Gold Coast Travel Tips. An article sharing travel tips about visiting Gold Coast. How to get there and more…

Mark Ford, Founder of Plus1 Travel

Welcome to this article about Gold Coast travel tips. It’s great to have you here. My name is Mark and I’m glad to share with you tips to get the most out of your Gold coast travel experience, let’s dig right in shall we! 

Gold Coast is located on the northeast coast of Australia, and its star attraction is this Golden beaches that stretches for miles south to Coolangatta with a perfect patch of sand for everyone, the most famous one is the world renowned beach at Surfers Paradise. Beyond the beaches tourists come here to discover laid back neighbourhoods, great food, the Gold Coast’s famous theme parks, rainforest walks waterfalls, and wildlife parks that are wonderful family attractions. 

In the hinterland, nature lovers can relax amid rolling green valleys, lushly cloaked peaks, and World Heritage-listed rainforests. Best of all, the sun shines on the subtropical Gold Coast more than 300 days a year.

Gold Coast Travel Tips – How To Get From The Airport To Gold Coast

Looking for Gold Coast travel tips there are a couple of things to know about getting from the airport. Gold Coast has its own city airport in Coolangatta, and it only serves regional Australian flights. So when flying internationally you’re most likely going to be landing in Sydney and hopping on an hour long regional flight to Gold Coast. There are great options that will get you there comfortably, let’s have a look at them now.

Flights to Gold Coast

Gold Coast Airport

Buses

The easiest and cheapest way to get from the Gold Coast Airport to the city is the The SkyBus Gold Coast Airport Shuttle. is a dedicated service connecting the Gold Coast Airport to Gold Coast’s most popular tourist locations. The Gold Coast Airport Shuttle services all flights, 7 days a week and the ride takes around 25 minutes and costs $15. 

Taxis

A taxi rank is conveniently located at the southern end of the terminal, outside the domestic arrivals area and will get you into town in around 20 minutes, the price is around $50-60. 

Brisbane Airport

Alternatively you can land in Brisbane which is the closest big city nearby, and grab a train because there are no direct flights from Brisbane to Gold Coast, most likely due to the short distance. The train takes 1 hour and 45 minutes from the Brisbane airport to Gold Coast, and costs $15. Good to know if you find cheap direct flights to Brisbane. Or grab a very expensive taxi for around $200 that takes just under an hour. 

Gold Coast Travel Tips – How To Get Around Gold Coast

Searching for Gold Coast Travel tips and around the Gold Coast, depending on where you plan to stay and what you plan to do there’s a few things to know about travelling around Gold Coast. The distances in Australia are massive, but

Public Transport in Gold Coast

if you’re planning to just be around the city of Gold Coast, this is not a problem. There’s great public transport around town and if you want to rent a car to drive up and down the coast that’s the best way to get around. 

Buses

Getting around the Gold Coast via bus can sometimes be a chore – we recommend allowing sufficient time for delays. Through the large public transit operator, TransLink, and a local bus operator, Surfside Buslines, buses run from the south to the north of the Gold Coast, as well as to outside areas. These operators also offer NightLink, an after-midnight bus service to ensure affordable and safe transportation late at night.

Light Rail system

As of 2014, the Gold Coast has a newly-constructed light rail system that follows the Gold Coast highway and takes passengers to all the key tourist spots on the northern end of the Gold Coast. A single ticket costs $4.60.

Surfing

Walking and Cycling

A great way to get around Gold Coast, due to its amazing all year round climate is by walking or cycling. The developed areas of the Gold Coast are densely built, it is easy to walk and cycle. Further, there are over 600 kilometres of bike paths that connect neighbourhoods and link to major transit routes.

Taxi

You can hail a cab in the street when it has its lights on where possible, or book one in advance via Uber or one of the local taxi companies. Be aware that taxis are not cheap, but Uber is a bit less expensive. 

Best Places To Stay In Gold Coast

When looking into this beautiful place and Gold Coast travel tips, matter what your taste, or budget is there’s

Surfers Paradise

overwhelming options of great places to stay to get the most out of your experience. Whether you want to hit the theme parks in the northern Gold Coast, embrace the slower pace of the southern Gold Coast, catch a wave at Currumbin or Burleigh Heads or escape into nature in the lush Hinterland – the Gold Coast suits every type of traveller.

Surfers Paradise offers world class surfing as you might have already figured out by the name. No matter if you choose to stay in one of the areas many apartments, hotels or backpackers places, if you want to live near the ocean with great views and a relaxed, yet vibrating culture with nightlife, restaurants and shops – this is your best bet.

Recommended Hotel: Crowne Plaza Hotel 

Broadbeach with its luxury brand hotels and world-class casino and shopping centre are a key drawcard for this hotspot, ‘Broadie’ still manages to exude coastal cool with its beautiful beaches and lazy parklands home to yoga classes and weekend markets. There’s no denying that glitz and glam take centre stage here.  

Recommended Hotel: Meriton Suites 

Mermaid Beach and Nobby Beach are the underdog suburbs of the Gold Coast. Through Miami and Burleigh Heads, these guys have got some seriously understated charm and charisma. Over the last few years, this golden stretch of coastline has become a hub of coolness with its shopping, buzzing cafe culture, edgy watering holes and trendy markets.

Gold Coast

Recommended Hotel: Quality Hotel

Southern Gold Coast with its amazing surf, natural beauty and relaxed way of life is the perfect place to holiday if you’re after a change of pace. From Palm Beach and Currumbin right through to Coolangatta on the state’s edge, discover the laid-back allure that is the Gold Coast’s southside. Another place that resembles nothing short of a paradise. 

