Australia is an island continent surrounded by thousands of smaller islands — from tiny uninhabited specks to sprawling landmasses with their own distinct ecosystems and personalities. The diversity is staggering. You can snorkel over pristine coral reefs in the Whitsundays, hike through ancient rainforest on Lord Howe Island, watch sea lions yawn on Kangaroo Island’s beaches, or spot quokkas waddling around Rottnest Island while the rest of Perth watches on from the mainland. Australian islands are wildly varied, almost universally beautiful, and most of them are dramatically undervisited.
I’ve been lucky enough to visit most of the islands on this list, and what strikes me every time is how different each one feels. A week in the Whitsundays is all turquoise water and barefoot luxury. A few days on Kangaroo Island feels like stepping back into a wilder, older Australia. Lord Howe Island is so pristine and quiet that coming back to the mainland feels like a jarring shock.
Here are the best islands to visit in Australia — and how to make the most of each one.
📋 TL;DR — the quick version
- 🌊 Whitsunday Islands: 74 islands in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef — snorkelling, sailing, and Whitehaven Beach, one of the world’s best.
- 🦁 Kangaroo Island: South Australia’s wild gem — sea lions, penguins, koalas, and rugged coastal scenery just off Adelaide.
- 🐾 Rottnest Island: The quokka island near Perth — car-free, beautiful beaches, and accessible by a 30-minute ferry.
- 🌿 Lord Howe Island: An UNESCO World Heritage Site with just 400 residents — arguably the most pristine island in Australia.
- 🐢 Heron Island: Dive directly from the beach onto the Great Barrier Reef — one of the world’s great dive destinations.
- 🏖️ Magnetic Island: Just 20 minutes by ferry from Townsville — koalas, hiking trails, and affordable beach bliss.
- 🦅 Bruny Island: Tasmania’s wild southern island — incredible seafood, dramatic coastline, and extraordinary wildlife.
🌊 Whitsunday Islands, Queensland
The Whitsundays sit at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef, roughly midway up the Queensland coast between Brisbane and Cairns. There are 74 islands in the group, most of them uninhabited national park. The surrounding waters are protected and incredibly clear — that extraordinary turquoise-to-teal gradient you see in photos is absolutely real. Whitehaven Beach, on Whitsunday Island itself, consistently ranks among the world’s finest beaches: 7 kilometres of brilliant white silica sand that doesn’t retain heat even on a scorching day.
The main bases for exploring the Whitsundays are Airlie Beach (on the mainland) and Hamilton Island (the only island with commercial flights). From either you can take day trips, multi-day sailing tours, or charter a yacht and explore independently. Sailing between the islands over two or three days is one of the great Australian experiences — waking up in a sheltered bay with no one else around, snorkelling off the stern, and watching the sun set over the Coral Sea.
The reef around the Whitsundays supports extraordinary marine life — sea turtles, reef sharks, manta rays, and thousands of species of fish and coral. The water here is warm enough to swim year-round, though the stinger season (November to May) means wearing a stinger suit is recommended. Resorts on Hamilton Island, Hayman Island, and Long Island range from backpacker-friendly to ultra-luxury.
👉 Book a Whitsundays sailing or snorkelling tour on GetYourGuide →
🦁 Kangaroo Island, South Australia
Kangaroo Island is Australia’s third-largest island, sitting just off the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia. It was largely untouched by European settlement until relatively recently, which means its wildlife is extraordinarily abundant and fearless. Australian sea lions loll around on the sand at Seal Bay, you can walk right up to them (with a guide, for their protection). Koalas doze in the eucalypts, New Zealand fur seals crowd the rocks at Admirals Arch, and the island’s own sub-species of dunnart, echidna, and tammar wallaby roam freely throughout.
Flinders Chase National Park, in the island’s west, is a dramatic and beautiful wilderness area. The Remarkable Rocks — a cluster of enormous granite boulders sculpted by wind and sea into extraordinary organic shapes — are one of the most photographed natural features in South Australia. Admirals Arch, nearby, is a natural rock formation that frames a churning seascape and hosts a colony of fur seals year-round.
Beyond wildlife, Kangaroo Island has excellent food and wine. The island produces outstanding honey (from bees that have never been exposed to the varroa mite), Ligurian olive oil, oysters, and a growing wine scene centred around the Dudley Peninsula. Flying in from Adelaide takes 30 minutes; the ferry from Cape Jervis takes 45 minutes and is a beautiful crossing. Hire a car on the island — it’s the only practical way to explore.
🐾 Rottnest Island, Western Australia
Rottnest Island — or “Rotto” to locals — is Perth’s favourite weekend escape, just 19 kilometres offshore and 30 minutes by ferry. The island is entirely car-free, which immediately makes it feel calmer and cleaner than the mainland. The only way to get around is by bicycle — hire one at the ferry terminal for about $30 a day — and cycling from bay to bay, beach to beach, is one of the most enjoyable ways to spend a day anywhere in Australia.
The quokkas are the island’s main draw. These small, friendly marsupials — about the size of a cat — are native to Rottnest Island and have virtually no fear of humans. The “quokka selfie” has become a social media phenomenon, and while you shouldn’t try to touch or feed them, getting a photo with one of these endlessly cheerful little animals is almost guaranteed. They’re everywhere.
The beaches on Rottnest are exceptional. The Basin, Little Parakeet Bay, and Pinky Beach are among the most beautiful in Western Australia. The water is crystal clear and exceptionally calm in the sheltered bays. Snorkelling off the rocks around the island is excellent — the water is clean and the fish life is abundant. Day trips from Perth are easy, but staying overnight lets you experience the island in the golden early morning and evening light, which is spectacular.
