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Prevelly sits at the mouth of the Margaret River, about nine kilometres and ten minutes west of Margaret River township. It is the surf side of the coast: Surfers Point, home of the Western Australia Margaret River Pro, is a few minutes away. Holidays Margaret River manages privately owned houses here, most of them four bedrooms and up.
We currently manage 5 houses in Prevelly, ranging from 3 to 4 bedrooms and sleeping up to 10 guests.
Prevelly is the closest beach to Margaret River township — about nine kilometres and ten minutes down Wallcliffe Road — and it is the one people picture when they think of the Margaret River coast: the river meeting the ocean, limestone headlands, and a world-class right-hander breaking off the point.
It is worth being clear about what Prevelly is and is not. It is an ocean-facing settlement. The beaches are beautiful and the surf is the reason the region is on the world map, but the water here is not the sheltered, wade-in kind. If calm swimming is your priority, Gnarabup is two and a half kilometres south and is protected by offshore reef. Most guests end up using both.
Surfers Point is the centre of gravity here. It has large car parks, tiered grassy terraces that work as natural grandstands, viewing platforms and public toilets, and it is where the Western Australia Margaret River Pro is held — a World Surf League Championship Tour event, one of only three in Australia, usually run in April. Competition waves are Main Break and The Box. Spectating is free, and the event is locked in to the region through 2028.
Outside of event week it is simply the best free entertainment on the coast. You can park, walk fifty metres and watch very good surfers from the terraces without getting your feet wet.
There is no beginner break at Prevelly. Redgate, about ten kilometres south, is the region’s recognised learners’ beach, and the Margaret River surf schools run lessons there and elsewhere.
Margaret River Mouth Beach is the main beach, where the river breaks through to the ocean. It is safe enough in normal conditions but it is an ocean beach: expect rips against the southern rocks, a shorebreak that gets heavy above a metre, and shifting sandbars near the river mouth. The Cape to Cape Track passes straight through, and Prevelly is one of only four settlements on the entire 125-kilometre route.
Prevelly has more day-to-day amenity than most of the coastal settlements around Margaret River. There is a general store and liquor store at the caravan park on Mitchell Drive, a community post office, and cafe and beach bar dining. Riflebutts Reserve on Surfers Point Road has an accessible playground — reopened in 2024, with a play structure themed on the old beach shacks — along with barbecues, picnic tables, shelter, a dog exercise area and public toilets. The Prevelly Sculpture Loop Walk is a easy three kilometre wander from the village.
The name is Greek, and the story behind it is real. Geoffrey Edwards was an Australian soldier captured at the Battle of Crete in 1941. He was sheltered at the Preveli Monastery, where monks hid hundreds of Allied troops until they could be evacuated. In the 1950s Edwards and his wife Beryl took up land west of Margaret River, built chalets largely with their own hands, and called the place Prevelly Park. Edwards was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for services to the Greek community in April 2000, and died four days later.
The Chapel of St John the Theologian, a small Greek Orthodox chapel with a nine-metre bell tower, was completed in 1979 as a permanent link to Preveli. It is listed on the Shire’s heritage register and is still standing in the village.
| From | Distance | Drive time |
|---|---|---|
| Margaret River township | About 9 km | About 10 minutes |
| Gnarabup Beach | About 2.5 km | About 5 minutes |
| Gracetown | About 25 km | About 25 minutes |
| Busselton Margaret River Airport | About an hour | |
| Perth | About 280 km | About 3.5 hours |
Prevelly is about nine kilometres west of Margaret River township, roughly a ten minute drive along Wallcliffe Road. It is the closest beach settlement to the town.
Prevelly, with two L's. The locality is registered as Prevelly with Australia Post and the Australian Bureau of Statistics. It takes its name from the Preveli Monastery in Crete, which is spelt with one L. Prevally is a common misspelling.
They are two separate localities about two and a half kilometres apart, and they are genuinely different. Prevelly is the northern one, at the mouth of the Margaret River, and it is the surf side: Surfers Point, the Margaret River Pro, open ocean beaches. Gnarabup is immediately south and is protected by offshore reef, which makes it the calmer swimming beach. Prevelly has the shop, the caravan park and the playground; Gnarabup has the sheltered water and the beach cafe. From either one you are five minutes from the other.
You can swim at Margaret River Mouth Beach in normal conditions, but it faces open ocean and carries rips against the southern rocks and a heavy shorebreak when the swell is up. Surfers Point is not a swimming beach at all. For calm water with young children, Gnarabup Beach two and a half kilometres south is the better choice.
Yes. The Western Australia Margaret River Pro is run at Surfers Point in Prevelly, using the Main Break and The Box. It is a World Surf League Championship Tour event, usually held in April, and it is free to watch from the grassed terraces above the break. The event is contracted to the region through 2028. Book well ahead if you want to stay nearby during the event.
There is a general store and liquor store at the Prevelly Caravan Park on Mitchell Drive, which is the only grocery-type shop in either Prevelly or Gnarabup, plus a community post office. For a full shop, Margaret River township is about ten minutes away.
No. There is no service station in Prevelly or Gnarabup. The nearest fuel is in Margaret River township, about ten minutes away.
Yes, with one caveat. Riflebutts Reserve has an accessible playground, barbecues, picnic tables and public toilets, and the caravan park store and the cafes are walkable. The beaches, though, are ocean beaches. Most families staying in Prevelly swim at Gnarabup, five minutes down the road.
Not really. Main Break is intermediate to advanced, The Box is an expert-only slab over shallow reef, and Suicides needs a long paddle or a boat. Rivermouth is the most approachable of them and is still rated intermediate. Beginners are better off at Redgate, about ten kilometres south, or booking a lesson with a Margaret River surf school.
It is named after the Preveli Monastery in Crete. Geoffrey Edwards, an Australian soldier captured at the Battle of Crete in 1941, was sheltered by monks at Preveli who hid Allied troops until they could be evacuated. In the 1950s Edwards and his wife Beryl settled on the coast west of Margaret River and named their chalets Prevelly Park in the monastery's honour. The Greek Orthodox Chapel of St John the Theologian, completed in 1979, still stands in the village and is heritage listed.
Margaret River · Gracetown · Gnarabup · Wilyabrup
Not sure which suits you? The properties map shows every house we manage, and The Region covers the wider Margaret River area.