Australia has something like 10,000 beaches, which is a fine problem
to have and an impossible one to shortlist. We didn't try to crown a single best.
Instead, this is the spread we'd actually plan a trip around: tropical sand you reach
by boat, surf breaks with a century of history, and quiet coves where the only crowd
is a pod of dolphins.
Each entry notes the nearest base and the time of year it shows its best face,
because half the art of a great beach day is timing the tide and the season. Where a
beach sits inside a national park or marine zone, we've flagged it — bring reef-safe
sunscreen and leave it as you found it.
01
Whitehaven Beach
Whitsundays, Queensland
Reef gatewayBoat access
Seven kilometres of silica sand so pure and fine it squeaks underfoot and stays cool in the midday sun. Whitehaven sits on uninhabited Whitsunday Island, reached by boat or seaplane from Airlie Beach or Hamilton Island.
Head to Hill Inlet at the northern end for the postcard view — tide and current swirl the white sand through turquoise shallows in patterns that shift by the hour. Go on an outgoing tide for the cleanest colours.
02
Cable Beach
Broome, Western Australia
SunsetCamel trains
Twenty-two kilometres of broad, pancake-flat sand backed by red pindan cliffs, facing due west into the Indian Ocean. The light at sunset here is the reason people fly to the Kimberley.
Time a visit for the dry season (May–October) when the water is calm and croc-free on the patrolled stretch. The camel trains along the tideline at dusk are touristy and completely worth it.
03
Wineglass Bay
Freycinet, Tasmania
National parkLookout walk
A flawless crescent of white sand inside Freycinet National Park, framed by the pink-granite peaks of the Hazards. The lookout walk is a steady 45-minute climb; the full descent to the sand and back is a half-day on foot.
Summer (December–February) brings the warmest swimming, but the bay is at its quietest and most photogenic in the soft light of autumn.
04
Turquoise Bay
Ningaloo / Exmouth, Western Australia
SnorkellingMarine park
The drift snorkel here is one of the best in the country: walk up-current, slip in, and let the gentle flow carry you over fringing coral teeming with fish, all a short wade from the beach.
Ningaloo Reef comes right to the shore, so you don't need a boat. Whale sharks visit between March and August — the headline act of an already extraordinary coastline.
05
Lucky Bay
Cape Le Grand, Western Australia
National parkKangaroos
Squeaky white sand, water the colour of a swimming pool, and a fair chance of kangaroos lounging on the beach at dawn. Lucky Bay sits inside Cape Le Grand National Park, a 50-minute drive east of Esperance.
The sand is firm enough to drive on with a permit and the right vehicle. Camp at the bay to catch sunrise before the day-trippers arrive.
06
Hyams Beach
Jervis Bay, New South Wales
Day tripWhite sand
Long famed for its brilliant white sand, Hyams sits on the gentle, sheltered waters of Jervis Bay, three hours south of Sydney. The bay is a marine park, and bottlenose dolphins are a common sight.
It gets busy in peak summer and parking is limited — arrive early, or visit the quieter neighbouring beaches at Greenfield and Chinamans.
07
Four Mile Beach
Port Douglas, Queensland
TropicalFamily
A long, palm-fringed sweep of sand right on the edge of Port Douglas, where two World Heritage areas — the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree — meet the coast.
Swim inside the patrolled, stinger-netted enclosure during the wet season (November–May). The view from Flagstaff Hill lookout above the beach is worth the short climb.
08
Greens Pool
Denmark, Western Australia
ShelteredSnorkelling
Giant granite boulders ring a natural swimming pool of glassy, sheltered water on the wild Southern Ocean coast. It's calm enough for young swimmers and clear enough for a snorkel among the rocks.
Pair it with neighbouring Elephant Rocks, a cluster of boulders you can clamber between, in William Bay National Park near Denmark.
09
Burleigh Heads
Gold Coast, Queensland
SurfWalkable
A world-class right-hand point break wrapping around a headland, with a grassy foreshore, a rainforest walk over the point, and a row of cafes a barefoot stroll from the sand. Burleigh is the Gold Coast at its most liveable.
Watch the surfers from the headland, then walk the Burleigh Head National Park circuit for pandanus, ocean views and the odd koala.
10
Vivonne Bay
Kangaroo Island, South Australia
RemoteWild
A long, lonely arc of sand on Kangaroo Island's south coast, backed by bush and rarely crowded. The sheltered end near the jetty is calm; the open beach has stronger currents, so pick your spot.
It rewards travellers who make the ferry crossing for the island's wildlife, sea lions and untamed coast.
11
Bells Beach
Great Ocean Road, Victoria
Surf historyLookout
The spiritual home of Australian surfing and host of the world's longest-running professional surf contest each Easter. Even non-surfers come for the powerful swell and the cliff-top amphitheatre that frames it.
There's no gentle swimming here — Bells is about watching the ocean do its thing from the lookouts, an easy detour off the Great Ocean Road near Torquay.
Cooee Tours acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and recognise that the places described here hold deep cultural significance for the First Peoples who have cared for them for tens of thousands of years.
