and Leigh was a terrific guide full of information. the lunch was surprisingly good, and Jason gave us a great train ride (and extra consideration!) plenty of time to wander and look out for quokkas,

A bit boring

Great views of all the beaches but you don't get to stop at any. Better to take a hop on hop off bus. The train ride is boring and not much to see

Great overview of Rotto!

This is a great tour for an overview of the island. It was a bit confusing finding the tour bus, but after asking helpful Island staff, we found it. The bus tour was great as our guide drove us around the entire island. Some beautiful views! The train ride up to Oliver Battery was beautiful. Oliver Battery was very cool! The Gun & Tunnels tour was fascinating & the volunteer guides were fabulous.

My experience

The bus ride and train ride that include Oliver hill tour was great. There isn’t any sign board to indicate where to wait for the tour bus after we arrived at the island. Would be good to have some clear signage that guide new visitors to the island and joining the tour.

Overview only

Overview of a beautiful and historic island. However if you want to spend any time snorkeling or actually spending any time at any of the bays, stay overnight. The bus barely stops…the bus tour should be at least a 1/2 hour long so there is time to stop.

Beautiful Waters

This is one of the most beautiful islands I've seen. I really enjoyed the complete tour of the island, including the train ride to see the WWII gun structures and tunnels. I will tell my biking friends that they should spend a week on Rottnest. Of course, seeing the sweet quokkas was a high light.

Rottnest perfection

The whole day was amazing The tour guide Peter was excellent and very informative The access to facilities was perfect

The quokkas are super...

The quokkas are super cute, beautiful scenery and highlights of the island and oliver hill tour is a good one. But will be good if we can alight one more stop at seal viewing platform or pinky beach

Great day out with some quokas

Caught the first ferry so had plenty of time to look around and find some quokas. We did in no time they were everywhere. Had a walk to lighthouse, morning tea with some quokas, then went on train tour which was good and interesting . Lunch supplied was good. The train had run late because 5 tourists were lost so we had to wait for them which made our bus tour start late. That was very informative and somehow we made up time and managed to get back just in time for our return ferry.

Ferry timetable debacle!

Ticketed time not departure time, left waiting on cold wharf, not good end to otherwise great tour of picturesque & historical Rottnest.

Dat trip to Rottnest Island

The Oliver Hill tour was great and very interesting as regards to what was done by Australian soldiers in the tunnels and the gunnery.

Quokka visit

Was a great trip, very informative guides. Would have liked a bit more time for photos. We had lunch provand in was really fresh and just enough. Yes we saw Quokka's.

Rottnest island

Stayed at one of the heritage houses north thompson bay. So nice right on the front with everything we needed. So cannot wait to go back again.

Poor lead-up information

The tour was great but the information about where to go and what to do beforehand left us a bit lost initially.

paradise

I spent one day there, and I would love to go back, one day is just not enough, just beautiful. the waters are crystal clear, cute little quokkas everywhere, a gorgeous peacock hanging around the pub grounds, seals, a special experience. We took our own lunch there is a store there and also a bakery with a fantastic selection of goods. A must go experience. Thumbs up.

A beautiful day in Rotto.

The ferry was on time Getting to the wharf on the free bus was easy.There was plenty of comfortable seating. Getting to the bus was more difficult as there were no street signs. Once aboard the driver was knowledgable and gave time for photos. The train ride was great enabling passengers to see other areas of the island and the war tunnels and gun sights. The lunch was good but the biscuits were loose in a large paper bag. Not so good. There was more walking than I thought. Saw a quokka as I went to the return ferry.

Fantastic Day Out

We were only in Perth for a few days and had Rottnest Island as a must do. We decided to go with SeaLink and weren't disappointed. The crews on the ferries were friendly and made sure the ride over and back were as smooth as possible. The Island tour was great and the tour leader was very informative and funny. Travelling on the train to the Oliver Hill gun site was a bonus and the tour of the site itself was amazing. We had ample time after the tours to have an ice cream and obtain our selfies with the local Quokkas. It was a great day out well organised and certainly value for money.

A good overview of Rottnest when you only have a day.

Friendly tour guides, interesting details provided. A convenient way to see a lot of the island, especially during a record-breaking heatwave. Would have liked a bit more information pre-departure to make clear the instructions of where to go and what would happen at each stage, as well as a short summary of what we would be seeing. However, we went with the flow and had a great day. Quokkas really are very cute.

Great day, but.....

We really enjoyed the tour, but...it’s not really a tour. You make your own way to the island on the ferry and then have over an hour before walking to the station to start the tour. Another downside for us was the the train is not running! So why do we have to walk out to the station? The rest of the trip was by bus and was as we expected, although we came back into town after visiting the tunnels and lunch was taken on a public bench - fortunately there was room, but there was only 5 of us; could have been a lot more, what do they do then. The trip was due to conclude at 3:30 we were dropped in town at 3:10 and that was it until time to get the return ferry. Longer time at stops would have been better, especially as were back early. We saw a couple of quokkas from the bus, but fortunately there are plenty of them in town when walking around and they are very tame. All in all a good day, but we could have done it on our own!

Chau Kwok Wai

Overall it was a good arrangement, but the instructions on how to meet at B shed could be improved. It wasn't clear we have to go to the blue counter to exchange for the ferry bar code. Just one sentence will make things much easier, don't need to ask around.

Great visit to Rottnest island!

Had a really well rounded visit on the Grand Island Tour of Rotto! Visited the main observatory points and got the blessing of really low tides, great weather where the Sea Lions came to busk in the Sun. Guides were fantastic and we enjoyed a very passionate tour by Volunteer Guide at Oliver Hill Gun Battery. We were amazed and decided to push back our ferry time, rented bicycles to visit the lovely clear beaches; and see more quokkas :) Unfortunately the Captain Hussey Train still wasn't ready on 1 Dec but all's good!

Great tour - exceptional value

A great all day tour , travelling all Over the island seeing all The sites and then going up to the gun and listening to the guide was great, Finish with a nice drink over looking Thompson Bay before catching the ferry back Quokka everywhere

Great tour, great guides, great place 👍

This tour was EXCELLENT!! Rottnest Island is a beautiful location and this bus tour is a really good way to experience it. The tour is split in 2 with the morning tour around the Island, which goes right to the very end of the Island (west end), which is about 25kms drive from the ferry port. West End is beautiful, wild & much less crowded than the Ferry Port area. The tour is a great way to get out to this end of the Island, which would have taken most of the day and quite a few hills if I had opted for a push bike rental, which is the most common mode of transport on the Island. Lunch was provided and consisted of a delicious chicken salad wraps and vegetarian option was also available as a pre order. We were even joined for lunch by some very friendly Quokkas. After lunch the second part of the tour takes you up to Oliver Hill, which is the location of an old WW2 gun and engine room. The volunteer guide at the site gave us a really informative tour around the site and was clearly passionate about the history of the site and preservation work. I would thoroughly recommend this tour. The guides were really good and the whole thing ran like clockwork from start to finish.