MTB Long-Weekend Getaways from Perth
The Steady Rack shuttle leaves the corner of Gunjin Road and Mundaring Weir Road at 8am on Sundays. Forty minutes from the Perth CBD, Mt Gunjin's black descents — Luvin Shovels, Lancaster, Loco en el Coco — already have a queue. That's the close option. Drive three hours south to Nannup and WA Adventure Shuttles is loading riders for Tank 7's gravity network through tall pines. Add another twenty minutes west and Linga Longa's Gravity Day pass is selling out for a valley with 200 metres of vertical and fifteen double-black trails that Sam Hill had a hand in shaping.
Perth riders have it well. The city sits close enough to the Perth Hills for a day spin but within striking range of WA's South West, which quietly assembled one of the strongest regional MTB networks in the country over the last five years. Here are the best mtb weekend trips Perth riders should have on the calendar this season — ranked from closest to furthest from the city.
Quick picks
- Closest XC to the CBD: Kalamunda Trails — 40 min east, 40–50 km of one-way singletrack, free
- Premier South West gravity: Nannup Tank 7 — 3 hr south, 35 km purpose-built network, WA Adventure Shuttles
- Private gravity park: Linga Longa — 2.5–3 hr south, Sam Hill-designed Rocket Rock, gravity days only — book ahead
- Karri loam classic: Pemberton — 3 hr 20 min south, famously grippy dark dirt, Relentless Blue black descent
- Three-park South West loop: Margaret River cluster — Wooditjup + The Creek + Middle Earth within 25 km of each other, wine country overnight
Which mtb weekend trips from Perth are worth the drive?
| Destination | Drive from CBD | Style focus | Overnight town | Uplift / shuttle | Seasonal? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kalamunda Trails | 40 min | XC / trail / gravity | Kalamunda | Volunteer Sunday shuttle | Year-round* |
| Nannup Tank 7 | 3 hr | Gravity / flow / DH | Nannup | WA Adventure Shuttles | Year-round* |
| Linga Longa | 2.5–3 hr | Gravity / DH / enduro | Balingup or Bridgetown | Operator-run — gravity days only | Approx. Mar–Nov |
| Pemberton | 3 hr 20 min | All-mountain / DH / XC | Pemberton | Self-shuttle — free | Year-round |
| Margaret River cluster | 3 hr | XC / flow / enduro | Margaret River | No commercial shuttle | Year-round |
*Kalamunda's State Forest sections may close on Total Fire Ban days in summer. Nannup Tank 7 is a working pine plantation — occasional short closures for harvesting; check the Experience Nannup App before driving.
Which mtb weekend trips from Perth suit my riding style?
The right trip depends on what you're chasing. For XC and trail riding that doesn't require a multi-hour drive, Kalamunda is the answer and it's the park most Perth riders know best. If you want committed gravity in a properly built park, Nannup Tank 7 (Three Chillies-built network, commercial shuttle) and Linga Longa (private, scheduled days, ~200 m vertical) are both worth the three-hour drive south.
For riders who want loam — specifically the dark, tacky Karri loam that WA's Southern Forests are known for — Pemberton is the reason to make the trip. The Margaret River cluster suits riders who want variety across a weekend: Wooditjup's machine-built flow, The Creek's hand-built granite singletrack, and Middle Earth's 24 km maze all within 25 km of each other, with wine country overnight.
Kalamunda Trails — the Perth Hills home base
Forty minutes from the city, Kalamunda is where most Perth riders cut their teeth. The network spreads through Kalamunda National Park and the surrounding Pickering Brook State Forest, with 83 trails and roughly 40–50 km of one-way singletrack graded to IMBA standards — about 6 km green, 34 km blue, and a handful of blacks anchored by the Mt Gunjin gravity pocket.
The Mt Gunjin trails were built by Dirt Art — the same Tasmanian builders behind Blue Derby — and the quality shows: Luvin Shovels, Lancaster and Loco en el Coco are proper descents with real consequence, not just fast doubletrack. The KMBC Steady Rack volunteer shuttle runs most Sundays from 8am to noon at the corner of Gunjin Road and Mundaring Weir Road — roughly $40 for 10 uplifts, $60 for 20, cash or EFT. School-holiday weekends book out fast; arrive early or message KMBC ahead.
Beyond Gunjin, the network suits every level. The Shake, Rattle 'n' Roll skills loop and the Black Stump Pump Track (built 2012) are close to trailheads, while six themed loops — including the original Kalamunda Circuit from 2011 and the longer Farrell Grove route — give riders predictable options without map-reading. Calamunda Camel Farm has a café and Rock and Roll Mountain Biking runs bike hire on site; Kalamunda township is five minutes further for a proper meal.
The Munda Biddi Trail — 1,000 km Perth to Albany — passes through the network; Common Ground Trails has an approved 2022 plan for another 18 km of new trail plus parking upgrades, with staged construction rolling through 2026. If you're returning in 12 months, this network will be bigger.
