Things To Do In Swan Valley: Fun Beyond The Wineries

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When you think of Swan Valley, Western Australia’s oldest wine region, you probably imagine a day of wine tasting. But on our recent visit, we took a different approach—exploring the breweries, chocolate factories, and local producers that make this region just as exciting for non-wine lovers.

Don’t get me wrong, we love visiting wineries and can’t wait to do more of a Swan Valley winery trail on our next visit, but this time around, we only managed to visit one of the many wineries in the region.

With a packed itinerary, we spent the day indulging in sweet treats, discovering craft beer gems, and enjoying family-friendly stops along the way. If you’re looking for a fun-filled one day in Swan Valley beyond the wineries, this guide shares our top picks and must-visit spots!

Our One Day Swan Valley Itinerary

We stayed in Swan Valley for a week during February. The main reason wasn’t to explore the Swan Valley region though. It was simply because it was perfectly located near Simon’s brother’s wedding venue at the nearby Cracovia Polish Club.

But when you’re right on the doorstep of a place like the Swan Valley, you can bet we’re going to make time to explore it. And even if you’re not, Swan Valley is one of the best day trips from Perth since it’s so close to the city.

We only had one full day spare to do this, with another full day spent doing a Rottnest Island day trip, in between the many family events.

Thankfully you can fit a lot into a one day Swan Valley itinerary! And while this might not be your perfect itinerary, we hope that our itinerary gives you a bit of inspiration to help you plan your own.

Especially if you love breweries as much as Simon does!

Morning

We left our accommodation (Discovery Parks – Swan Valley) around 9 am to make the most of the day and reach our first stop soon after opening.

And why not start the day with chocolate?

Margaret River Chocolate Co.

On our first visit to Western Australia, we spent a few days in the Margaret River region, which is another famous winery region in WA. This is also where their main chocolate factory is and we loved it back then, so this was a good excuse to grab a few more delicious treats at their secondary outlet.

While smaller than their main site, this is still a huge chocolate shop with their yummy free samples and a cafe if you want to start the day with an indulgent breakfast! Don’t worry, not everything has chocolate in it!

There’s a grassy area for kids to run around too, which is sometimes needed when on a sugar high.

Grab some gifts to take home or a few treats for yourself. We did!

Providore

Located right next door to the chocolate factory is Providore, which is also a Margaret River business that has expanded into the Swan Valley.

This was the only winery we visited for the day, since they share their space with Coward & Black Vineyards, although wine isn’t their only focus. Providore have a huge range of sauces, marinades, jams, relishes, olive oils and dessert syrups.

This is another great place to grab some gourmet gifts to take home and try some samples, such as their lemon curd!

Swan Valley Station

When you’re visiting a winery region with kids, having places that are for families can really make a difference to the day. We always try to balance our grown-up stops with the kid-friendly ones and this was a favourite for the kids for the day.

Swan Valley Station is a little bit of lots of different things – it’s a nursery and garden shop. It’s a cafe. It’s a farm. It’s a gallery and it’s a playground!

One tip though, it gets crazy busy and hard to get a carpark so go really early or maybe in the afternoon, rather than the middle of the day. Even before 10 am, we struggled to find a carpark!

But it was a fun place to visit. There are picnic tables scattered through the grounds, along with play equipment and roaming chickens. They have a fenced area with goats who loved to come for pats and also some miniature horses that aren’t quite as friendly.

There is a dam down the back with sculptures around it, so you can do a bit of a sculpture walk. It only takes 5 or so minutes and it’s a bit of fun to see what you might spot.

We did not eat here, but the cafe seemed popular and this is a great place to visit with younger kids if you want to give them somewhere to roam free and play on the playground, while you enjoy a coffee and cake.

Bailey’s Brewing Co

Bailey’s Brewing Co is massive and a fantastic place to bring the kids for lunch or dinner!

There are loads of tables indoors and outdoors, outdoor TV screens and it’s dog-friendly, but best of all, there is an awesome playground that the kids loved.

They have used old trucks to create a rustic but very cool playground that even our big kids thought was great, with a flying fox, slides, and swings. Very creative.

We stopped here for a drink only. The menu was a fairly typical brewery menu – pizza, wings, fries, etc, and it looked fine, but we liked the menus elsewhere a little more. We would have been quite happy to spend a full afternoon here though.

