Gold Coast Travel Information

Gold Coast Travel Information

Courtesy of Tourism Queensland

The coast south of Brisbane is one of the most intensive mass tourism developments in Australia, so if you like to be part of massive tourist crowds, Gold Coast is the place to go. The thickest crowds are found in Surfers Paradise, Southport, Mermaid Beach and Broad Beach, but there are quieter and cheaper resorts in Coolangatta and South Stradbroke Island. Gold Coast is known for some of the best surfing in Australia, lively night-life and expensive theme parks such as Dreamworld and others. Inland are some nice getaways like Springbrook National Park. In the end of this page you have a map of Gold Coast.

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South Stradbroke Island
South Stradbroke Island south of Brisbane is mostly undeveloped and a nice place to camp, but on western coast there is the South Stradbroke Island Resort where you can enjoy a pool, tennis courts and restaurants.It is very close to Southport on the Gold Coast, so you can easily visit it on a day trip and enjoy some canoeing, swimming and bushwalking.

Gold Coast Travel Information - Dreamworld
South from South Stradbroke Island the theme parks start and the first one is Dreamworld – a Disneyland-style park with the famous Giant Drop, and other adrenaline pumpers like Tower of Terror, Thunderpolt, Wipeout and Gravitron rafting ride. If you are not an adrenaline junky, there are different themed zones like a recreated gold rush town, an aquatic playground, a Bavarian Village and an Australian Wildlife Sanctuary.

Gold Coast Travel Information - Movie World
The next theme park is Movie World where you can watch cartoon characters walking around the park, re-creations of Superman’s Daily Planet building and Batman’s Riddler’s Lair, or take a few thrill rides on Lethal Weapon roller coasters and the Big Road Runner.

Gold Coast Travel Information - Seaworld
Seaworld in Main Beach is a huge aquatic theme park with water slides, a reproduction of Captain Cook’s Endeavour, a monorail and aquariums with a lot of marine life. You can watch shark feeding and dolphin and sea lion shows, and the Water-ski Spectacular.

Gold Coast Travel Information - Surfers Paradise
South of the theme parks is Surfers Paradise, the most famous town on the Gold Coast with a long beach known for some of the best surfing in Australia. If you aren't a surfer, there is plenty of shopping and some great nightlife here, and a perfect beach to laze a day away after a big night out. Would that be not enough fun, Banzai Bungey offers bungy jumping or you can try the Flycoaster or Sling Shot. You can stay in Surfers Paradise at Cheers Backpackers, Surfers Paradise Backpackers Resort, in Surf’nSun Backpackers on the Gold Coast Hwy, Sleeping Inn Surfers or Backpackers in Paradise on Peninsular Drive.

Tamborine Mountains, Lamington and Springbrook National Park
If mass tourism starts getting to you, there is the Gold Coast hinterland with some great national parks like Tamborine Mountains, Lamington and Springbrook National Park with hundreds of kilometers of walking tracks. The northernmost one is Tamborine Mountains, where you can discover pockets of the area’s original rainforest, visit rainforest waterfalls and enjoy some great coastal views from lookout points.

South of Tamborine is Lamington National Park with 160km of bushwalking trails, caves, gorges and waterfalls, and subtropical rainforests. Further south is the Springbrook Plateau, a remnant of a volcano with winding drives on its slopes and great lookouts, and temperate rainforests protected in Springbrook National Park. Click on the links above for maps and more information about these national parks, walking tracks, facilities, camping and other accommodation.

Here is a map of Gold Coast, where I have tagged the places that I mentioned on this web page. You can click on the tags to see what places they are, and double-click anywhere on the map to zoom it in and see the places closer. Drag the map to move around, and if you want to see the satellite image with Google Earth, click on "Sat" in the top right hand corner.

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NOTE: This website is written in British English, which is the English we use in Australia. You will find words like "traveller", "harbour" and "realise", and they are all correct in the language used in Australia.

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