🌿 Lord Howe Island, New South Wales
Lord Howe Island is one of Australia’s most extraordinary places and one of its best-kept secrets. Located 600 kilometres off the coast of New South Wales in the Tasman Sea, it’s an UNESCO World Heritage-listed island of volcanic origin, with towering basalt peaks, pristine coral lagoon, ancient kentia palm forest, and a resident population of just 400 people. Only 400 visitors are allowed on the island at any one time — a deliberate policy to protect its remarkable environment. That cap is what makes it feel so special.
The lagoon at Lord Howe Island is home to the world’s southernmost coral reef — crystal clear water over living coral teeming with fish, turtles, and rays. You can snorkel straight off the beach without a boat. The island’s endemic bird life is remarkable — including the Lord Howe woodhen, which was brought back from the brink of extinction through one of Australia’s most successful conservation programs.
Getting to Lord Howe involves a 2-hour flight from Sydney or Brisbane. Accommodation ranges from family-run guesthouses to the boutique Capella Lodge, widely regarded as one of Australia’s finest island resorts. Most visitors stay for five to seven nights and come back talking about it for years. If you want one truly special island experience in Australia, this is it.
🐢 Heron Island, Queensland
Heron Island is a tiny coral cay sitting directly on the Great Barrier Reef, about 70 kilometres off the coast of Gladstone in Queensland. It’s about the size of a city block, and the reef starts right at the waterline — which means the snorkelling and diving here is as immediate and extraordinary as it gets. You don’t need a boat to access world-class reef; you simply wade in from the beach.
The diving at Heron Island is some of the finest in Australia. The Heron Island Bommie — a massive coral structure teeming with sea turtles, sharks, rays, and thousands of reef fish — is one of the most famous dive sites on the Great Barrier Reef. The island is also a significant nesting site for green sea turtles and loggerhead turtles, and during the summer nesting season (November to March), watching turtles haul themselves up the beach to lay eggs is an unforgettable experience.
There’s only one resort on Heron Island, which keeps it intimate and relatively uncrowded. Access is by helicopter (30 minutes from Gladstone) or high-speed catamaran (2 hours). It’s not cheap, but for serious divers and snorkellers, Heron Island is one of the best places in the world.
👉 Book a Great Barrier Reef island tour from Cairns on GetYourGuide →
🐨 Magnetic Island, Queensland
Magnetic Island — “Maggie” to everyone who loves it — is one of Australia’s most accessible and underrated island destinations. Just 20 minutes by ferry from Townsville in north Queensland, the island is 52% national park and home to one of the densest wild koala populations in Australia. The Forts Walk — a 4.9-kilometre hiking trail through the island’s interior — takes you past WWII fortifications and almost guarantees koala sightings. It’s genuinely one of the better wildlife walks in Queensland.
The beaches on Magnetic Island — Horseshoe Bay, Alma Bay, Nelly Bay — are beautiful and calm, with warm, clear water that’s ideal for swimming and snorkelling. The island has a permanent population of about 2,500 people, which means there are real restaurants, bars, and cafes rather than just resort facilities. It has a bohemian, lived-in charm that’s quite different from more resort-oriented islands.
Magnetic Island is an excellent budget option — accommodation is significantly cheaper than the Whitsundays, day trips from Townsville are very affordable, and the overall vibe is relaxed and unpretentious. It’s particularly popular with backpackers and families who want a proper island experience without the premium price tag.
🦅 Bruny Island, Tasmania
Bruny Island sits just off the D’Entrecasteaux Channel in southern Tasmania, connected to the mainland by a short ferry crossing from Kettering. It’s divided into North Bruny and South Bruny by a narrow isthmus called The Neck — a sandy strip of land where fairy penguins nest and Bennett’s wallabies graze at dusk. The views from the lookout at The Neck, over both sides of the island, are extraordinary.
South Bruny’s coastline is wild and rugged — towering sea cliffs, deserted beaches of dark sand, and some of the cleanest air on the planet (Bruny Island is one of the few places where you can measure baseline atmospheric CO2 for the entire southern hemisphere). The Get Shucked oyster farm on the island produces some of Australia’s finest oysters, fresh from the cold, pristine Channel waters. Sitting at a picnic table eating a dozen oysters with lemon and a glass of Tasmanian white wine while wallabies roam nearby is close to perfection.
Bruny Island Cheese makes extraordinary raw milk cheeses, and Bruny Island Premium Wines is a small but excellent winery. The Adventure Cruises operation runs spectacular boat tours around the southern tip of the island, past towering dolerite cliffs and sea caves with breeding colonies of shearwaters, seals, and dolphins. Bruny Island is typically visited as a day trip from Hobart (about an hour each way), but staying overnight at one of the island’s guesthouses or eco-lodges allows you to experience the extraordinary Milky Way without any light pollution.
🗺️ How to choose which island to visit
The right island for you depends entirely on what you’re looking for. If you want tropical warmth, snorkelling, and sailing, the Whitsundays and Heron Island are your best options. If you’re passionate about wildlife, Kangaroo Island, Rottnest, and Bruny Island are extraordinary. For something truly remote and unspoiled, Lord Howe Island is in a class of its own. For accessibility and value, Magnetic Island and Rottnest are hard to beat.
Most of Australia’s best islands require either a ferry or a short flight to access, and accommodation books out well in advance during Australian school holidays (December-January, April, July, September). Planning ahead is essential for the more popular and capacity-limited islands like Lord Howe. For the Whitsundays especially, booking your sailing or snorkelling tours before you arrive will save you money and ensure you don’t miss out during peak season.
