Australia has over 35,000 kilometres of coastline, and some of the most spectacular sections of it are best experienced from behind the wheel. A coastal road trip in Australia is one of those travel experiences that genuinely lives up to its reputation — cliffs dropping into churning southern ocean, deserted beaches stretching to the horizon, tropical rainforest meeting turquoise sea. There’s a coastal drive here for every kind of traveller.
I’ve driven most of these routes myself, and the thing they all have in common is that the journey is the destination. You don’t rush a coastal drive in Australia. You stop constantly. You get out of the car to stand on cliff edges, to wade into surf, to eat fish and chips at a picnic table watching pelicans argue over scraps. The road is an excuse to see the coast at its best.
Below I’ve covered the finest coastal drives in Australia — from the iconic Great Ocean Road to lesser-known routes that most visitors never find. Each route includes the key stops, practical tips and the best time to drive it.
📋 TL;DR – Best coastal drives in Australia
- 🌊 Great Ocean Road: Victoria’s iconic coastal route — the Twelve Apostles, wild surf beaches and lush rainforest in one drive.
- 🏖️ Pacific Coast Highway (NSW): Whale watching, surf towns and national parks from Sydney to the Queensland border.
- 🌴 Captain Cook Highway: Tropical drive between Cairns and Mossman through rainforest and reef — one of Queensland’s finest.
- 🔴 Coral Coast (WA): Kalbarri to Exmouth through stunning red gorges and pristine reef.
- 🚗 Causarina Coastal Drive (NT): Darwin’s coastal route with wetlands and extraordinary bird life.
- 🌅 Eyre Peninsula (SA): Raw, remote coastline where sea lions lounge on the beach and the seafood is extraordinary.
- 📅 Best time to drive: Spring and autumn offer the best combination of weather, light and manageable crowds on most routes.
🌊 The Great Ocean Road — Victoria
The Great Ocean Road is Australia’s most famous coastal drive and one of the most scenic roads in the world. It stretches for 243 kilometres along Victoria’s rugged south coast from Torquay to Allansford, and it was built by returned soldiers after World War I as both a memorial and a public works project. Today it’s an engineering feat and a visual spectacle in equal measure.
The route passes through surf towns (Lorne and Apollo Bay are the finest), ancient rainforest in the Otway Ranges, and the dramatic limestone sea stacks of the Port Campbell National Park. The Twelve Apostles — great columns of rock standing in the Southern Ocean — are the headline act, but the surrounding coastline is equally dramatic. Loch Ard Gorge, where a young couple survived a shipwreck in 1878, is one of the most atmospheric spots on the route.
🗺️ Key stops on the Great Ocean Road
- Torquay and Bells Beach. The road begins in Torquay, home of Rip Curl and Quiksilver and the spiritual home of Australian surfing culture. Bells Beach, a few minutes south, is one of the most famous surf breaks in the world — even if you don’t surf, watching the waves here in a big swell is electrifying.
- Lorne. The most charming town on the Great Ocean Road, Lorne sits in a protected bay backed by the Otway Ranges. The Lorne Hotel does excellent food, the beach is safe for swimming, and the walking tracks through the national park behind the town lead to beautiful waterfalls.
- The Otway Rainforest. Turning inland through the Otway Ranges takes you into ancient temperate rainforest — tree ferns, enormous myrtle beech trees and cascading waterfalls. The Triplet Falls and Hopetoun Falls walk is outstanding.
- The Twelve Apostles. Arrive at sunrise or sunset when the light turns the limestone golden and the tour buses haven’t arrived yet. There are only eight apostles remaining (erosion takes one every decade or so), but they’re dramatic enough to justify the name.
- Loch Ard Gorge. Named for the iron clipper that wrecked here in 1878, this gorge is one of the most evocative spots on the route — enclosed, dramatic, and with a beach at the bottom that feels entirely hidden from the world.
🏄 Pacific Coast Highway — New South Wales
The drive north from Sydney along the New South Wales coast is one of the great Australian road trips, though it’s less a single road and more a series of connecting coastal highways. The route from Sydney to Byron Bay (about 800 kilometres) passes through some of the finest coastal scenery in Australia — national parks with deserted beaches, laid-back surf towns, whale watching headlands and lush hinterland.
The Central Coast (just north of Sydney) is beautiful and often overlooked. The Hunter Valley wine region is accessible from here as a detour. Port Stephens — known for its dolphin watching and the massive sand dunes at Anna Bay — is a highlight. Nelson Bay’s fish and chips, eaten on the jetty watching pelicans, is a genuinely great Australian experience.
🌴 Key stops on the NSW coastal drive
- Jervis Bay (southbound). Going south of Sydney first to Jervis Bay is worthwhile — the white sand beaches here have the whitest sand in the world (by some measures) and the water is extraordinarily clear. Hyams Beach is the headliner, but Murrays Beach in Booderee National Park is quieter and equally beautiful.
- Coffs Harbour. A good overnight stop midway up the coast, with excellent surf beaches at Sawtell and easy access to the Dorrigo rainforest plateau behind the coast.