For a family day out, Lake Leschenaultia (45 minutes from the CBD in Chidlow) pairs a 12 km beginner MTB network with a swimming lake, café and sealed pump track — the right call if you're bringing riders who aren't ready for Kalamunda's laterite climbs.
Nannup Tank 7 — Three Chillies in the pines
Three Chillies Design spent three build stages (June 2020 – March 2022) carving trails through Shire of Nannup pine plantation. The result: about 35 km of purpose-built gravity and flow riding — Tank 7's zone handles freestyle and flow, Tank 8 goes technical, and the 3.4 km Tank to Tank traverse links them. The Ngoolark MTB Freestyle Jump Park (opened June 2024, 2 km north of town) adds two polymer-stabilised jump lines on a converted motocross site.
The character runs "rough and rocky to fast and flowing." Mannup is the headline double-black, with a bespoke wood-and-steel feature the park built specifically for the line. Slippery Gypsy and Flylacine are the committed blacks. Easy Tiger (blue, 1.7 km) is the descent most riders will lap three times. WA Adventure Shuttles runs commercial uplift to Tank 7 Lookout; private vehicles are not permitted on the trail network.
Nannup is a genuine trail town rather than just a carpark in the bush. Three Tanks Cycling in the town centre has bike hire, a mechanic and lockers. The Stairway to Seven (1.7 km blue climb) links the town to Tank 7 without the shuttle — if you want to earn your laps. A bike café, the Munda Biddi midpoint marker, and a volunteer club (NMBC, 70+ members) fill out the infrastructure.
The town hosts the UCI Gravel World Championships from 4–11 October 2026, alongside the G7 Gravel Adventure Week — if you're timing a trip and want the destination at full volume, that's the window.
Linga Longa — WA's private gravity park
Nothing in WA operates quite like Linga Longa. It sits on 700 acres of private property near Balingup — around 18 km from town, run by the Eaton family — and only opens on scheduled Gravity Days, WAGE (WA Gravity Enduro) event weekends, and pre-booked private days. A locked gate greets you outside those windows.
On an open day, the park offers about 200 m of vertical across 24 trails — 15 of them double-black. Rocket Rock, the original DH line, was co-designed with Sam Hill. Boxer's Blast is a Three Chillies Design flow/jump descent with large tabletops and berms. Smoke on the Water is the longest line, with the most vertical in the park (~204 m / 669 ft). The skills park has four lines of progressive wooden drops, and the café runs most public gravity days.
The operator runs the shuttle — private shuttling is banned. Day parking is
Check the Public Gravity Days calendar before planning the drive — there is no point heading three hours south if nothing is on the schedule. WAGE Round 8 runs at Linga Longa on 7–8 November 2026, which sells out. Balingup and Bridgetown are the closest towns with proper services.
Pemberton — the Karri loam pilgrimage
Riders who haven't ridden Karri loam before usually struggle to describe it. Dark, almost-black topsoil, slightly moist and grippy underfoot in a way that dry laterite never quite is. The Pemberton Mountain Bike Park has been trading on it since 2007, and it still makes people fly across from the eastern states specifically for the surface.
Thirty kilometres of singletrack thread Main Hill and Pump Hill on the north-west edge of town. The signature trails lean gravity: Relentless Blue (the black that WA riders name-check to establish credentials), Bloody Mary, and the steep Nationals and Wahoo. Cool Running (blue, the long cruise) is the right call for getting oriented before committing to anything serious. A polypave/dirt pump track and 1.5 km XC skills loop sit at the trailhead for warm-up laps.
The 2025 news: the Arboretum Forest network is opening progressively through 2025–26, roughly 20 km of machine-built green and blue flow designed by Three Chillies. It tips the total destination well past 50 km. The Relentless Blue MTB Challenge runs the first weekend in May every year — if you can organise a group around that date, the town fills and the post-ride energy is worth the trip alone.
Bike hire from Pemberton General Store (7:30am–7pm daily). No commercial shuttle service. Pemberton town is 2 km from the trailhead — cafés, a bakery, pubs. The Pemberton Cycling Association runs volunteer maintenance; DBCA manages the surrounding State Forest land.
The Margaret River cluster — three parks, one weekend
WA's densest MTB zone is the 30 km stretch between Busselton and Augusta, taking in Wooditjup, The Creek Trails and Middle Earth. Three parks within 25 km of each other, all connected by the 46 km Wadandi Track rail trail — you can ride between them without a car if staying in Margaret River town.
Wooditjup is the largest, with 36 trails across Compartment 10, The Pines and Wharncliffe (~45 km combined). The flow orientation is immediately obvious: fast berms, machine-built rollers, trails named Senderella, Gulliver's Travels, Happily Ever After. Common Ground Trails designed it and Magic Dirt built it. The WA Gravity Enduro Series ran Round 1 through The Pines in March 2025; MRORCA holds the annual Enduro Jam community event there. Rotary Park trailhead on Carters Road is the start, 10 minutes from town via the Wadandi Track.
