AustraliaIsland

Rottnest Island

18.5 km² of land in the Geographe Bay.

Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.

In numbers

18.5km²

Area

37km

Coastline

19m

Highest point

334

People

22°C

Warmest sea

March

17km

To the mainland

When to go to Rottnest Island

Best for the beach from December to April.

The sea is warmest in March (22 °C) and coolest in September (19 °C). Comfortable swimming (21 °C or more): from January to June.

22°26°19°

Jan2

22°27°20°

Feb2

22°26°19°

Mar3

22°23°18°

Apr5

22°21°16°

May10

21°19°14°

Jun14

20°18°14°

Jul16

19°18°14°

Aug14

19°18°14°

Sep11

19°20°14°

Oct6

20°22°16°

Nov5

21°25°18°

Dec2

Sea temperature (the water level) Air: night low to afternoon high Wet days Best months

Averages 1991–2020. Sea: NOAA OISST, the water within 35 km of the coast. Air, rain and sun: NASA POWER. Best months weigh warm afternoons (23–30 °C), sea of 24 °C or more and few wet days.

Island near Perth, Western Australia

Rottnest Island is an island in Australia. It covers 18.5 km², with 37 km of coastline. Its highest point rises to 19 m. About 334 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 17 km away.

Getting there

Perth International Airport (PER)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 43 km in a straight lineCar hire at PER airport (Perth)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
Ferries1 ferry terminals on the island
17 km from the mainlanddistance to the nearest continental coast
From December to Aprilbest months to go (from 30 years of averages)

Plan the trip

Ferries, stays and things to do

Car hire at PER airport (Perth)Discover CarsSee

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

On the island

What you find on Rottnest Island.

53beachesPinky Beach, The Basin, Rocky Bay and 50 more
24viewpointsVlamingh Lookout, Jeannies Lookout, 360 view and 21 more
3lighthousesWadjemup Lighthouse, Bathurst Lighthouse
1ferry terminalsThomson Bay Ferry Landing
16named peaksWadjemup Hill, Bare Hill, White Hill and 13 more
2castles and fortsEngine Room and Regimental Aid Post, 6 Inch Breach Loading Gun
99ruins and archaeological sitesPlotting Room, Old Wind Turbine, Bunker (Ru) and 96 more
15waymarked walking routesWardan Nara Bidi (Salmon Bay), Gabbi Karniny Bidi (The Lakes), Ngank Yira Bidi (Bickley Bay) and 12 more
1campsites
194hotels, guesthouses and apartments
14restaurants, cafés and bars

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, inside the island's outline. A low number may only mean nobody has mapped it yet.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Rottnest Island in our other atlases

Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Rottnest Island, each with its own numbers.

7beaches and covesCoastya
3lakesLakeyas

Largest lake
0.91km²
Government House Lake
according to Lakeyas
Warmest lake
26.2°C
Serpentine Lake
surface water, warmest month · according to Lakeyas
Beach with the warmest sea
22.5°C
Ricey Beach
sea in the warmest month · according to Coastya

7 beaches

on Coastya, the beach atlas

Paterson Beach22.3°C
Catherine Beach22.3°C
Ricey Beach22.5°C
Lady Edeline Beach22.4°C
Nancy Covecove22.3°C
Mary Covecove22.4°C
Mable Covecove22.4°C

Open Coastya ↗

3 lakes

on Lakeyas, the lake atlas

Government House Lake0.91km²
Lake Baghdad0.44km²
Serpentine Lake0.20km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

The shape of the land.

On average the island stands 10 m above the sea. 100 % of it is below 200 m.

100 %0–50 m

Share of the island's area in each altitude band, from the Copernicus DEM (30 m, read at 30–240 m on large islands).

Size, for real

Next to islands you may know.

Rottnest Island19 km²

Manhattan54 km²

Capri10 km²

5 km

All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).

Month by month

The weather on the island.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Afternoon high (°C)	26	27	26	23	21	19	18	18	18	20	22	25
Night low (°C)	19	20	19	18	16	14	14	14	14	14	16	18
Sea (°C)	22	22	22	22	22	21	20	19	19	19	20	21
Rain (mm)	18	17	20	34	84	113	128	106	70	32	25	12
Wet days	2	2	3	5	10	14	16	14	11	6	5	2
Sun h/day	12.1	11.2	10.0	8.1	7.0	6.1	6.1	7.0	8.4	10.1	11.5	12.4
Wind (km/h)	25	24	23	20	21	22	22	22	22	22	24	25

Averages 1991–2020 for the ~55 km NASA POWER cell over the island; the sea from NOAA OISST.

Recent years

Warmer and cooler years at sea.

Each month's sea temperature compared with its 1991–2020 average, in degrees.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2020	+0.4	+0.2	+0.6	+0.4	±0.0	+0.3	+1.1	+0.5	+0.7	+0.6	+0.4	+0.2
2021	+0.6	−0.1	+0.3	+0.6	+0.4	+0.4	+0.8	+0.2	±0.0	+0.3	−0.3	+0.5
2022	+1.1	+1.3	+0.9	+0.5	−0.1	−0.1	+0.4	+0.5	+0.2	+0.1	−0.6	+0.3
2023	±0.0	+0.2	+0.6	±0.0	−0.4	−0.4	−0.8	−0.2	±0.0	+0.5	+0.7	+0.9
2024	+0.9	±0.0	−0.5	−0.1	+0.8	+0.8	+0.1	+0.3	+0.5	+0.6	+0.3	+0.9
2025	+1.6	+1.7	+1.2	+1.5	+1.2	+0.9	±0.0	−0.2	+0.3	+0.6	+0.7	+0.8

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

Photos

Seen by visitors.

Rottnest Island coastline near Parker Point 01 — Pedro Szekely from Los Angeles, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0

The Basin, Rottnest Island — Hesperian · CC BY 3.0

The Basin on Rottnest Island in 2019 — Dr-ziego · CC0

Wind turbine on Rottnest Island — Christophe95 · CC BY-SA 4.0

About these numbers

Names, area, population	Wikidata (Q585317) · CC0
Outline	© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Sea temperature	NOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020
Climate	NASA POWER · 1991–2020
Relief, 3D model	Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails	© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Towns	GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Images	EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfalls	Coastya, Lakeyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST; HydroLAKES (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0, LakeTEMP (Korver et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beaches

Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit

lakes

Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit

mountains

Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit

waterfalls Cascadyas

Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit

islands

Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.You are here

rivers

Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit

canyons

Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit