Instead of bunkering down or taking the car out for a treacherous 20km cruise down the freeway next time it rains, make like normal people do and just find a rain-friendly activity.
From finding hidey-holes to drink the day away in and perusing shops you always forget to visit, to stuffing yourself full of rainy-day food and everything in between, here are a few of the best things to do in Perth when it rains.
Channel Your Inner Masterchef
Fancy yourself a bit of a Masterchef? Test your culinary skills by joining one of Perth's best cooking classes. There are loads of great options, but if we absolutely had to choose one, we’d try our hand at Pasta Making, Sourdough Baking or Buttercream Cake Decorating.
Challenge Your Mates To A Bit Of Fun
What better way to keep busy on a rainy day than by losing yourself in a friendly game or two with your mates? For a spot of retro games with a side of boss-level booze and giant NYC pizzas, hideout at Perth’s fave retro arcade bar, Palace Arcade. They’ve got spots in Northbridge and Victoria Park but we’re heading straight to the new Fremantle joint to cosy up by the fireplace. If you feel like some nostalgic bowling vibes, head to Perth’s oldest Tenpin Bowl, Rosemount Bowl, or try Strike for something more modern. And then there's mini golf. Holey Moley has graced Perth with four fabulous mini golf haunts—in Northbridge, Carousel, Karrinyup and Fremantle—so get swinging.
Belt Out Some Bangers
Whether it's a precursor for a big night out or the final destination, we're big fans of hauling up inside a private karaoke booth and getting a little sauced with your closest mates on a rainy night. Find somewhere that lets you BYO wine or order a couple of bottles straight to your karaoke room and prepare to belt out some bangers. These Perth karaoke bars have your next night covered.
Get Boozed Up At A Good Bottomless
Trust me, you'll forget all about the horrendous rain when your five mimosas deep come 11am. And luckily Perth's got a bottomless to suit every taste these days—from your traditional smashed avo and bloody marys to endless afternoon cocktails with fancy ass snacks. Check out all the bottomless sessions in Perth and get booking.
Explore Perth's Cultural Centre
We all talk about how we should really go to the Cultural Centre more often—but when the days are sunny and warm, who wants to spend them inside? Rainy days are the perfect opportunity to get cultured. Visit the Art Gallery of WA, wander through Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (complete with a glass of wine and an epic grazing board at Picabar) or catch some drama at Blue Room Theatre. You could also make the hop, skip and jump over to the other side and hang out at WA Museum Boola Bardip—they're currently showing a massive ancient Egypt exhibition—or zip into the City of Perth Library and get some reading done.
Visit A Brewery
There’s something about wet weather that makes spending the whole day at a brewery feel justified. Lucky for you, Perth has wholeheartedly got the memo that urban breweries are a thing, so you don’t even have to travel far to drown your rainy-day sorrows. Head straight to Gage Roads, Nowhereman Brewing, Little Creatures, Northbridge Brewing Co. or Blasta Brewing. Still not enough? Check out all of Perth’s best breweries.
Go Record Shopping
Look, it doesn’t need to be raining for this always-fun activity, but record shopping on a rainy day does feel rather romantic—it’s like you’re John Cusack in High Fidelity. If you’re sticking around the Northbridge/Perth City area, head to Safari's Record Shack, Noise Pollution, and Dada Records. Or, head out to the ‘burbs to grab some vinyl at Diabolik in Mt Hawthorn, Rhubarb Records in Victoria Park and Leederville, or Urban Records in Leederville. You could also pull into the new Local & Aesthetic cafe in Mount Lawley for a coffee and bite before you flick through the vinyl on offer in store from Rhubarb Records—there's also an art gallery so it's the perfect spot for a rainy day wander.
Stack Up A New Reading List At A Bookshop
Finding the right book takes time; and when it’s raining, you’ve got plenty of that. Favourites include Crow Books in Vic Park, the iconic Planet Books on Beaufort and Northside Books in Northbridge, but there are so many more amazing bookstores in Perth to spend a rainy day perusing.
Tackle An Escape Room
Rain naturally dictates that you should stay indoors, but what happens when you can’t get out of the indoors? Escape rooms aren’t a new concept, but there are constantly more popping up around Perth, and they’re the perfect vessel for a rainy day. Indoors? Check. Challenging? Check. Potential for you to never get outside again? Check. Hit up Perth's best escape rooms and try your best to break free.