- Byron Bay. Impossible to rush through. Byron Bay has a particular energy — part surf town, part wellness retreat, part creative community — that makes it hard to leave. The Cape Byron lighthouse walk offers the best views on the NSW coast.
🌴 Captain Cook Highway — Queensland
The drive from Cairns north to Mossman (and beyond to Cape Tribulation) along the Captain Cook Highway is one of the most spectacular short drives in Australia. The highway hugs the coast through tropical rainforest, passing stunning viewpoints where the mountains plunge directly into the Coral Sea. The combination of lush green rainforest and impossibly blue ocean — in some places the two literally meet — is unique to this part of the world.
Rex Lookout, just south of Port Douglas, is one of the finest viewpoints in Queensland. The road north from Port Douglas to Mossman passes through sugarcane fields and rainforest. Beyond Mossman, the road enters Daintree National Park — the oldest rainforest on earth — and crosses the Daintree River on a small cable ferry before continuing to Cape Tribulation, where the Daintree meets the Great Barrier Reef.
👉 Book a Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation tour from Cairns on GetYourGuide →
🔴 Coral Coast — Western Australia
Western Australia’s Coral Coast stretches from Geraldton north to Exmouth — about 850 kilometres of increasingly remote and spectacular coastline. The road passes through Kalbarri National Park (where the Murchison River gorges are extraordinary), the remote Shark Bay World Heritage Area (home to wild dolphin feeding at Monkey Mia and the oldest known life forms on earth — stromatolites at Hamelin Pool), and finally Ningaloo Reef at Exmouth.
The Coral Coast route is best driven in a campervan or with camping gear — the distances between towns are significant and the free campsites along the coast are genuinely wonderful. Coral Bay, about halfway between Shark Bay and Exmouth, is a highlight: a tiny town right on the edge of the reef with some of the finest snorkelling in Australia directly off the beach.
🗺️ Key stops on the Coral Coast
- Kalbarri National Park. The Murchison River has carved spectacular gorges through the red rock here — the Kalbarri Skywalk gives you glass-floored views over the gorge, while the Z-Bend and Nature’s Window walks are among the best in Western Australia.
- Monkey Mia, Shark Bay. The wild bottlenose dolphins that visit Monkey Mia’s shallows every morning are one of the most famous wildlife encounters in Australia. They arrive just after dawn and the rangers control the feeding carefully to protect the dolphins’ wild behaviour.
- Coral Bay. Tiny, remote, and absolutely magical. The reef at Coral Bay is accessible directly from the beach and the water is crystal clear. Manta rays are commonly seen and the town’s complete lack of development makes it feel genuinely unspoiled.
🌅 Eyre Peninsula — South Australia
The Eyre Peninsula in South Australia is one of the most underrated coastal destinations in Australia. This triangular peninsula pointing south into the Great Australian Bight has a wild, remote quality that you don’t find on the more popular east coast. The coastline alternates between sheltered, turquoise bays and dramatic exposed cliffs hammered by the Southern Ocean.
The seafood here is extraordinary — Coffin Bay oysters are some of the finest in the world, and the tuna, whiting and garfish from these waters are sensational. Port Lincoln, the main town on the peninsula, has an excellent seafood restaurant scene. The wildlife on the Eyre Peninsula is also exceptional — sea lion colonies at Baird Bay and Point Labatt, great white shark diving off the Neptune Islands, and Southern right whales at Head of the Bight in winter.
👉 Book an Eyre Peninsula wildlife and seafood tour on GetYourGuide →
🚗 Practical tips for Australian coastal drives
Distances in Australia are enormous, and this catches first-time visitors by surprise. What looks like a short hop on the map can take four or five hours to drive — and that’s before stopping, which you should do constantly. Always check how far apart petrol stations are on remote routes and fill up whenever you have the opportunity. Running out of fuel on a remote Western Australian highway is a genuinely serious situation.
- Choose the right vehicle. Most coastal drives are on sealed roads and don’t require a 4WD. However, some of the best detours — Cape Tribulation beyond the Daintree, the Gibb River Road in the Kimberley, some Eyre Peninsula tracks — do require a high-clearance 4WD. If you want flexibility, rent a 4WD campervan.
- Drive on the left. Australia drives on the left. Overseas visitors from right-hand-drive countries (UK, Japan) will adapt quickly. Visitors from the US or Europe need to be particularly careful at intersections and roundabouts.
- Kangaroos at dawn and dusk. Kangaroos are most active at dawn and dusk and are a genuine road hazard, particularly in country areas. A collision with a large kangaroo at speed can cause serious damage to a vehicle. Drive slower and more carefully at these times.
- Book accommodation in advance. Popular stops on famous routes like the Great Ocean Road and the Pacific Coast Highway fill up months in advance in peak season (December–January and school holidays). Book ahead.
Australian coastal drives reward the unhurried traveller. The further you slow down, the more you see — secret beaches accessible only via walking tracks, roadside lookouts that take your breath away, small towns with extraordinary stories. Give yourself more time than you think you need. You’ll use every day of it.
