Australia's Top 10 Beaches – The Complete Guide

• 01
  Bay of Fires, Tasmania

  Named Australia's best beach for 2025 by Tourism Australia's official beach ambassador, the Bay of Fires is a 10-kilometre stretch of pristine coastline running from The Gardens to Binalong Bay. Famous for its impossibly azure waters, bleached-white sand, and iconic orange lichen-covered granite boulders, this place feels like the end of the Earth in the most magnificent way. Despite growing popularity, visitors can still find secluded bays and sheltered coves for peaceful days by the sea.

  Tasmania • Best Beach 2025
• 02
  Whitehaven Beach, Queensland

  Consistently rated among the world's most beautiful beaches, Whitehaven Beach on uninhabited Whitsunday Island is composed entirely of 98% pure silica sand — so fine and white that it never burns your feet, even in the scorching Queensland summer. The beach wraps around Hill Inlet, where swirling tides create mesmerising patterns of white sand and turquoise water that shift with every tide. Accessible by boat, seaplane, or helicopter from Airlie Beach, Hamilton Island, and the surrounding Whitsunday resorts.

  Queensland • World Famous
• 03
  Squeaky Beach, Victoria

  Victoria's pride and Australia's Best Beach for 2024, Squeaky Beach sits within Wilsons Promontory National Park on the southernmost tip of mainland Australia. Its name comes from the high-pitched squeak produced with every footstep across its fine white quartz sand. Enclosed by granite boulders and dramatic headlands, this 700-metre strip of crashing waves and pristine sand is patrolled by a local population of emus, wombats, and wallabies. The beach itself is unpatrolled — swim with care.

  Victoria • Best Beach 2024
• 04
  Bells Beach, Victoria

  Known globally as one of the best surf beaches in Australia, Bells Beach along the Great Ocean Road is the spiritual home of Australian surfing. Carved into the red clay cliffs of Victoria's southwest coast, this legendary break is home to the Rip Curl Pro — one of surfing's most prestigious competitions. The powerful swells generated by the Southern Ocean make Bells a world-class challenge for experienced surfers. Even non-surfers are drawn here for the dramatic cliff views and the raw, primal energy of the ocean below.

  Victoria • Best Surf Beach
• 05
  Wineglass Bay, Tasmania

  Nestled within Freycinet National Park and framed by the famous pink and red granite peaks known as the Hazards, Wineglass Bay earns its name from the perfect crescent shape of its shoreline. The bay's snow-white sand and startlingly blue waters form a scene so breathtaking it regularly features on lists of the world's top natural wonders. Getting there requires a 3-kilometre return hike from the lookout carpark — but every step is rewarded. Take a full day, kayak the bay, and let the tranquillity wash over you.

  Tasmania • World Wonder
• 06
  Bondi Beach, New South Wales

  Australia's most internationally recognisable beach, Bondi is a crescent of golden sand in Sydney's eastern suburbs backed by a vibrant mix of surf culture, cafes, and coastal walks. The iconic Bondi to Coogee Coastal Walk stretches 6 kilometres along dramatic cliff tops, passing sea pools and hidden coves. The Bondi Icebergs Club ocean pool — perched dramatically above the Pacific — is one of Sydney's most photographed spots. Bondi is also home to world-class surf lifesaving clubs and a beach volleyball scene that comes alive every summer.

  New South Wales • Iconic
• 07
  Cottesloe Beach, Western Australia

  Perth's most beloved beach, Cottesloe is a golden stretch of Indian Ocean shoreline flanked by Norfolk Island pines and the heritage-listed Indiana Teahouse. Calm, clear waters make it one of Western Australia's safest swimming beaches, while the groyne extends into the turquoise shallows for a picture-perfect vantage point. Every March, the beach transforms into a gallery for Sculpture by the Sea — an extraordinary free outdoor exhibition that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors. Sunsets at Cottesloe are among the finest on the continent.

  Western Australia • Perth's Favourite
• 08
  Jervis Bay, New South Wales

  Jervis Bay on the NSW South Coast holds the Guinness World Record for the whitest sand in the world — a claim you will believe the moment sunlight bounces off Hyams Beach and temporarily blinds you. The bay's protected waters are brilliantly clear, offering some of the best snorkelling in eastern Australia amid a resident pod of bottlenose dolphins. In winter, migrating whales pass close to the headlands, making this one of Australia's best whale-watching locations. The surrounding Booderee National Park adds world-class bushwalking and camping to the package.

  New South Wales • Whitest Sand in the World
• 09
  Cable Beach, Western Australia

  Stretching 22 kilometres along the Kimberley coast near Broome, Cable Beach is one of the longest and most dramatic beaches in Australia. Named after the undersea telegraph cable that once connected Australia to Asia, Cable Beach is most famous for its camel rides along the shoreline at sunset — a truly iconic Australian experience. The Pindan red cliffs framing the northern end of the beach create a striking contrast against the Indian Ocean's turquoise and white. This is the tropics at their most cinematic and unhurried.

  Western Australia • Camel Ride Sunsets
• 10
  Noosa Main Beach, Queensland

  The jewel of the Sunshine Coast, Noosa Main Beach sits at the doorstep of one of Australia's most sophisticated seaside towns. The beach faces north, meaning it is protected from the prevailing southerly winds and receives calm, swimmable surf year-round. Hastings Street behind the beach is lined with first-class restaurants, boutique stores, and alfresco cafes. The surrounding Noosa National Park adds dramatic headland walks with koala sightings and stunning views of the surf breaks at Tea Tree Bay and Alexandria Bay. A complete coastal destination in every sense.

  Queensland • Sunshine Coast