Best Whale Watching Tours in Australia: The Ultimate Guide
Every year, tens of thousands of humpback whales migrate along Australia’s coastline — first heading north to warmer breeding grounds between May and August, then returning south to Antarctica between September and November. This migration is one of the world’s great wildlife spectacles, and Australia offers some of the best whale watching opportunities on the planet.
I’ve been on whale watching tours all around Australia, and I can tell you that the experience never gets old. Watching a 40-tonne humpback breach completely out of the water, or seeing a mother and calf swimming side by side just metres from the boat, is one of those moments that stops you cold and reminds you of just how extraordinary the natural world is.
This guide covers the best whale watching locations in Australia, what to expect from the tours, the best time to go, and tips for getting the most out of your experience. Whether you’re an experienced wildlife watcher or this is your first time, Australia’s whales will not disappoint.
📋 TL;DR — the quick version
- ✅ Best overall location: Hervey Bay in Queensland — calm water, long season, and whales that like to linger.
- 🐋 Best for breaching: Sydney and the NSW coast, where humpbacks regularly breach close to shore.
- 🗓️ Best time: June to November covers most of the migration on both coasts.
- 🐳 Also try: Albany in WA for southern right whales, which are slower and closer to shore.
- 🎯 Book in advance: Popular whale watching operators fill up quickly, especially school holiday periods.
- 🤿 Ultimate experience: Swimming with dwarf minke whales on the Great Barrier Reef (June–July only).
- 🌊 Seasickness: Take preventative medication if you’re prone — the Southern Ocean swells can be significant.
🐋 Hervey Bay, Queensland — the whale watching capital of Australia
Hervey Bay on Queensland’s Fraser Coast is Australia’s most famous whale watching destination, and it thoroughly deserves its reputation. The protected waters of Hervey Bay — sheltered by Fraser Island (K’gari) to the east — create a calm, shallow resting area where humpback whales stop to rest and play during their northern migration. This means the whales here tend to stay put, rather than just passing through, giving whale watching boats the time to observe extraordinary behaviours up close.
The season at Hervey Bay runs from late July to early November, with August and September being peak months. During this period, it’s common to see mothers teaching their calves to breach, males displaying competitive behaviour, and whales approaching the boats out of apparent curiosity — a behaviour known as “mugging.” The whales sometimes stay alongside a boat for 20 to 30 minutes, just watching the humans watching them.
There are numerous whale watching operators in Hervey Bay, running trips of two to four hours. Look for operators who are members of the Whale Watch Eco Network Australia, which promotes responsible wildlife viewing practices. Most trips offer a guarantee — if you don’t see whales, you get a free trip — though sightings during the season are essentially guaranteed.
🌟 Top tip for Hervey Bay
Stay at least two nights and book two whale watching trips. The first trip gives you the experience; the second gives you time to relax, watch more carefully, and appreciate the nuances of what you’re seeing. Hervey Bay itself is a pleasant town with good restaurants and a beautiful beach — it’s not a hardship to spend extra time there.
🌊 Sydney, New South Wales — whale watching with a harbour backdrop
Sydney’s whale watching season runs from May to November, as humpbacks pass the city heading north and then south again. What makes Sydney special is the setting: watching a humpback breach against the backdrop of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge is one of those quintessentially Australian moments that travel photographers dream about.
The headlands around Sydney — particularly Cape Solander in the Kurnell National Park, North Head at Manly, and Barrenjoey Headland at Palm Beach — offer excellent free land-based whale watching during the season. The Sydney Whale Festival runs in June and July and offers guided whale spotting walks and events alongside the main season.
For boat-based tours, operators depart from Darling Harbour, Circular Quay, and Manly Wharf. Trips typically run two to three hours and head south toward Wollongong or north toward Pittwater, following the whales along the coast. The whale population has recovered dramatically in recent decades, and sightings during peak migration are now almost guaranteed.
👉 Book a Sydney whale watching cruise on GetYourGuide →
🐋 Albany, Western Australia — southern right whales up close
Albany on Western Australia’s south coast offers a completely different whale watching experience from the east coast. The species here is primarily the southern right whale, which arrives in the sheltered waters of King George Sound between June and October to breed and calve. Southern right whales are slower and more approachable than humpbacks, and they often come extremely close to shore — sometimes visible from the beach itself.
Worth adding to your itinerary: Best Whale Watching Australia.
Albany’s whale watching history is also significant in a darker way: it was the site of Australia’s last whaling station, which only closed in 1978. The Cheynes Beach Whaling Station — now the Discovery Bay tourist complex — tells the story of the whaling industry and provides powerful context for why whale conservation matters. Visiting it before or after your whale watching tour adds a poignant dimension to the experience.
The tours from Albany are smaller and more intimate than those in Hervey Bay or Sydney. The operators are deeply knowledgeable about the local whale population, and the smaller boat sizes mean you can get very close to the animals in a way that feels genuinely personal. Albany as a destination is also worth exploring — it has a beautiful historic town centre, excellent food and wine, and dramatic coastal scenery.
