Best Beaches in Australia

Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island is almost pure silica, so fine and white that it stays cool underfoot at midday, and there is no road to it: you arrive by boat, seaplane or helicopter from Airlie Beach or Hamilton Island. It sets the tone for the country, where the best sand is often the hardest to reach.

The easy ones are in the cities and surf towns: Bondi and Manly in Sydney, Byron Bay, Noosa and the Gold Coast. For scenery, go to Wineglass Bay in Tasmania’s Freycinet National Park and the car-free bays of Rottnest Island off Perth.

Australia has more than 10,000 beaches, but only a few hundred are patrolled by lifeguards, and that number matters more than any ranking. Swim between the red and yellow flags, and in the tropical north from November to May, swim only inside stinger nets or in a full-body stinger suit. Our safety guide covers the wider risks, the wildlife guide the reef and marine life, and best time to visit the seasons.

2. Manly Beach is the better day out for many visitors because the trip is part of it: the 30-minute ferry from Circular Quay passes the Opera House and the harbour heads for the price of a normal Opal fare. Manly’s ocean beach is patrolled year-round; walk 15 minutes south to Shelly Beach, a calm, north-facing cove in a marine reserve where you can snorkel with blue gropers in a metre of water. The 10 km Manly to Spit Bridge walk follows the harbour through Sydney Harbour National Park. North of Manly, the northern beaches run 30 km to Palm Beach; south of the city, Royal National Park has surf beaches and the Figure Eight Pools, which are dangerous at high tide and in big swell.

Further down the coast, Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie have quieter patrolled beaches and cheaper motels, and Jervis Bay, three hours south of Sydney, is known for some of the whitest sand in New South Wales at Hyams Beach and for dolphins in the bay.

6. The Gold Coast is 57 km of continuous surf beach backed by high-rises at Surfers Paradise and quieter suburbs further south. Surfers Paradise is busy and patrolled; Burleigh Heads has a headland park, a famous right-hand point break and a better cafe strip; and Snapper Rocks and Rainbow Bay at Coolangatta, next to Gold Coast airport, are where professional surfers train. A G:link tram runs along the central coast. It is the easiest beach holiday in Australia with children, but it is a resort strip, not a quiet escape.

7. Four Mile Beach, Port Douglas is the best beach in tropical north Queensland, a long, flat palm-backed stretch an hour north of Cairns, with a stinger net set up in season. Cairns itself has no city beach; locals swim in the free Esplanade Lagoon.

9. Turquoise Bay in Cape Range National Park, 60 km from Exmouth, is the beach where Ningaloo Reef comes to within a few metres of the sand. The drift snorkel at the bay’s southern end carries you over coral on the current, but that same current pulls swimmers out through the gap at the end of the reef, so get out well before the sandbar. There are no lifeguards. Visit April to October; WA charges AUD 17 per vehicle for a day in the park.

10. Margaret River and the Cape-to-Cape coast is three hours south of Perth. Surfers Point near the river mouth hosts the professional surf contest each April, Yallingup and Injidup have heavy surf, and Meelup Beach and the Dunsborough side of Geographe Bay are calm and clear for swimming. Combine beaches with the wineries (see our Australian food guide) and the caves of Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park.

11. Lucky Bay in Cape Le Grand National Park, 60 km east of Esperance, has squeaky white sand, water the colour of a swimming pool and western grey kangaroos that lounge on the beach. It is eight hours from Perth by road, so fly to Esperance. 12. Cable Beach in Broome is 22 km of flat sand famous for sunset camel rides; swim between the flags in the dry season, May to October, since stingers are present from roughly November to April and saltwater crocodiles live along this coast.

14. Bells Beach, near Torquay at the start of the Great Ocean Road, about 100 km from Melbourne, is Australia’s most famous surf break and has hosted the Rip Curl Pro every Easter since the 1960s. It is a place to watch surfing from the clifftop, not to swim; the water is cold and the reef break is for experienced surfers. Swim at Torquay Front Beach, Anglesea or Lorne, which are patrolled in summer.

On the east coast, blue bottles (Portuguese man o’war) wash in on north-easterly winds in summer; their sting is painful but not dangerous, and the treatment is to rinse with sea water and soak in hot water, not vinegar. Shark bites are rare; councils in New South Wales and Queensland use nets, drumlines and drones at popular beaches, and you lower the risk further by swimming at patrolled beaches, avoiding dawn and dusk, and staying away from river mouths and murky water. North of about Rockhampton, saltwater crocodiles can turn up at beaches as well as rivers, so obey every warning sign.

Two other rules catch visitors out. Drinking alcohol on the beach is banned at most city beaches, including Bondi and Manly, with on-the-spot fines. And many Australian beaches are in national parks or marine reserves, where you cannot take shells, fish without a licence or bring dogs.