The Creek Trails sit on the south side of Carters Road — the rough, older-school counterpart to Wooditjup's machine-built flow. Forty trails, mostly hand-built, through tight gum forest and granite outcrops: Goobers Pool (descent), Classic Creek (long cruise), Valley Girls and Trail of Discontent (jump lines), Western Suburbs (committed rock and root). An hour here after a morning on Wooditjup rounds out the day; the character shifts enough that it doesn't feel like more of the same.
Middle Earth is 25 km north in Metricup — 24 km of hand-built singletrack described by most riders as impossible to navigate without a local or a map. Rod Lakelin and Pete Battye built it over a decade as a personal project; it became the final stage of the Cape to Cape MTB Stage Race (15–18 October 2026). The Beerfarm Metricup is 1 km from the trailhead — taproom, garden, wood-fired kitchen — and defines the post-ride culture at this park.
Stringing parks together
The natural Perth Hills two-day run: Kalamunda on Saturday (catch the Steady Rack shuttle from 8am for the Gunjin descents, cross-country loops in the afternoon), Lake Leschenaultia on Sunday if legs are light or you're bringing kids. Both are under 45 minutes from the city — no accommodation required.
For the South West: Nannup and Pemberton are just over an hour apart on the South Western Highway. Drive down Friday night, Tank 7 on Saturday (shuttle from 8am), Pemberton on Sunday (leave Nannup by 8:30am and you'll be at the trailhead before 10), drive home Monday. Base in Nannup or Bridgetown.
The Margaret River cluster makes the cleanest two-night trip: Wooditjup on Saturday, The Creek in the morning plus Middle Earth in the afternoon on Sunday (or Middle Earth on Saturday evening after Wooditjup if legs are willing). Margaret River town has solid food, wine bars and multiple bike shops with workshop bays.
The WA trails map shows the full spread across the state. The Top 10 MTB Parks in WA has more depth on individual parks, trail counts and shuttle details.
FAQ
How close is the nearest MTB park to Perth CBD? Kalamunda Trails is roughly 40 minutes east — 83 trails, 40–50 km of one-way singletrack in Kalamunda National Park and the surrounding State Forest, free to ride. The KMBC Steady Rack volunteer shuttle accesses the Mt Gunjin black-diamond descents on select Sundays (~$40 for 10 uplifts). For the northern suburbs, Yalbunullup in Joondalup is under 30 minutes from the city.
Is Linga Longa open to the public? Only on scheduled days. The park runs Public Gravity Days on select dates (roughly April–November) plus WAGE event weekends and pre-booked private days. Check the Public Gravity Days calendar before making the drive — riding outside scheduled events is not permitted. Day parking is
Is Pemberton worth the 3.5-hour drive from Perth? For a long weekend, yes — especially combined with Nannup (just over an hour to the north-east). The Karri loam surface is genuinely unlike anything closer to Perth, Relentless Blue and Bloody Mary are proper gravity trails, and the new Arboretum trails (~20 km, 2025 onwards) mean the destination is larger than older trail maps suggest.
What is the best time of year to ride the South West WA parks? Autumn through spring (March–November) is the window most local riders favour. Nannup, Pemberton and Margaret River all ride year-round, but summer heat (December–February) can be brutal and fire-danger restrictions occasionally close State Forest sections. Spring (September–November) brings wildflowers at Pemberton and Nannup, and the cooler air before the heat hits makes the longer shuttled descents noticeably more enjoyable.
Do I need a full-suspension bike for Perth-area trails? For Kalamunda's XC loops and the Margaret River flow trails, a hardtail handles fine. For Mt Gunjin shuttles, Nannup's gravity network, or any Linga Longa Gravity Day, full suspension is strongly recommended — the double-black trails at Linga Longa are built for enduro or DH bikes. The Pemberton blacks (Relentless Blue, Bloody Mary) reward full suspension but are technically rideable on a hardtail with care.
Is there accommodation near these parks? Kalamunda and Lake Leschenaultia are day-trip distance from Perth. For South West trips: Nannup has holiday cottages and a riverside caravan park; Bridgetown and Balingup work for Linga Longa access; Pemberton has multiple accommodation options; Margaret River is the most developed base for the cluster, with wineries, restaurants and holiday rentals throughout the region.
Plan your trip
Shuttle bookings: WA Adventure Shuttles for Nannup Tank 7 (check schedule on their site directly). KMBC Steady Rack for Kalamunda Mt Gunjin — select Sundays, 8am–noon. Linga Longa Public Gravity Days: lingalongabikepark.com. Pemberton Relentless Blue MTB Challenge (first weekend May): pembertoncycling.com.au.
The WA trails map covers every park in this guide and lets you filter by difficulty or region.