Brisbane is obsessed by beach culture. They are a city full of sun and surf-lovers, who at the first sight of blue skies and warm weather, are in their cars and on the road — with hats, bikinis, sunscreen and thongs slung in the back. Vacationing to Brisbane? Visit our Brisbane Travel Guide here.
Coolangatta Beach
Backed by high-rise holiday apartments and the Coolangatta shopping strip, this beach has a large grassy foreshore with picnic areas and play equipment. The beach is safe for swimming, with usually low surf – but I’d still advise staying between the lifesaving flags because there are rip currents and troughs in the sand to contend with. A rock groyne marks one end of the beach and Greenmount Hill the other, and surfers like the easy waves here. It’s also a good spot for fishing, both from the beach and off the rocks.
Coolangatta Beach
Noosa Main Beach
Noosa Heads is one of Australia’s favorite holiday destinations, and gets very crowded in summer and holiday periods. Main Beach runs in a crescent, with the Noosa National Park at one end and the Noosa River mouth at the other. Years of erosion problems have (hopefully) been solved by the erection of a rock groyne and a seawall, with surf lifesaving stations at each end of the beach. The Noosa Heads Surf Life Saving Club overlooks the beach near the end of trendy Hastings Street. Lovely as the beach is in summer, a good time to go there is in winter, when the crowds have gone but the sand still beckons.
Noosa Beach
Streets Beach South Bank
Australia’s only beach in the middle of the city, Streets Beach is one of South Bank’s most popular attractions. A unique, man-made swimming beach, Streets Beach overlooks the brilliant Brisbane River and central business district. Conceived as a major piece of landscape, Streets Beach has a sparkling-clean, crystal-clear lagoon with white-sand beaches, palm trees, pebbled creeks and shady shallows surrounded by subtropical trees and exotic plantings. Safety is extremely important at South Bank: there are none of the waves or dangerous rips found at coastal beaches, and Streets Beach is patrolled by experienced, professional lifeguards seven days a week.
Streets Beach
Surfers Paradise Beach
Surfers Paradise Beach
Bribie Island
Bribie Island is only an hour’s drive from Brisbane, but you really feel like you’re on holiday when you drive over the bridge which links the island to the mainland. The pace is slower on the island and the atmosphere is more relaxed than the more developed coastal areas to the north. There are sheltered beaches on the bridge side. They’re great for really little kids who can make sandcastles without having them washed away by waves. There’s also plenty of shade and picnic shelters behind the beach. Every time we’ve spent some time sitting on the beach near the Bongaree jetty, we’ve seen dolphins cruising by, just off the beach. If you want some surf (don’t expect big waves), head directly across the island to Woorim. There are beautiful park lands behind the beach with picnic shelters and playgrounds. There’s a bike path right across the island, and it’s flat so even young riders will manage the trip.
Bribie Island
Suttons Beach Redcliffe
Features parks, a WOW playground and BBQ facilities. The Suttons Beach Playground is fenced and this is a popular area with families. There is a great fish and chip shop up the road and a more fancy restaurant the opposite direction. Toilets including disabled nearby. This is Redcliffe’s only patrolled swimming beach. Suttons Beach is popular with young families looking for a safe place where children can paddle. A popular landing site for skydivers, the beach is complemented by play equipment, barbecue tables, bikeways and toilets. Redcliffe Surf Life Saving Club patrols the beach on summer weekends.
Suttons Beach at Redcliff
Wellington Point
Perched on the tip of a peninsula, Wellington Point has a bustling, friendly atmosphere where the water and seaside are enjoyed to the fullest by locals and the many people who visit this village on weekends. With plenty of grassy spots and tables, it’s the perfect spot to enjoy a picnic and bask in the sunshine. Bordered by water on both sides, Wellington Point is, not surprisingly, known as a great spot for fishing, boating and various water sports. Adventurous water pursuits such as jet skiing, windsurfing and, more recently, the spectacular sport of kite surfing, have become common sights at Wellington Point. Its long jetty is the ideal spot to cast your fishing line and exchange stories with local and visiting anglers, who gather there in droves. Insider tip: Walks out to the tiny adjoining King Island at low tide are a must for every adventurer.
Wellington Point
Coolum, Sunshine Coast
Not only does Coolum offer great surf on its patrolled beach, the surrounding restaurants and shops will keep you entertained long after the summer season ends. For a post-swim bite to eat try Harvest and Raw Energy, and if your sweet tooth is calling stop in at Gelato Mio which serves up delicious ice cream – try the mascarpone with pear and walnuts. If DIY dining is more your style, take a picnic to devour as you look over the beach from the adjacent park. Or, you could throw a few snags on one of the free BBQs and watch the waves roll in.