Recommended Hotel: The Pink Hotel Coolangatta

Best Places To Eat In Gold Coast

Looking for Gold Coast travel tips you’ll quickly realize that the food culture is absolutely amazing. There’s an abundance of incredible food around the area and it can be hard to know where to even begin. Being close to the ocean obviously makes for plenty of seafood, and grilled meat is in abundance around the city with a large farming culture around this enormous country. Let’s go through 4 restaurants that are known to be some of the top ones in Gold Coast. 

Yamagen is a funky izakaya with one of Queensland’s largest Japanese whisky collections and some of the most innovative Japanese cuisine you’ll ever taste. Ranked as Gold Coast’s signature restaurant, behind the expansive bar

Restaurant

the beating heart of the izakaya where smells and smoke wafts as chefs work over robata grills and binchotan charcoal. Grab spot at the 15-seat sushi bar where you can interact with the chefs and devour plate after plate of chef’s selection of market fresh sushi and sashimi. One of the best restaurants on the Gold Coast, you’ve got it here.

Social Eating House is one of the absolute best restaurants on the Gold Coast, this unassuming and unpretentious two chef-hatted bistro sets a culinary bar that other restaurants can only aspire to. Come for Social Eating House’s legendary one-kilo saltbush lamb shoulder, followed by the most exquisite desserts in town and washed down with fantastic espresso martinis. This is a place you’d want to stay for hours and hours. 

The Star Gold Coast has a half dozen stellar eateries under one roof. And at the crème de la crème of Gold Coast hotel restaurants is Nineteen at The Star, this is where the who’s who come for local grilled Patagonian Toothfish and rock lobster bolognese with glittering views of the coastline 19 floors up. This is your go-to place to celebrate that

Cafe

something or someone special.

Lupo offers a stunning copper-topped horseshoe-shaped bar. With the moody lights, humming atmosphere, and the warmth of the wood-fired oven throwing delicious smells in every direction. Getting a seat at the intimate bar or dining room will transport you to the depths of a culture-swathed neighbourhood in Europe. With simple yet sensational home-style cooking direct from the open-fire oven, here you’ll feel like you’ve been welcomed in for dinner at the family home. A must when visiting Gold Coast. 

Top 7 Experiences You MUST Have In Gold Coast

1. Gold Coast beaches 

Beaches, sun, and sea. The Gold Coast’s biggest assets are on impressive display at this iconic three-kilometer strand. Despite all the skyscrapers rising behind the beach and the many bronzed bodies basking along its shore, the beaches remain a surprisingly clean and picturesque stretch. Kids can splash around in the shallows or build sandcastles in the soft white sand. Surfers can ride the typically gentle swells, and if you want a break from the sun, you can seek shelter in one of the many nearby shops, cafés, and

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

restaurants.

2. SkyPoint is Australia’s tallest residential tower in the Q1 Resort and Spa. It offers amazing views of the entire Gold Coast and you can choose from two sightseeing attractions here. The SkyPoint Observation Deck on level 77 affords 360-degree panoramas of the Gold Coast, the sea, and the distant green hinterland. Those seeking a little more adventure can opt for the SkyPoint Climb, where thrill seekers clamber upon a 270-meter-high platform perched above the city.
3. A family favourite Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary is a well-known wildlife park owned by the non-profit National Trust of Queensland. Bird lovers are in for a treat here, where hundreds of brightly colored rainbow lorikeets eat from visitors’ hands and even perch on their heads. Other highlights include the free-flight bird show, you can commune with kangaroos, cuddle koalas, and check out the resident crocodiles. All proceeds support the animals.
4. Coolangatta Beach near the New South Wales state border, provides a much more peaceful alternative to the tourist-packed Surfer’s Paradise beaches a 30-minute drive north. Spending a day on the soft sun-soaked sands here is one of the best things to do on the Gold Coast for free. Parents bring their children here to play and splash along the gleaming shores, and lifeguards patrol year-round. When you want a break from the sun, sand, and sea, you’ll find plenty of shops and cafés across the road from the beach.
   

   Coolangatta Beach

5. Sea World is the largest marine park in Australia. People across all ages come to enjoy the exhibits and busy agenda of shows here. With favorites like performing dolphins, sea lions, and Jet-Ski stunts. Other highlights include the polar bears, penguin feeding presentation, as well as the tropical fish, shark, and ray exhibits. The park even offers sea-themed rides like roller coasters. For a great overview of the park, hop aboard the monorail. After viewing all the marine creatures, the small water park is a great spot to cool off with the kids. 
6. The beautiful Burleigh Heads Beach has swimming and surfing as the two of the most popular things to do. This enticing slice of soft, white sand sits about halfway between Surfers Paradise and Coolangatta. Surfers usually go to the famous point break on the northern side of the headland, but you can also surf the beach breaks along the outer bar. Swimming is best in the two areas patrolled by lifeguards at Burleigh and North Burleigh.
   

   Burleigh Beach

   You’ll find plenty of cafes and shops a short stroll from the beach.

7. World Heritage listed Lamington National Park located about an hour drive from Surfers Paradise is renowned for its beautiful rainforest scenery. With plenty of waterfalls, quirky wildlife and the park lies in the lush hills of the Border Ranges. Border Ranges is the remnants of an ancient volcano, where the Lamington Plateau plunges into dramatic cliffs and gorges. Bird lovers will be in heaven here with more than 190 species to spot, including brilliantly colored parrots and the elusive bowerbird. Other wildlife here includes red-necked pademelons and long-nosed bandicoots. If you love nature, this is the place for you to be!

Gold Coast Travel Tips Video

Accreditation: Expedia

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Mark Ford – Founder of Plus1Travel.com – For More Travel Tips > Go Here