Midday

In the afternoon, we swung back to our holiday park to pick up Simon’s parents, and his mum took over the driving so he could enjoy a few beers… which also meant we did back track a little on our itinerary.

Valley Social

Valley Social is a huge venue with indoor and outdoor seating and sprawling lawns. They have their own Spirit Lounge where they do gin and vodka tastings, both produced onsite. Plus they make their own beer too.

The food here was really good! We loved the beef burnt ends. Cooked to perfection! They have a great menu for sharing amongst friends or family and a little more on offer than some of the other breweries in the area.

Their beverage menu includes their own in-house spirits and beer, as well as other local Swan Valley ciders and wines, so you’ve got everyone covered.

There’s also a small playground for the kids, although our kids weren’t too fussed with it. It wasn’t a very exciting one. You could bring a frisbee or ball to throw on the grassy area though. And they give the kids an activity sheet and pencils to keep them entertained too.

Afternoon

At this point in the day we realised we weren’t likely to fit any wineries into our itinerary, since there were still a few places we wanted to squeeze in.

Funk Brewshed

Funk Brewshed was top of my list to visit as it is a cidery and I don’t drink beer. This is a new venue for them and it’s huge. They have 18 different craft ciders and beers on tap, and they do both beer and cider tasting paddles.

They have some really unique cider flavours too, many of which are limited edition and not available on tap, but you can try them in a pint or in bottle form to go.

The food here was good too, since we were having somewhat of a grazing lunch from place to place. We had the buffalo chicken wings and toasted Turkish bread.

What makes it great too is that it’s a family-friendly brewery, with mini golf for the kids. It wasn’t the greatest mini golf course, but it was free to play. Just leave your ID with the bar staff and get it back when you hand the equipment back afterwards.

There were also a few other yard games and the garden area is dog-friendly too.

Mash Brewing

Mash Brewing was our last drink stop for the day and Simon and his dad both got another beer paddle to try the Mash brews.

The venue is pretty cool, with lots of indoor and outdoor seating and a playground for the kids. They also have table activities and board games to play.

Although, our kids discovered an enormous tree outside the front entrance and ended up climbing that instead. Just be careful of tree sap!

We didn’t try the food here but the menu looked good.

Mondo Nougat & Morish Nuts

If you love your sweet treats, the next couple of stops are for you. Mondo Nougat and Morish Nuts share a building, so this is a two for one stop.

We didn’t get anything from Morish Nuts, but we did walk out with a lot of nougat. The soft vanilla was the winner! It is filled with macadamia nuts and is absolutely delish! The nougat bags are great gifts to take home too since they travel easily.

Whistler’s Chocolate Co

Yep, there’s another chocolate factory in the Swan Valley!

If you ask me which I like better, Whistler’s or Margaret River, I don’t know if I could pick. They are both delicious and have so many indulgent treats. But I think Whistler’s may be a little cheaper, in case you want more bang for your buck.

We love the Whistler’s chocolate coated pretzels. So much so that we went back again the day we flew home to grab another bag and some chocolate coated peanut brittle too. They didn’t last 2 days after we got home.

There is also a cafe here and a large outdoor area with picnic tables, play equipment and a sandpit if you have younger kids who need to get some energy out.

On Our List For Next Visit

Our list above does include most of the best breweries in Swan Valley, but since we ran out of time to visit anywhere else, there were a few places on our list that we had hoped to visit but didn’t get to. That’s a good excuse to visit again! And you know what comes after family weddings…

Here are the places we wanted to visit:

• Oakover Grounds – This winery sounds super family friendly, with lawns to play cricket on and free water trikes you can use to row over the lake. Plus they’ve got their own wines and beers and seasonal food.
• Taphouse Mulberry Estate – The taphouse slogan says ‘fun for the whole family’ and it has drinks, food, a beer garden plus an 18-hole mini golf course, bouncy castle and playground. Sounds like a great time to be had!
• Collector Of Souls – This place was within walking distance of our accommodation but we just didn’t fit a visit in. They had my attention at ‘cocktail tasting paddles’, but it’s also a brewery and distillery with some funky flavours and food.
• Old Young’s Kitchen – When I asked for recommendations on social media, so many people raved about this place and their unique menu!

We would definitely stay at Discovery Parks – Swan Valley again though. Great location if you don’t want to stay in the city centre.

Have you explored Swan Valley beyond the wineries? Or do you have some more places to add to our list for our next day trip to Swan Valley? Share your favourite spots in the comments below!