For most of Perth's history the city turned its back on the river at night. Elizabeth Quay fixed that, and a decade on it's quietly become the best free evening in town.

Start with the bridge

The pedestrian bridge is the quay's signature — a double arch that leans over the inlet like a drawn bow, and after dark it runs a slow cycle of colour along its spine and cables. Photographers stake out the eastern boardwalk on still nights, when the whole thing doubles itself in the water.

Do the lap

The full circuit of the inlet takes twenty unhurried minutes: past Spanda's nested rings (the sculpture Perth argued about for a year and now photographs constantly), around the island playground, along the marina where the swan-necked catamarans tie up, and back beneath the Bell Tower — which still rings its eighteen-bell peal on practice nights, some of those bells four centuries old and shipped from London.

Cross the water

The transperth ferry to Mends Street is Perth's shortest and best-value cruise — a few minutes across the black water with the city stacked up glowing behind you. Cross over for a gelato on the South Perth foreshore, then ride back with the skyline doing its full evening act.

Make a night of it

The quay's bars and dessert spots trade late, buskers hold the amphitheatre steps most weekends, and in festival season the whole precinct becomes a stage. But the core experience costs nothing: water, lights, bells, bridge. Take the person you're trying to impress.

Photo: Dietmar Rabich via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).