Hide Away In An Underground Bar
Probably most peoples’ go-to rainy day activity, finding a nice little hidey-hole to while away the rain sure does make for a delightful day. On these occasions, we prefer to head underground to one of Perth's more hidden bars and spend the night warming up with a few tipples.
Get Your Wintery Slurp On
As soon as the rain hits, so does the craving for pho, ramen or laksa. Don’t worry—we’ve got you covered on all fronts. Pho lovers, go straight to Viet Hoa or try one of these other un-pho-gettable places in Perth. Take it up a notch with a hearty ramen at one of the best ramen joints in town—IPPUDO or Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu King—or really any one of these amazing ramen joints. If you wanna get really spicy, hit Red Chair for lunchtime laksa and Long Chim for dinner, or just any of these other places serving up Perth’s best laksa.
Snap Up Some Op Shop Bargains
Any activity that combines hiding away indoors and leaving with (potentially) bags of beautiful things for cheap is alright in my books. Spend a day digging for treasure at some of Perth's best op shops and secondhand stores.
Carve It Up At The Rink
I mean if it's cold enough to be wearing a beanie and gloves outdoors, you may as well keep the cosy gear on and head into one of Perth's ice rinks for a skate followed by a hot choccy (of course). Cockburn Ice Arena offers mid-week ‘Cheapskate’ sessions on Tuesday and Thursday nights from 8pm til 10pm which are great fun. If the thought of falling on your ass on the ice puts you off, though, you could try a roller rink (Rolloways or Rollerzone) instead and tap into your inner disco skater queen.
Soak Up Some Jazz
For a rainy night that you don’t just want to spend in: do not pass go, do not collect $200, just go straight to the Jazz Cellar. Park up with a pizza, BYO vino and then dance your absolute heart out to the most intimate, lively jazz you’ll experience in Perth. Or, why not stop by the Ellington Jazz Club for something a little more sultry? They're both open 'til the early morning, so you could hit them all in one night. And if you're down Freo way, hit up the Duke of George.
Eat Everything At The Fremantle Markets
This one’s a bit of a no brainer. Where better to be on a rainy day than a place where people are packed in like sardines for warmth, and plenty of food abounds? It’ll probably take you the whole day to get through this list of all of our favourite spots at these iconic markets. Swallow your guilt and indulge, it's raining after all.
Get Bouncing
Naysayers, leave. Going trampolining is fun, and anyone who says otherwise needs to go find their inner child. Perfect when it’s raining and cold (for some reason you get hotter quicker trampolining as an adult—wonder why that is?), there are plenty of places to get your bounce on in Perth. Head to Wanneroo’s Just Jump or BOUNCE Inc. in Cannington. You’ll be bouncing the real kids out of the way in no time (but actually don’t do that).
Become An Artist
In case you haven’t heard, the combination of creating art while drinking wine has been made officially ‘a thing’ by a few Perth legends. Rainy weather calls for a paint and sip an evening with The Pickled Paintbrush or Cabernet & Canvas. If painting's not your thing, you could always check out some of the other creative workshops on offer around Perth. Let the vino flow as the rain does, and your creative juices will follow suit.
Go To The Movies
Sounds simple, and it is. Rain is practically the cinema’s best friend. There’s nothing like getting comfy with a big ol’ thing of popcorn and catching a flick while the rain pours outside. You could check out one of Australia's highest tech cinemas at Hoyts Karrinyup, Luna Cinemas are our faves year round, otherwise, check out our full list of Perth's best cinemas if you need more options.
Scale Walls At Indoor Rockclimbing
The word ‘rock’ gives off a distinctly outdoor feel, but when you chuck on ‘climbing’ after it, Perth rises to the challenge and defies outdoor expectations, offering up a host of indoor rock-climbing walls to scale on the odd rainy day.
Get A Relaxing Massage
All hail rain, not for the farmers, but for its justification of our relentless need for massage. Hide away in one of Perth’s top massage spots and let magic hands wash away your troubles the way the rain outside washes away the ants.
Need more? Check out more things to do in Perth.
Image credit: Jennifer A Smith, Palace Arcade, Tori Lill, Renee Ardon0-Coppinger, The Jazz Cellar, Cabernet And Canvas