noosa main beach commons

Noosa Heads Coastal Walk

The Noosa Heads Coastal Walk which will take you from Noosa Main Beach to Sunshine Beach is 5.4km and so will take around 3 hours to complete, give or take a few minutes here or there. Give yourself plenty of time to do the walk because there are numerous photo opportunities along the way so it could take you much longer.

Ideally you want to be setting off around mid-morning after a nice leisurely breakfast (to give you plenty of energy), pack your bag with sunscreen because it’s Australia, it’s hot and you will burn without sunscreen even if it looks overcast outside, and plenty of water to rehydrate yourself.

awesome things to do in noosa
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I also took a picnic with me so I could stop and enjoy the view for a while (it’s a great excuse to stop walking if you’re lazy like me!). Please make sure you take all your rubbish back home with you though, no need to spoil this place for future visitors! Make sure you’ll be finishing your walk in daylight hours (it’s very, very dark otherwise and isn’t lit at night!)

The Noosa Heads Coastal Walk takes you through the amazing Noosa National Park which is a massive 4000 hectares. (There are 5 walking tracks in the park, the longest is 8km but I wasn’t quite up for a trek that long).

noosa heads coastal walk sign
Noosa Heads Coastal Walk Sign

Along the Coastal Track you have the opportunity to see many things, none is guaranteed of course and you do have to keep your eyes peeled to see if you can spot some of the incredible wildlife that can be found here.

Being a coastal walk you have a chance to see Humpback Whales, dolphins and maybe even turtles. For the best chance of seeing humpback whales go for a walk between June and November as that’s when they usually migrate along the coast. The best place to try and spot dolphins is Dolphin Point (get out of here!) although Hells Gate is also a great place for dolphin spotting.

noosa national park

As well as spectacular marine life you could also see a Koala or two. These are deceptively hard to spot however because Koalas very rarely move! Sadly I didn’t see any marine life or Koalas on my trip but when I returned to Nomads Noosa that night a couple of the backpackers told me they’d seen Koalas the day before. Boo! You could also see the black cockatoo or the ground parrot, both of which, along with Koalas, are present at Noosa National park all year round.

noosa national park

There are numerous places to stop along the walk such as Tea Tree Bay (a really nice beach), a slightly rockier beach called Granite Bay, Winch Cove and Alexandria Bay. They may seem like good places to go for a swim but they can be dangerous, especially at Alexandria Bay where the current can be quite be strong. Please note that these beaches are not patrolled so if you get into trouble there isn’t a hunky lifeguard there to come and rescue you. Be sensible!

noosa heads coastal walk
Noosa Heads Coastal Walk, plenty of places to stop

When you get to Sunshine Beach the easiest way to get back is to catch a bus back to Noosa heads, if you ask at Nomads Noosa (if you’re staying there) the bus driver might even pick you up and take you back home!

Even though I didn’t spot dolphins or koalas on my walk it was such a nice day I recommend it to everyone… hopefully you’ll have better luck at wildlife spotting than me!

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