Where to find Australia's 12 best beaches: From Sydneyside secrets to pristine paradises

There's few prettier sights in Australia than Noosa.Credit: Dave Wilcock/TEQ

In a country with 34,000 kilometres of coastline, you're likely to find a lot of beaches. And nowhere boasts the sheer quantity of quality beaches as the world's largest island, Australia. With so much choice, here's where you can find the best of them….

Wategos Beach, Byron Bay, NSW

Credit: Hugh Stewart/Destination NSW

These days you're as likely to see a Hemsworth on a wave, or a soapie heart-throb at the restaurant (Raes On Wategos) overlooking the sand – but Wategos Beach is the real star. A cruisy right-hand point break for generations of longboard surfers, you can walk its length and keep going around the corner to Australia's most easterly point, Cape Byron, for some of the best whale watching on Earth. You'll find the most expensive real estate outside Sydney, but ignore the palaces and buy a latte from a van parked beachside and take a seat on the grass to look for dolphins surfing the swells rolling around Cape Byron.

Whitehaven Beach, Whitsundays, QLD

Credit: Mark Fitz/TEQ

You'd come just for the sand: it's 98 per cent silica and since the local rocks don't contain any, scientists estimate the silica came here on currents over millions and millions of years. This sand is so fine it can't retain heat, so you can walk across it any time of the day. Just as well, because Whitehaven Beach is seven kilometres long. There's something about the fact you can only get to it by boat, helicopter or seaplane. Most will only make it to Whitehaven's southern or northern tips, the rest – the six kilometres-or-so in the middle - is all yours. Fringed by the Coral Sea, the beach is dwarfed by mountains beyond and an inland lagoon so clear it's transparent.

Wineglass Bay, Coles Bay, TAS

Credit: Tourism Tasmania

It's been Tasmania's most famous natural attraction for years – for good reason. Though the look-out above is often crowded with tourists, few go all the way down to Wineglass Bay. It's a two-hour return walk from the car park, and most of it is a tough slog. Make it all the way and you'll be graced with chalk-white sands and clear, turquoise waters that look more Queensland than Tasmania (the water's also often warmer than you'd think). Ensconced by the pink granite ranges of The Hazards (mountains), it's easy to feel like you're lost in the wild - just you and the wallabies. There's a campground on its southern end to truly soak up the ambience.

Double Island Point, Rainbow Beach, QLD

Credit: Krista Eppelstun/TEQ

Until recently, Double Island Point escaped the attention of Australians. This almost mythical beach existed only to those in the know – a protected headland only reachable by 4WD along the beach from fishing village, Rainbow Beach (or a 45-kilometre beach drive from Noosa). Then the Hemsworths and Matt Damon became regular visitors and the secret was out. But what a secret. More a vision of what a beach could be, there's even a lagoon here at low tide. Surfers ride one of the world's great waves (the only Australian beach to make Endless Summer 2), while non-surfers wander its wide white sands to the national park beyond. Whales pass by close to shore. Take a 4WD tour from Rainbow Beach.

Bondi Beach, Sydney, NSW

Credit: Eugene Tan/Destination NSW

Don't think Bondi Beach is famous just for being the setting of television's Bondi Rescue and for the paparazzi shots of every celebrity who visits Sydney - this beach is so much more. It's a one-kilometre strip of golden sand that - if you time it between the before-work fitness freaks and sleep-in backpackers - you can actually enjoy almost to yourself. Surrounded by bars, restaurants and the iconic Icebergs ocean pool, surfers flock here every morning and evening, whales pass close by through winter and snorkellers have plenty to see from its calm northern end. Sloping green grass is shaped like the Colosseum behind it, providing the best vantage point.

Noosa Main Beach, Noosa, QLD

Credit: Mark Fitz/TEQ

There are few prettier sights in Australia – Noosa's chic restaurants, cafes and bars are built right to the sand here, meaning you can enjoy the beach without even technically being on it. The best seat in the house is on the patio of local icon, the Noosa Heads Surf Lifesaving Club. The beach is protected by a forested headland within a national park (there are walking tracks all through it). Gentle waves wrap around the point, ideal for learning to surf (there are surf schools on the beach). There's people-watching to be done: for this is where Australia's rich and famous come on holidays, though you can escape the crowds with a five-minute walk for a swim around the corner.

Lorne Beach, Lorne, VIC

Credit: iStock

Victorians may flock to Queensland for their beach holidays, but one of the world's best beaches can be found in their own state. Drive an hour or so along the Great Ocean Road and you'll find Lorne. Come summer, there are few nicer places to be. Its two-kilometre long sandy beach is protected by a rocky headland, making it ideal for families. Surrounded by lush lawns, gum trees and barbecue and picnic tables, it's the perfect place for a lazy day in summer. You can also fish off Lorne Pier and swim in rock pools along the point. Town's right next door, with pubs and restaurants overlooking the water.

East Cape, Cape Conran, VIC

Credit: Visit Victoria/Geoff Stanton Photography

Located 90 kilometres from the popular beach town of Lakes Entrance in Victoria's East Gippsland region, Cape Conran is part of an 11,000-hectare national park where beaches don't come more deserted. The best hidden beach in the area is East Cape (and check out Salmon Rocks around the corner). Places don't get wilder on big surf days anywhere in Australia, and yet, on calm ocean days, there's nowhere more serene for swimming, camping or picnics (there are public barbecues). On still days you can fossick in rock pools and swim beside huge, granite boulders in the clear waters of the national park. Even in the height of summer you'll often have the beach to yourself.

Vivonne Bay, Kangaroo Island, SA

Credit: SATC

Bet you've never heard of it (even though it's on the north coast of popular tourist spot Kangaroo Island), but Vivonne Bay is considered to be Australia's most pristine beach. University researcher Andrew Short spent 11 years exploring every part of the Australian coastline to compile the world's first beach database. Vivonne Bay got Short's number one vote by a country mile: but then it is over two kilometres long and has pristine clear, blue water where fishing boats sit at anchor. It also offers soft white silica sand you'd expect on Whitehaven Beach. Its relative isolation keeps it quiet every day of the year. There are accommodation options beside the beach and the island's best national park is a short drive away.

Point Ann, Fitzgerald River National Park, WA

Credit: Scott Slawinski/Destination WA

Imagine a place fringed by huge coastal mountains where whales calve right beside a long, sandy beach. Point Ann – 180 kilometres north-east of the town of Albany – is one of only two places in Australia where you'll see southern right whales give birth. Get here between June and October and you're guaranteed to see it happening right in front of you. But there's far more to Point Ann, located within Fitzgerald River National Park. It'll be yours alone to enjoy, even though access is simple for any type of vehicle.

Store Beach, Sydney, NSW

Credit: Daniel Tran/Destination NSW

Even on a sunny day in the middle of the Christmas holidays, you can find a secret beach all to yourself, just 20 minutes from Manly. There's a catch though: in order to retain this kind of privacy nothing can be too accessible and Store Beach is only reachable via water. Hire a kayak from Manly Wharf and paddle towards North Head, near the old Quarantine Station. There you'll find Sydney's best secret beach. Fringed by bushland, you'll have the tiny sandy bay entirely to yourself, swimming inside the harbour. Pack a picnic and watch the boats at play on the harbour, knowing you have a strip of Sydney to yourself.