Kings Park

Kings Park sits on the bluff of Mount Eliza immediately west of the Perth CBD and covers 400 hectares, making it one of the largest inner-city parks in the world. It is significantly larger than Central Park in New York (341 hectares) and more than double the size of Hyde Park in London. Roughly two-thirds of the park is natural bushland with walking tracks, and the remaining third contains the formal Kings Park and Botanic Garden, event spaces, memorials and lookouts.

The park has been managed as public land since 1872, making it one of the earliest urban parks in Australia, and has been the site of many of the most important civic events in Perth's history. The views from the park over the Perth CBD, the Swan River, South Perth and the Darling Ranges to the east are the signature outlook of the city, and the DNA Tower, Fraser Avenue and the State War Memorial all offer different angles.

The Kings Park Botanic Garden covers 17 hectares within the larger park and is focused on Western Australian plants, with more than 3,000 species represented. The annual Kings Park Festival in September celebrates the Western Australian wildflower season and is one of the biggest floral events in the southern hemisphere. The Lotterywest Federation Walkway, a 620 metre elevated steel and glass boardwalk through the canopy of a eucalypt forest, is one of the park's most-visited features.

Fraser Avenue, the main ceremonial entrance to the park from the city, is lined with enormous gum trees and ends at the State War Memorial, where an Anzac Day dawn service is held each year. The Pioneer Women's Memorial and the Synergy Parkland (the park's main children's play area) are both within 10 minutes walk of the main entrance.

Kings Park is open 24 hours a day and is free to enter. The most popular time is early morning for joggers and sunset for the views over the city, but the park is reliably busy at any time of year.