Broome With Kids: The Kimberley Gateway That Families Actually Love

The Cable Beach camel ride is so thoroughly associated with Broome that it risks sounding like a cliché — but it earns its reputation. A convoy of camels walking across 22 kilometres of white sand as the sun drops into the Indian Ocean is genuinely spectacular, and it is one of those rare family experiences that delivers for every age simultaneously. Children are mesmerised by the camels themselves; adults get the sunset; everyone gets the photograph.

Several operators run rides departing from Cable Beach in the hour before sunset. Rides typically run for 30 to 60 minutes and prices vary by operator and session length, so it pays to compare and book well ahead in the dry season peak (July and August especially, when rides can be fully booked for days in advance). Check minimum age and height requirements with your chosen operator before booking, as they vary — most are comfortable with primary-age children but some have restrictions for younger riders.

The experience works best for children old enough to sit comfortably in a saddle and follow basic instructions — probably six and up as a rough guide, though this varies by child and by operator. Bring water, hats and sunscreen; it is exposed on the beach and the late-afternoon sun is still fierce even in May. The camels are calm and well-managed, and the handlers are experienced with children. If your family does one thing in Broome, this is the one.

Malcolm Douglas Crocodile Park sits on Cable Beach Road and offers families the chance to see saltwater and freshwater crocodiles up close in a controlled, managed environment — something the surrounding Kimberley wilderness makes entirely inadvisable in any other context. The park houses some genuinely large saltwater crocodiles, the kind that underline exactly why those "no swimming" signs along Kimberley waterways are not suggestions. For children, seeing a three-metre-plus salty up close has a way of making the safety messaging stick in a way no parental lecture can manage.

Feeding sessions are the highlight: handlers work with the animals in a way that demonstrates the crocodiles' speed and power without sensationalising it, and the commentary is informative for both children and adults. The park also houses freshwater crocodiles, various reptiles and birds of prey, giving the visit more range than the name suggests. Time your visit for a feeding session — without one, the visit is shorter and less engaging.

Tours run daily; check the current schedule and book ahead in the peak July–August period when Broome fills with visitors. The park is relatively compact and takes two to three hours with a feeding session. It suits a broad range of ages — older toddlers through to teenagers and adults — and the educational value is genuine rather than incidental. This is one of the few places in the Kimberley where the safety message and the entertainment are genuinely the same thing.

Sun Pictures on Carnarvon Street in Chinatown has been running since 1916 and is widely recognised as the oldest operating outdoor cinema in the world. Watching a film in the deckchair-and-bench garden under a tropical sky while the occasional plane flies overhead is one of those genuinely irreplaceable experiences — and it suits families with children who are old enough to sit through a film.

The atmosphere is what makes it. Even a film you have already seen at home becomes something different watched from a deckchair under the Broome night sky, with the warm dry-season air and the sounds of the surrounding town drifting in. The screening schedule follows a regular programme of current releases and classics; check what is showing before you arrive, as session options are limited compared to a multiplex.

This is also the best family option in Broome when the heat or humidity of the wet season or build-up makes outdoor activities unappealing in the evening. The deckchairs and low bench seating are family-friendly, and the experience is gentle enough for children of primary-school age and above. Arrive early to choose your seat — the garden fills up, particularly in the peak dry season, and the best spots go quickly. Get food from nearby Chinatown before you arrive, as the cinema offering is modest.

Town Beach on Robinson Street is the family hub of central Broome — less dramatic than Cable Beach but far more child-focused, with a water play area and a playground that give young children somewhere to burn energy safely. The water park is a practical lifesaver in the stinger season (October to May), when ocean swimming at Cable Beach is not recommended for most visitors and the alternatives are limited: Town Beach is where the water play happens regardless of marine conditions.