Coolum on Sunshine Coast
Currumbin, Gold Coast
Currumbin is a favorite for it’s small-town vibe that other beaches lack. Off the main drag, the small road is home to houses, small shops and cafes on one side and grass, dunes and beach on the other. Enjoy breakfast from the top floor of The Beach Shack, or grab a beer at Vikings Surf Club for panoramic beach views. Climbing Elephant Rock for your own Titanic moment is also a must.
Currumbin on Gold Coast
Kings Beach, Sunshine Coast
A jewel in the crown of the Sunshine Coast’s beaches, Kings Beach is bit of a busy family spot, but nonetheless a great place to bake. Before laying your towel out, and if you make it up early enough, on Sunday mornings the Caloundra Street Fair markets are at Bulcock St until 1pm are worth a visit. A highlight is warm croissants from the bake-on-site French patisserie – heaven. For the young, or the young at heart, Kings Beach also has it’s very own water park. You’d be crazy to not want to run through what is essentially a giant sprinkler.
Kings Beach
Mooloolaba, Sunshine Coast
The beauty of Mooloolaba not only lies in the pristine sands themselves. See and be seen strolling the well-landscaped Esplanade where you can pop into boutiques, grab a coffee with friends or enjoy a long lunch. Mooloolaba offers more than a beach day, but a day to be out and about socializing and shopping. But if your goal is to get away from the hustle bustle of city life, be sure to stroll south from Mooloolaba the point of The Spit.
Mooloolaba Beach
Nobbys Beach, Gold Coast
Nobbys Beach
Tallow Beach, Byron Bay
We’ve all been to main beach at Byron, but if you were local, wouldn’t you want somewhere more, er, private? Popular with Byron’s residents (and by popular we mean quiet, peaceful, serene), Tallow Beach is south of the lighthouse and backs onto total bush land. Bringing your own snacks is a must, and if you look closely, in the surrounding dunes the locals have created hidden tables and chairs to while the hours away. Pure escape, pure cool.
Tallow Beach
Woorim Beach, Bribie Island
Unsuspecting, Bribie Island’s Woorim Beach is both beautiful and mostly flat. With Moreton Island situated 15km east, it creates a sort of wave break meaning swell never makes it above 1m high – hello baby waves. While there isn’t too much happening on Bribie, the surf club serves up a mean fisherman’s basket and you can always cross to the inland side of the Island, hire a boat and cruise up and down Pumicestone Passage for the afternoon.
Woorim Beach
This was a source of excellent information. I am picking out some places to visit right now. Thank you for the great information.
You are very welcome Joe 🙂 I am glad I could help. Brisbane beaches are beautiful for sure!
I think you just helped me plan my next vacation! These beaches are all so gorgeous! Australia has always been on my travel list, now I know where top visit. Tallow beach here I come!
Oh you will love Brisbane beaches. All beautiful and Tallow beach, especially beautiful. Let me know if you need any help planning, as I would be more than happy to help 🙂 Thanks for visiting Brisbane Beaches!
Wow, I love the beach! It is the best place for outdoor activities and staying active. I am very interested in diving here. Looks like it would be amazing. The blue of the ocean, the sound of the waves, all so peaceful and relaxing! I actually have an opportunity to go to Brisbane, so I am going to bookmark this site and make sure I head to some of the beaches you have listed. Thanks for the great information!
Hi Hussien, Thanks for reading about Brisbane Beaches. You will love it when you visit. If you need any additional information for your stay, please let me know. I can get you a good deal on hotel and airfare.
Thanks for writing this post about Brisbane beaches. It is interesting to see all those beautiful beaches, and I did not realize there were so many! I am hoping to make it to Australia this next year, and you’ve made it easy for me to decide which beaches I must go to while there. This is a very informative round up, thanks!
You’re welcome Rob! I am glad you enjoyed learning about all the wonderful Brisbane beaches. If you have any additional questions, or need help with your planning, please let me know.
I love beaches, and I love this site! I have always wanted to go to Australia, and was looking to go to Sydney. After doing some research, and coming across your site, I see that Brisbane is a great choice for me! I love that it has so many great beaches to choose from! I am loving Street Beach. That looks like a lot of fun. Being the sun worshipper I am, I think that I will love Brisbane! Thanks for the great information on Brisbane and all the wonderful beaches it has to offer!
Hi Ivan, I am so glad you enjoyed reading about Brisbane Beaches. Thank you for taking the time to leave me some comments. Yes, it is really a sun worshippers paradise in Australia for sure. There is a beach for everyone, and I know that you will love vacationing here. Please let me know if you need any help planning your vacation.
