The must-do highlights of the Gold Coast in three days

Gold Coast Hinterland: After walking the Witches Falls Circuit, drop into under-rated Witches Falls Winery.Credit: Destination Gold Coast

There’s so much to see and do on the Gold Coast; here’s how you can try the best of what the region offers in three days.

DAY ONE

Morning

Golden moments are plentiful between Greenmount and Snapper Rocks.Credit:

Too many travellers overlook the southern part of the Gold Coast (it’s where the airport is, book your first night in a hotel close by) – but it’s here you’ll find the best beaches of the region’s 53-kilometre-long coastline. Rise early for a walk above arguably its finest beaches, on the Coolangatta-to-Snapper Rocks headland walk, watching surfers ride one of the world’s finest waves, The Superbank. Surfers often share the water with dolphins, and whales swim close by between June and October. Have a breakfast by the beach in Kirra, an easy walk north, then discover how to ride waves yourself (or refine your existing skills) at Kirra Point Surf School, riding waves breaking off the point.

Afternoon

Credit: Vikings Surf Club is built on the water at Currumbin.

Hire a bike from Coolangatta at Kool Bike Hire – the Gold Coast Oceanway is a shared walking/bike path that runs almost the entire length of the coast. The ride between Coolangatta and Currumbin is a highlight; it runs alongside two of the region’s quietest beaches, Bilinga and Tugun. Stop at Currumbin, a pretty beach neighbourhood seven kilometres north. Have a lunch of wood-fired pizza and/or pasta at a table overlooking the water at Tommy’s Italian, one of the southern Gold Coast’s hippest eateries. Or eat on a patio built out over the ocean at Vikings Surf Club. The Gold Coast is famous for surf clubs built on the region’s best beaches. Go for a swim at the patrolled beach right beside it, then spend your afternoon at one of the Gold Coast’s best-known attractions, Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. It doesn’t matter what age you are, there are all sorts of animals to see on 27 hectares of heritage-listed land just beside the waves.

Evening
Dining and entertainment options exist all over the southern Gold Coast. But start your evening with a snack and drink at the restaurant or bar overlooking the water at Siblings Kirra. Take a high table near the bar – no, that’s not Atlantis rising from the water you see; it’s the high-rises of Surfers Paradise. If you prefer to leave your car behind, ride your bike just another kilometre north of Currumbin to one of the dining hotspots of the southern Gold Coast, Palm Beach. Choose between restaurants with views over the ocean, like Las Palmas, with its Latin American tasting plate menu, or family favourite The Collective, five kitchens under one roof, with a rooftop facing the hinterland. Or ride or drive a little further north to Burleigh Heads, where you’ll find award-winning restaurants so close to the ocean that the water occasionally seeps in on king tides.

DAY TWO

Morning

It’s time to make your way north, there’s a lot to see. Stop along the way at Miami – once an industrial suburb that’s now one of the coolest cafe and art hubs of any region in Queensland. You won’t believe the choice you’ll have for breakfast – think: Melbourne meets Beverly Hills. A perennial favourite is Paddock Bakery, an Instagram staple set in a weatherboard cottage, with lattes served in a picket fence-lined courtyard. Keep driving north to HOTA (Home of the Arts) the venue that’s made the Gold Coast a genuine cultural destination. Check out a world exclusive exhibition (like NYC’s Pop Masters featuring till June), then have lunch at the HOTA rooftop bar, looking across the canals to Surfers Paradise.

Afternoon
There are a few genuine Gold Coast secrets, and the Broadwater is one of the biggest. It’s a calm-water estuary just north of Surfers Paradise, which runs to Brisbane’s Moreton Bay. You can catch Hopo Gold Coast Ferry from HOTA, and take it to four other destinations: to the hustle and bustle of Surfers Paradise; to theme park Sea World; to family-friendly Broadwater Parklands, where you’ll find water parks and waterside restaurants and cafes; and to Marina Mirage, an entertainment and dining hub for the aquatically minded. You can also drive to Marina Mirage (just north of Surfers Paradise) and go boating. Between June and October, whale-watching tours take you past the Seaway and into the ocean to come face-to-face with migrating humpbacks. Or hire your own boat with Duffy Down Under. There are sightseeing boat tours too, or for a little more adrenalin, consider a jet ski tour or jet boat ride.

Evening

Credit: Social Eating House is a local favourite.

A selection of family and couples hotels and resorts exists close by, on and around The Spit, a narrow strip of sand between the Pacific Ocean and the Broadwater. Some of the Gold Coast’s fanciest restaurants are here, including fine dining restaurant Mare Restaurant at Australia’s only floating beach club, La Luna Beach Club. Dine right on the water with superyachts all around. Or take an Uber (or drive) 15 minutes south to the northern Gold Coast’s dining and night-time entertainment centre, Broadbeach. Here you’ll find restaurants for every type of traveller, right beside each other on Oracle Boulevard. The best of them is Social Eating House, set among exposed brick and blue velvet lounges, its one-kilogram salt brush lamb shoulder is the stuff of legends. Head over to The Star Gold Coast to try your luck, or sample one of its 11 bars and restaurants (dessert, perhaps?).

DAY THREE

Morning

Credit: Take a walk beside the Spit to the Seaway.

Take a walk on the beach along the Southport Spit and watch the fitness show. Gold Coasters love to get up early, and they love to walk, run or surf. Walk to the Gold Coast Seaway and watch the trawlers coming in from a night’s work, and surfers paddle across to South Stradbroke Island. Order a coffee and breakfast at Seaway Kiosk. The Gold Coast is famous as Australia’s theme park capital. Take a drive 25 minutes north-west to Dreamworld – the largest theme park in Australia and home to over 40 rides set among 85 hectares of private land. Visit the tigers on Tiger Island, ride the tallest vertical freefall ride on Earth (it’s over nine stories high) or stick to family-friendly rides.

Afternoon

Credit: Witches Falls Winery.

You could spend the day at Dreamworld, but there’s still much to see. It’s easy to drive from here into the Gold Coast Hinterland, home to three World-Heritage-listed national parks with some of the oldest rainforest left on Earth. To see all the Hinterland would take days, but it’s easy to access Mount Tamborine, half an hour’s driving time west. Here you’ll find Tamborine National Park, 1160 hectares of World-Heritage-listed rainforest scattered across 14 separate reserves. Take an easy three-kilometre hike at Witches Falls Circuit then drop in at the region’s under-rated wineries, Witches Falls Winery and Cedar Creek Estate.

Evening
Stick around. You should see the sunset looking west from the 700-metre-high western escarpment of the ranges just outside Mount Tamborine’s tiny village, home to a large variety of art galleries you can visit on the Gallery Walk. The escarpment is one of the best places to hang-glide in Queensland, watch the pilots take to the air, or consider a tandem journey. On your way back to the Gold Coast, stop for dinner at historic St Bernards Hotel, a 112-year-old establishment built among four hectares of gardens. Order a good-value pub-style dish looking back across the lights of the northern Gold Coast before the 45-minute drive back to the beach.