7 out of 10, maybe closer to 8 if the tide's out and the wind's behaved itself. That's where I land on the Point Walter to Attadale stretch of the Swan River path, and I reckon it's one of the more undersold short rides in Perth. Everyone talks about the Fremantle to South Perth run or the bits closer to the city, but this southern pocket of river gets skipped by people racing between destinations who don't clock what's actually under their wheels.
I rode it again last weekend on the gravel bike, solo, no particular hurry. Started near the Point Walter end, rolled through to Attadale and back, stopped twice. Nothing dramatic happened, which is sort of the point. No traffic lights to fight, no pack of e-scooters cutting the corner, just river on one side and peppermint trees on the other for most of it.
Where this stretch actually sits
Point Walter Reserve is the big landmark here, the one with the golf course and the famous sandbar spit that pokes out into the river at low tide. You get to the reserve off Burke Drive in Bicton, and the shared path picks up along the foreshore from there, tracking south-east past Preston Point Road and down toward the Attadale foreshore reserve. It's not a long stretch, maybe six or seven kilometres each way depending where you start counting, but it's dense with things worth looking at, which matters more than distance on a ride like this.
Bicton Baths sits roughly at the midpoint and it's become my unofficial landmark for this ride. There's a kiosk, decent coffee, somewhere to lock up without hunting for a pole. If you're doing the out-and-back version, it's the natural turnaround snack stop, or the place to regroup if you've dropped someone on the way out.
Surface, gradient and what to run your tyres at
This is a Principal Shared Path for most of its length, which in practice means sealed tarmac, reasonably wide, shared with walkers and the occasional dog that hasn't read the rules about leads. The surface quality is good by Perth standards, better than some of the inner-city sections that get torn up by tree roots. There are a couple of patches of loose gravel right at the Point Walter Reserve entrance where maintenance vehicles come and go, so don't be carving that corner at speed on skinny slicks.
Gradient-wise it's flat. Genuinely flat, not Perth-flat-with-an-asterisk. You could ride this on anything, a hybrid, a road bike with slightly wider tyres, even a kid's bike if the kid has some stamina. I'd run somewhere around 60-70 psi on a road setup for this surface, a bit less if you're on the gravel bike and want some comfort over the rougher reserve sections. No reason to be running race pressure here, there's nothing to chase.
The sandbar at Point Walter is worth the actual stop, not just a photo
Most people ride past the sandbar, snap a photo from the path and keep moving. Fair enough if you're on a schedule, but it's worth locking the bike and walking out when the tide allows it. We've got a full writeup on the Point Walter Sandbar Walk if you want the detail on timing and conditions, because the sandbar only really shows itself properly at certain tides and it's not worth the detour on a whim without checking first.
I'll be honest, I was sceptical the sandbar deserved its reputation before I actually walked it with bike shoes clicking awkwardly on the sand. It does. It's one of the few spots on this whole river system where you get that wide, flat, almost coastal feel without actually being at the coast.
Why the Attadale end is the underrated bit
Here's my mildly contrarian take, and I'll stand by it: the South Perth foreshore loop gets more credit than it's earned on a busy weekend. It's pretty, sure, but it's also wall-to-wall walkers, prams and people stopped dead in the middle of the path taking photos of the skyline. The Attadale stretch moves you through just as much decent scenery with a fraction of the bodies to dodge. If you want a ride where you can actually hold a rhythm rather than constantly feathering the brakes, this southern stretch is flat out the pick over the more photographed sections further north.
Attadale foreshore itself is quieter residential river frontage, good for watching the yachts if that's your thing, and it connects cleanly back into the broader network without forcing you onto a main road. That's not nothing in a city where a lot of good river paths just dump you onto traffic at the worst moment.
How it fits into the bigger Round the Rivers route
This stretch doesn't exist in isolation, it's one leg of the broader river loop that a lot of Perth riders stitch together over a weekend. Coming from the north-west you'd typically arrive via Ride around the Rivers Ride 5 - Fremantle to Point Walter, which gets you down to the reserve before this section even starts. Keep going past Attadale and you're picking up Ride around the Rivers Ride 6 - Point Walter to Applecross, which carries the loop further along toward the city side of the river.
If you want the full turn-by-turn on this exact section, including the bits I've glossed over here, I put together a more detailed breakdown in Point Walter to Attadale: an underrated river ride worth doing. Worth a read before you head out if you're new to this part of the river and don't want to be guessing at junctions.
Gear and timing notes
Weekday mornings are the move if you want the path to yourself, particularly before 9am. Weekends from midday onward get busier with families doing the sandbar walk, which is fair enough, it's a nice spot, but it does mean slower average speeds for anyone trying to actually ride rather than cruise.
For bike choice, anything works here, but if you're building toward longer stuff I'd lean gravel bike or hybrid over a pure road setup, mostly because of that loose patch near the reserve entrance and the fact you might want to detour onto grass near the water without drama. If you're after general shared-path etiquette and what's expected riding alongside pedestrians on paths like this, WestCycle has the current guidance for WA riders and it's worth a skim if you haven't looked at it in a while.
And if this short river stretch leaves you wanting something longer and more remote, the Munda Biddi Trail Foundation runs the off-road touring route that heads south from near Mundaring, a completely different animal to a flat river path but worth knowing about if you're building toward multi-day riding rather than a Sunday loop.
None of this stretch is going to win Point Walter to Attadale a spot on postcards the way the city skyline sections do. It doesn't need to. It's flat, it's quiet most mornings, the surface holds up, and the sandbar detour is one of the better five-minute stops on the whole river system. I'll keep riding it on the gravel bike whenever the Sunday bunch wants something easy, and I dont think that's going to change any time soon.