Seven out of ten for the city loop on a weekday morning, four out of ten on a Saturday afternoon. That's the honest split, and it's the whole reason I keep getting asked which bit of the Perth river network is actually worth riding.
The Swan River loop gets marketed as one thing, a continuous ribbon of shared path hugging the water from the city out past South Perth and, if you keep going, up towards Guildford. In practice it's two very different rides stitched together, and most people only ever do the first half. Fair enough too, because that's the half with the skyline, the bridges and the coffee vans. But if you've only ridden the city stretch and called it a day, you've missed the better cycling.
What the city loop actually gives you
The classic run starts around the Causeway, tracks past Point Fraser and Claisebrook Cove, then crosses to the South Perth side for the return leg. Surface is sealed the whole way, wide in most sections, and it's the path most visitors end up on because it's flat, obvious, and sits right next to everything worth photographing. The Swan River Bridges and City Segway Tour in Perth runs a version of this exact route, which tells you how much of the appeal here is scenery rather than actual riding challenge.
Problem is, everyone else knows it too. Weekend mornings the shared path around the Causeway gets a mix of joggers, prams, e-scooters and dogs on long leads, all funnelled through pinch points where the path narrows near the bridge abutments. I've had to ride below walking pace through there more than once on a Sunday, which isn't really cycling, it's just slow steering. The South Perth Foreshore PSP is genuinely nice tarmac and the views back across to the city are worth the trip, but calling this section of the loop "iconic" undersells how congested it gets whenever the weather's decent. I'm sceptical of the reputation, honestly, because a path this good gets ruined the moment 400 other people want to use it at the same time.
Traffic and surface, the boring but important bit
Sealed the whole way through the city stretch, no real gradient to speak of, and gutters are in decent nick apart from a few spots near the old wharf areas where tree roots have lifted the tarmac. Run your tyres around 60-70 psi if you're on a road bike here, you won't need anything softer because there's no gravel to worry about. Hybrid or gravel bike riders can run whatever's comfortable, the surface doesn't punish you either way. It's the crowd density that's the actual obstacle, not the pavement.
Where the Guildford stretch starts to earn it
Keep riding past the Ascot straight and the path thins out, the crowd thins out faster, and by the time you're tracking the river towards Guildford you're mostly sharing the trail with other cyclists and the odd rower's support vehicle on the road sections. This is where the ride actually becomes a ride again. The path surface changes character too, some sealed sections, some compacted gravel closer to Guildford itself, and a couple of short unsealed patches near the older bridge crossings that catch people out if they're still running high pressure from the city section.
I rode this out to Guildford on the gravel bike a few Sundays back with the Sunday bunch, dropped tyre pressure down to about 45 psi once the seal ran out near the outskirts, and it made a noticeable difference on the looser gravel patches. Riders on skinny road tyres do this stretch and complain about the surface, but that's a bike choice problem, not a trail problem. Garratt Road Bridge is the landmark to watch for, it's the point where you know you've left the tourist-loop crowd behind and you're on something closer to a proper riverside commute path.
Guildford itself, and why it's worth the extra distance
The town centre around the Guildford Hotel gives you an actual reason to stop that isn't just another skyline photo. Old Perth Road through here has enough café options that you're not relying on a single servo stop, and there's a genuine sense you've ridden somewhere rather than just looped a foreshore. Compare that to the city section, where every stop is essentially the same view from a different angle.
Distance-wise you're looking at a meaningfully longer day if you do the full out-and-back to Guildford and back to the city, so it's not really an apples to apples comparison with the shorter South Perth loop. But if you've got a full morning and you dont mind the extra kilometres, it's flat out the pick over doing three laps of the crowded city stretch just to get your distance up.
The Canning alternative, if Guildford's still too busy for you
If even the Guildford stretch feels too popular on a given weekend, and it does get some traffic once word gets around, the quieter option is heading south instead. I've written before about the Canning River path, Perth's quieter riverside ride, and it's the one I send people to when they specifically ask for solitude over scenery. It won't give you the Guildford Hotel stop or the bridge views, but it will give you clear path most of the day.
Which loop to actually pick
For visitors with half a day and a hire bike, the city loop still makes sense, it's the one that connects with things like the City Tour Perth and Fremantle and Rottnest Island and Swan River if you want the river worked into a bigger day out that includes Fremantle and Rottnest. It's efficient, it's scenic, and it does the job the marketing says it does.
For locals or anyone who's already done the city section a few times, Guildford is the better call. Less traffic, a genuine change in surface and gradient to keep things interesting, and an actual destination at the end of it rather than just a turnaround point. I reckon most regular riders in Perth end up making this switch eventually, once the novelty of the skyline wears off and the Sunday crowds start grating.
Planning the route properly
Both Trails WA and WestCycle keep decent route notes and condition updates if you want to check for closures before you commit to the longer Guildford run, particularly after heavy rain when some of the unsealed sections near the older bridges can turn greasy. Worth a quick check the night before rather than finding out at Garratt Road Bridge with the wrong tyres on.
Either way, don't judge the whole Swan River loop off one lap of the city section. That's like judging a whole meal off the bread basket.