Pinnacles Desert Sunset, Dinner and Stargazing Tour
Sandboarding on the Lancelin dunes, then a beach walk on the coast. Then two hours among the limestone pillars as the sun drops. Dinner is cooked in the desert and a mobile observatory comes out once the sky is dark. Nine and a half hours, collected from and returned to your Perth CBD hotel.
Your afternoon and evening in the desert
Two hours among the pillars, at the right hour
The stop is timed for the last of the light, when every pillar throws a shadow longer than itself.
Sandboarding on the way north
The Lancelin dunes come before the desert rather than after, so the day starts with the part everyone remembers.
Dinner cooked in the desert
Not a lunchbox on a coach. The meal is set out in the field between sunset and the stars.
A mobile observatory, not just a telescope
Astro-binoculars for deep-space observation as well, with a guide working them.
Designated CBD hotel pickup
Collected from and returned to your own accommodation, with the exact time sent the night before.
What the day actually does
Pickup is from a designated Perth CBD hotel . The run north takes about two and a half hours with stops. The first is the Lancelin Sand Dunes, where the boards come out. From there the road follows the coast to Nilgen Lookout and a beach walk at Hangover Bay. Both are there to put you at the desert at the right hour rather than early.
You reach the pillars with the sun still up and get two hours. That covers the one-way drive and the walk trail with room to stop. It is also the part of the evening when the light does the work. Dinner follows in the field, and the observing starts when the sky is dark enough for it.
Why the timing is the product
Nothing about this day is unusual except when it happens. The Discovery Centre closes at 4:30 pm, so an evening departure trades the geology displays for the light and the sky. What you get is the field at the hour it photographs. In the winter half of the year you also get about ninety minutes of genuinely dark sky.
Between April and September full dark arrives between about 6:51 pm and 7:31 pm. Visitors are expected out of the park by nine. In December and January dark does not arrive until nearly nine, so the sunset is the whole of it. The month-by-month page has all twelve.
What the reviews consistently say
Two things, over and over. The first is that the guides carry the day — Peter, Sam, Neil, David and Dave all appear by name in more than one review, usually cooking as well as guiding. The second is that it is a long day, and that it is worth it.
The risk everybody names is cloud. One traveller was messaged before the trip and asked whether they could move their booking by a couple of days because the forecast was poor; they did, and the night was clear. That is what the twenty-four-hour refund window is actually for.
Hour by hour
- Pickup from your Perth CBD hotel
- Sandboarding on the Lancelin Sand Dunes
- Nilgen Lookout
- Beach walk at Hangover Bay
- Two hours among the Pinnacles at sunset
- Dinner in the desert
- Telescope and astro-binocular stargazing
- Back through Lancelin to Perth
Who this suits, and who should book something else
This one is for you if: you want one day out of Perth that has something physical in it as well as the desert, you are travelling between April and September when the sky goes dark early enough to matter, and you would rather somebody else drove the coast road home in the dark.
Book something else if: you want the Discovery Centre and the geology displays, which shut at 4:30 pm long before this arrives — take the daytime wildlife and sandboarding tour instead, or a private day that can do both.
What’s included
In the fare
- GST (Goods and Services Tax)
- National Park fees, Sandboarding, Site Seeing, Beach Walk
- On board live commentary by local guide
- Designated Perth CBD Hotel pickup and return only (based on your CBD accommodation location)
- Air-conditioned vehicle
- Fully Guided Desert Night Sky Tour
- Visibility through mobile observatory and astro binoculars with deep space observation
- Dinner
- Child restraints for travellers 1-7yo
Not in the fare
- Lunch or afternoon tea is not provided. It is best to have brunch or lunch before the tour or BYO..
Where you are collected
Pensione Hotel Perth, 70 Pier Street, with Perth CBD hotel pickup. Pinnacles day tours from Perth list every departure with its own pickup point, and getting there sets out the five places in Perth that departures actually leave from.
Know before you go
- Lunch is not included. Neither lunch nor afternoon tea is provided. Eat before you are collected, or bring something for the drive
- Pickup times arrive the night before. By text, email and WhatsApp, because the departure time moves with sunset
- Take a layer. The desert cools quickly after dark, and it is the thing evening travellers most often wish they had brought
- Child restraints are available. For travellers aged one to seven, arranged with the operator at booking
- Thirty-six travellers is the cap. Stated on the listing; the vehicle is air-conditioned
- Cloud is the one variable. Watch the forecast and use the refund window rather than hoping
Photographs from the day
What travellers said
Peter had the day organised from the first pickup, and he talked us through Perth and the region on the way north rather than leaving the drive silent. The sandboarding came first, then the desert, then dinner.
Craig T. · August 2026
The pickup was on time and the day ran to its plan. The weather held, so we got the sandboarding, the walk among the pillars and the stargazing rather than two out of three.
Theresa H. · July 2026
The stargazing is the part I will remember, and David’s cooking out at the desert was better than it needed to be. He pointed out what to look at rather than just naming things.
Prudence K. · August 2026
Frequently asked questions
What time does this tour get back to Perth?
Do I need to bring anything for the sandboarding?
Will I definitely see the Milky Way?
Is park entry included?
Is this suitable for young children?
What if I want the geology displays as well?
The other departures worth comparing
Pinnacles Tours has all of them in one grid, with prices and group caps.