Hi Leahrae, I just read your post about Brisbane beaches! What to say, you really covered it all when it comes to what Brissie has to offer, my personal favourites while driving down the Australian east coast were Noosa and Surfers paradise. Unfortunatelly I didn’t had the time to visit every single one you have mentioned here on your post because of a tight traveling schedule. When it comes to Noosa as city/town you would like to search up Noosa north shore, really a great spot also for camping! Come prepared with timing and camping gear because to reach it one has to take a small line-ferry that bridges you over to the north shore and it stops its service after a certain hour in the evening. Really a great post and well written, Brisbane is surelly a great spot when it comes to beaches. If I had more time than my two years stay in Australia, Brisbane would have defenitelly been another place in which I would have liked to live in instead of just stopping by it during my travel down the coast! Keep up the good work, you really have a great website going on there. Thanks for my reading, reminded me of those earlier Aussie years I have been living.
Thomas
Hi Thomas! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave me comments. Wow, you have enjoyed a lot of Australia! I am glad I could take you back to that time. Oh yes, I would love to go camping there. That would be an amazing experience to camp along the beach in Australia! Thanks for visiting the beautiful Brisbane Beaches.
Brisbane is a dream destination of mine! I would love to go there, but after seeing this post, it is definitely on my bucket list of places I must visit. I love beaches and warm weather, so what is not to like? Again Leahrae, thanks for all of the great information. You have done an excellent job on your website.
I have not been to Brisbane either, so it is on my bucket list as well. Well, Australia is on my bucket list. I want to go to a few different areas just to experience different parts of Australia. Don’t give up on your dreams> Make sure get to these wonderful beach destinations! Thanks for visiting Brisbane Beaches.
I love this post 🙂 I especially like Street Beach. I watched and the video, and WOW Brisbane looks pretty awesome. A bunch of friends are going to Brisbane, and I am thinking about going with them. After reading your post, and watching the video, I think this is the perfect vacation for all of us! Take me in …another part of the life, sun, sea, holiday, free time:) Thanks for sharing all this great information. You made my decision easy to go with them on this trip!
Cristina
Hi Cristina,
I think you will have a great time in Australia! Brisbane is pretty wonderful with all their great beaches. Please let me know if I can help with the planning. I know that I could save your group some money on hotel and airfare. I will send you an email 🙂
I have always wanted to visit Australia. My husband and I (and kids) are planning a visit there within the next 2 years as a friend of us is living in Melbourne now.
We have been putting it off since the flight for us is around 19 hours (with transfers). I can’t wait to see some of these amazing beaches.
I do not know Australia well so I am not sure how far Melbourne is from Brisbane? If it is far, do you have any recommendations on beaches near Melbourne?
It’s really too long of a drive to drive from Brisbane to Melbourne. I have included a link to the beaches on Melbourne. They have some really great beaches as well. Visit this link: http://beachtraveldestinations.com/melbourne-australia-beaches Thanks for reading!
The photos are tremendous and this site is top notch! I really do like the personal tidbits on the beaches. It’s not robotic and adds a bit of romance to each setting. This whole post makes me want to hop on a plane and take blogging to a different continent!
I’m so glad! Thanks for reading!!
What’s with all these foreign beaches looking way better than the Jersey beaches? Hahaha, I rather be in those places rather than Jersey in general anyway, not just for the beaches. But that’s a great selection you have here. Definitely going to be on my list of places to visit when I do my world travel.
Great! Yes, much better than Jersey for sure, thanks for reading!
So many amazing photos of those beaches and you did a really thorough job of writing up a summary all of the different ones. Australia sure looks like a beautiful place to visit, but I’m not sure I could handle that long flight from the states. But I love taking beach vacations, so that’s something I may just have to look into.
It’s well worth it Mike! Thanks for reading!
I must say I’m blown away by the quality of this website! I love the layout and the text wrap.
As for stuff you can improve, the menu at the bottom with flights is quite small, I would make it larger or maybe put some text/images around it to make it more appealing. As well, I have a huge screen and your site cuts off about an inch and a half on either side, making it seem slightly amateur.
Overall though, mind=blown! Keep up the great work!
Great! I am working on improvements and I definitely do now want my website to see amateurish. Thank you for the tips!
Do you live in Austrlia? It seems like you know SO much about these beaches. Have you been to all of them? The streets beach seems like the neatest thing that I’ve ever heard of. I can only imagine a beach cutting through the middle of a city. What a wild thing! If you were to pick one beach out of all of these to visit, which one woudl you choose???
I would definitely go for Street Beach for the experience. So much atmosphere and so much fun! Thanks for reading!