The park offers a communal camp kitchen where you can rustle up meals with ocean breezes as your soundtrack, plus there's a kiosk on-site for essentials and quick bites. When we fancied breakfast with a view, we headed straight to Emu Point Cafe just metres from the park, where the ham hock eggs benedict and crispy potatoes had us coming back for seconds. For lunch with beachside vibes, Hooked on Middleton Beach at Middleton Beach serves up Australia's best fish and chips, with fresh King George whiting and local dhufish straight from Albany fishermen. Back in town, Dylans on Stirling Terrace has been an Albany favourite since 1987, dishing out hearty breakfasts and harbour views from its cosy booth seats. If you're after something special, Liberté in the London Hotel blends Vietnamese-French fusion with velvet-lined Parisian flair, serving crab and garlic noodles and bao buns alongside French beers and local wines.

The park sits right on the calm, turquoise waters of Emu Point, where we spent mornings paddling in the sheltered shallows and afternoons watching boats drift past on Oyster Harbour. Just 10 minutes south, Torndirrup National Park delivers jaw-dropping coastal drama with The Gap's 40-metre viewing platform suspended over crashing Southern Ocean swells and the Natural Bridge granite archway carved by millennia of waves. The Albany Wind Farm sits 15 minutes from the park on clifftop headlands with walking trails that stretch along the coast in both directions, and back in town, the National Anzac Centre offers a moving, interactive journey through WWI history from the hilltop vantage of Mount Clarence. For a full-day adventure 45 minutes west, Denmark's Greens Pool and Elephant Rocks feature giant granite boulders and emerald swimming holes perfect for snorkelling and beach walks. Whale watchers should time visits between June and October when humpback and southern right whales cruise King George Sound, visible from coastal lookouts or via tours departing Albany harbour.

The mature trees throughout the park create gorgeous dappled shade across the powered sites, perfect for keeping your van cool on warm Albany days.