Australia: is it good
for a family trip?
Yes, for a family ready to commit to the longest trip on this site. Doha to Perth is the one genuine one-stop routing from Boston into Western Australia, and the Gulf routes it depends on shift more often than most.
The Fredette Family in Western Australia
How Western Australia scored with our kids.
Six things we rate every trip on, out of 10, from our own family travel, plus our overall score, which is simply the average of the six. Flight ease and value are calculated the same way for every destination.
From our trip. Staying in Freo was one of our best trips with kids. We walked from our rental to breweries and restaurants, and one brewery had a giant sandbox with a car and a boat, where the girls played while the sun set and Kailah and I had a few beers. Then Rottnest Island, maybe my favorite travel experience to date: we took our electric scooters over on the ferry, rode the girls around the island on e-bikes, saw quokkas and big lizards, and found the most beautiful white-sand beaches you have ever seen.
Flight ease
1.9/10About 26.3 hours total with 1 connection, layover included from Boston. We score every flight the same way: start at 10, take off half a point for each hour beyond 4 (a quarter point per hour past 10), and a point for each connection. No nonstop: one connection, usually Doha to Perth. The longest trip on this site.
Kid friendly
9.5/10One of our best trips with kids: brewery playgrounds, quokkas on Rottnest, wild kangaroos on Heirisson Island and the playgrounds in Kings Park.
Walkability
7.5/10Once you are in Freo it is really walkable; we never needed the car day to day. Beyond it, the distances are big.
Value
4.8/10Australia's cost of living index is 71.4 (Numbeo, mid-2026, where New York is 100 and the US overall is 69.7), about 2% above home. We score value the same way for every destination: costing the same as home is a 5, and every 10 points cheaper or pricier moves it a point. It is a country-wide average, so big cities and tourist hot spots run higher and small towns and villages lower. Pricey, and the long-haul flights make it the most expensive trip on this site all-in.
Food
8/10The food was good, with a great brewery and restaurant scene.
Weather
8.5/10Sunny, with beautiful sunsets, but the sun is fierce: rash guards and hats. March to May and September to November are best.
Overall
6.7/10Worth every hour of the flight, if you have the time to make the journey.
Doha to Perth, the one real one-stop.
There is no nonstop from Boston to Australia. Doha to Perth is the one genuine one-stop routing, and it runs on Gulf carrier schedules that are more volatile than the European or Asian routes we fly more often. Check current schedules close to booking, not months in advance.
Perth, plus Margaret River.
Our full guide covers Perth and Margaret River, with a flexible home-base plan and an honest note about what we would skip. Budget real recovery time on arrival, given how long the total trip takes.
Search Vrbo rentals, already set to Fremantle. Look for two bedrooms and a full kitchen. Where we would stay. Affiliate link, our disclosure.
What families ask us.
Is there a nonstop flight from Boston to Australia?
No, and there is no nonstop from Boston to Oceania at all. The one genuine one-stop routing to Western Australia is Doha to Perth, on Gulf carrier routes that shift more often than most.
Is Western Australia good for a family trip with kids?
Yes. Our full guide covers Perth plus Margaret River, with a flexible home-base plan and an honest note about what we would skip.
Why fly to Western Australia instead of Sydney or Melbourne?
Perth is the routing that actually works one-stop from Boston via Doha. The eastern cities generally need an additional connection, adding real time to an already long trip.
How long is the flight to Australia from Boston?
A genuine long-haul day, among the longest total travel times of any destination we cover. Budget real recovery time on arrival rather than planning activities for day one.