Queensland · Coastal

Gold Coast

High-Rise Beaches and Hinterland Rainforest

sunny Best in September to November, March to May

location_on South East Queensland Coast

schedule 3 min read / Updated Apr 2026

A 70 kilometre stretch of beaches, theme parks and hinterland rainforest on Queensland's southern coast. The Gold Coast is Australia's sixth-largest city, the country's surfing capital, and home to most of the major Australian theme parks.

The Gold Coast runs for about 70 kilometres along the far-south coast of Queensland, from Coomera in the north to Coolangatta on the New South Wales border. The area sits on the traditional lands of the Yugambeh people. The modern city grew out of a string of small seaside holiday villages in the 1950s and 1960s and is now the sixth-largest city in Australia by population, with a permanent population of over 700,000 and an annual visitor count of more than 12 million.

The coastline itself is the main attraction. Surfers Paradise is the iconic high-rise beachfront, Broadbeach is the more upscale alternative, and Burleigh Heads is where most of the serious surfers and returning locals go. Kirra and Snapper Rocks at the southern end of the coast are world-class right-hand point breaks that produce some of the longest rideable waves in the world on a classic cyclone swell.

The Gold Coast has four of the five major theme parks in Australia: Warner Bros. Movie World (opened 1991), Sea World (1971), Dreamworld (1981, with the tallest drop ride in the southern hemisphere), and Wet'n'Wild water park. All four are within 15 minutes of each other in the northern part of the coast and are a standard family-holiday circuit.

The hinterland, 30 minutes west of the beaches, is the less-visited half of the Gold Coast and is one of the reasons the city has stayed interesting. The Lamington National Park and Springbrook National Park are both part of the UNESCO Gondwana Rainforests of Australia listing, protecting cool subtropical rainforest with waterfalls, glow worm caves and the longest rainforest canopy in Australia. Binna Burra Lodge and O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat are the two main rainforest bases.

Beyond the beaches and the theme parks, the Gold Coast has a growing food and drink scene, particularly in Burleigh Heads and Palm Beach, plus one of the largest casinos in the country at The Star Gold Coast. The Commonwealth Games was held here in 2018 and left behind significant infrastructure improvements including the G:link light rail that runs the length of the beachfront.

Day trips from the Gold Coast include Byron Bay (45 minutes south, over the New South Wales border), Lamington and Springbrook national parks (45 minutes inland), and the Tamborine Mountain wine and distillery region. Brisbane is 45 minutes north by train.

The Gold Coast has 300 days of sunshine a year and is a year-round destination. The best months are April to June and September to November when the weather is mild and the ocean is warm but stingers are absent. Summer (December to February) is peak season with school holidays, humid weather and some cyclone risk from tropical systems to the north. Gold Coast Airport (OOL) at Coolangatta is 22 kilometres south of Surfers Paradise with direct flights from Auckland and major Australian cities.

location_on Gold Coast, QLD

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