Some four million visitors arrive each year to holiday along the Gold Coast’s 70 kilometers of coastline, which stretches from South Stradbroke Island to the New South Wales border and includes no less than 35 beautiful beaches. Family entertainment, nightlife, restaurants, shopping, high-rise hotels, golf, fishing, sailing, surfing and unbelievably good weather — about 300 days of sunshine per year — are the trademark features of what has become the biggest and busiest holiday destination in Australia. To the west lies the Gold Coast hinterland, another world altogether. Here, a superb natural landscape of tropical rainforests, remarkable rock formations and cascading waterfalls — much of it protected by national park — offers visitors nature-based activities such as bushwalking, camping and wildlife-watching.
The Gold Coast is a surfer’s mecca and, mixed with the fabulous weather, also the perfect destination for a relaxing beach holiday. Best for surfers are the southern beaches, including Currumbin and Kirra Point (in Coolangatta), said to have one of the ten best breaks in the world. Greenmount Beach, also in Coolangatta, is great for families, as is Tallebudgera, north of Palm Beach, which offers both estuary and ocean swimming. Towards Surfers Paradise, the crowds get larger but the beaches are still spectacular. Surfers Paradise is renowned for its beachfront - try out your volleyball skills in the free competition near Cavill Avenue, There is an open-ocean beach on The Spit, near Main Beach, with the marine park Sea World close by. For a more remote option, try the 22 kilometres of beach on the east coast of South Stradbroke Island. Once you’ve soaked up enough magnificent Gold Coast sunshine, you could explore the island’s wetlands and rainforest.
Experience it!
• Try your luck at Conrad Jupiters Casino at Broadbeach
• Hop on a trolley at Tamborine Mountain to see the sights of the mountain retreat
• Stroll across the treetops on the rainforest canopy walk at the Green Mountains, in Lamington National Park
• Board a charter at Surfers Paradise to fish for mackerel, tuna, bonito and snapper
• Take a scenic flight from Broadbeach aboard a Tiger Moth plane
Discover more tourist attractions across the Gold Coast Region today.