The beach itself overlooks the tidal mudflats of Roebuck Bay and is not a swimming beach in the conventional sense — it is the water park and playground that make it the family destination, not the water quality. The setting is pleasant and shaded in parts, and the foreshore at Town Beach is also the best free vantage point for the Staircase to the Moon phenomenon (when conditions are right — roughly March to October on specific dates). The playground suits toddlers through to early primary age.

For families based in central Broome, Town Beach is the easy morning option when the day is young and the children need a run. It is free, central and always open, which makes it the kind of backstop that a family holiday in a remote town genuinely needs. Combine it with a walk along the foreshore, a coffee from a nearby café and an eye on the tide times for the mudflat wildlife.

Cable Beach is the visual centrepiece of Broome — a 22-kilometre stretch of white sand facing the Indian Ocean, with the kind of scale that makes everything else in the town feel ordinary by comparison. For families, it also requires the most careful safety planning of any attraction in this guide.

Ocean swimming at Cable Beach is safest from approximately June to September, outside the stinger season (October to May) when marine stingers — including box jellyfish and Irukandji in some years — make unprotected ocean swimming dangerous. In the safe months, swim in the designated flagged zone where lifesaving patrols operate and supervision is present. Saltwater crocodiles do occasionally visit the Cable Beach area, so always check current signage and local advice before entering the water; the presence of a patrol provides no guarantee against crocodile risk. Surf Life Saving WA publishes current safety information.

With those caveats front of mind, Cable Beach in the dry season between the flags is genuinely beautiful for a family swim: the water is warm, calm enough on most days, and the beach is so wide and long that it never feels crowded even in peak season. The evening camel ride is the visual highlight, but a morning swim in the flagged zone is the physical one — cool clear water after a warm Kimberley morning is hard to beat. Children should always be supervised in the water, and no one should swim outside the flagged area or at dusk and dawn.

Willie Creek Pearl Farm sits about 38 kilometres north of Broome on Cape Leveque Road and offers a genuine working pearl farm experience — a boat tour on Willie Creek through the mangroves to see the pearl lines, with an explanation of how Broome's famous South Sea pearls are grown, harvested and graded. For children old enough to stay engaged through an explanatory tour (roughly eight and above), it is one of the more genuinely interesting and unusual things to do in the Broome region.

The tour takes a couple of hours and combines a bus transfer to the creek with the boat component, making it a half-day outing. The pearl industry defines Broome's character — the Japanese Cemetery, the Chinatown pearling precinct, the pearl luggers in the museum — and seeing an active farm rather than a museum display gives that history a practical dimension. Children who have come from the Pearl Luggers museum in town (see indoor activities) will have the context to appreciate what they are seeing.

The road to Willie Creek is unsealed for part of the route; check current conditions and access requirements before booking, particularly after significant rainfall. Tours operate seasonally — check current availability and book ahead, especially in the dry season peak. The experience suits curious older children and adults; younger children or those with limited patience for explanatory tours may find the time on the bus and boat challenging.

Broome's Chinatown precinct around Carnarvon Street is the historic and cultural heart of the town, and it is compact enough to explore on foot with children without it becoming an endurance exercise. The architecture reflects the pearling heritage — a mix of Malay, Japanese, Chinese and European influences that arrived with the pearling industry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries — and the strip includes galleries, pearl showrooms, restaurants and cafés that are accessible and interesting across a wide age range.

The Broome markets, which run on weekends in the dry season at the Courthouse Markets on Hamersley Street, add food stalls, local produce, craft and music to the mix and are one of the most relaxed family-friendly ways to spend a morning. The atmosphere is unhurried and the stall variety keeps curious children entertained while adults browse. Check current market dates and hours before planning around them, as they run seasonally.

For families with young children, the Chinatown stroll and the markets are the ideal lower-intensity option in a schedule that might also include the camel ride and the crocodile park. There is nothing that demands significant physical effort or sustained attention, and it is the kind of thing that works at a toddler's pace as well as at any other. Parking in the precinct is available; the distance between key Chinatown locations is walkable.