🤿 The Great Barrier Reef — swimming with dwarf minke whales
The Great Barrier Reef offers something you can’t do anywhere else in the world: snorkelling and diving with dwarf minke whales. These small whales — about 7 to 8 metres long — gather around the northern section of the Reef between June and July, and a handful of liveaboard dive operators are permitted to offer in-water encounters with them.
The experience is extraordinary. You slip into the water from a floating rope held alongside the boat, and the whales approach out of curiosity. They’ll circle you, come within a few metres, and sometimes hang in the water just looking at you with an intelligence that’s genuinely startling. Unlike the large whale watching boats elsewhere, these liveaboard trips offer extended time in the water and multiple encounters over several days.
This is a specialist experience and not cheap — liveaboard trips on the Reef typically cost $500 to $1,000 per person per night — but if you’re a serious wildlife or dive enthusiast, it belongs near the top of your bucket list. The season is short (roughly June 15 to July 15), and places fill up months in advance. Book as early as possible.
🌊 Jervis Bay, New South Wales — intimate whale watching in pristine water
Jervis Bay, about two hours south of Sydney, offers some of the most intimate whale watching on the east coast. The bay’s clear water — famous for having some of the whitest sand in the world — means that when whales enter the sheltered bay, they’re often visible underwater as well as at the surface. Watching a humpback glide past, backlit by the clear water, is a sight unlike anything you’ll see from a Sydney tour boat in the open ocean.
The season at Jervis Bay runs from May to November, with peak activity in September and October during the southward migration. A small number of local operators run tours from Huskisson and Vincentia, and the boats are smaller and less crowded than those in larger centres. Combine a whale watching tour with a visit to Hyams Beach — one of Australia’s most beautiful — and you’ve got a perfect day.
🐳 Eden, New South Wales — where orcas once hunted alongside whalers
Eden, on the far south coast of New South Wales, has one of Australia’s most remarkable wildlife stories. For decades in the 19th and early 20th centuries, a pod of orcas (killer whales) worked alongside the local whalers at Twofold Bay, driving humpback whales into the bay and alerting the whalers to their presence in exchange for the whale’s tongue and lips — an extraordinary example of interspecies cooperation known as the “Law of the Tongue.”
Today, Eden is a fantastic whale watching destination in its own right. Humpbacks pass through Twofold Bay during both the northward and southward migrations, and orcas are still occasionally seen in the area. The Killer Whale Museum in Eden tells the full story of Old Tom and the Eden orca pod — one of the most fascinating wildlife stories in Australian history — and is well worth visiting alongside any whale watching trip.
🐋 Augusta, Western Australia — humpbacks at the edge of the Indian Ocean
Augusta sits at the very southwestern tip of Australia, where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean at Cape Leeuwin. Between September and December, humpback whales migrate north along the west coast before turning around and heading south again. Augusta catches both the northbound and southbound migrations, extending the season considerably.
You might also enjoy reading about Humpback Whale Watching Augusta.
The tours from Augusta are small, intimate, and run by operators who know this coastline intimately. The rocky headlands and ancient karri forests surrounding the town add to the atmosphere. Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse — the tallest lighthouse in Australia — offers land-based whale watching from an elevated position right at the point where two oceans meet.
👉 Book a Great Barrier Reef whale and marine life experience on GetYourGuide →
🗓️ When to go whale watching in Australia
Australia’s whale watching season is one of the longest in the world because the migration routes cover such a huge area of coastline. Here’s a rough guide to timing:
- 🐋 May–June: Humpbacks begin moving north along the east coast. Good sightings from Sydney and Byron Bay as the season gets underway.
- 🐋 July–August: Peak northern migration on the east coast. Best time for Hervey Bay, where whales gather in the bay to rest. Southern right whales begin arriving in Albany on the west coast.
- 🐋 September–October: Southern migration begins. Whales with calves now visible — the calves are more active and breach more frequently. Great time for Jervis Bay and Sydney.
- 🐋 November: Late season on the east coast. West coast (Augusta, Albany) often still active with southbound humpbacks. Season winds down.
💡 Tips for a great whale watching experience
Take seasickness medication before you leave shore, even if you don’t normally get seasick. Open ocean conditions can be rough, and the medication is far more effective taken as a precaution rather than as a cure. The patches worn behind the ear are the most effective and longest-lasting option.
Bring a pair of binoculars, sunscreen, a windproof layer, and a camera with a fast shutter speed. Whale breaches happen in a fraction of a second — your phone camera will almost always be too slow to capture one. A dedicated camera with burst mode gives you the best chance of catching the moment.
Stay low and central on the boat if you’re prone to seasickness, and keep your eyes on the horizon rather than on a screen. Experienced whale watchers scan the horizon constantly for the puff of a whale’s blow — a faint cloud of vapour that can be seen from hundreds of metres away. Learning to spot the blow is how you see the whale before anyone else on the boat.
Finally, be patient. Whale watching is wildlife tourism — the animals set the schedule. An apparently empty ocean can transform in an instant when a 40-tonne humpback launches itself into the air 50 metres from the boat. The waiting is part of the experience. When the whale arrives, you’ll be glad you held on.
