Noosa

Noosa Heads built its reputation on restraint: a local height limit has kept buildings below the tree line, so the town has none of the towers of the Gold Coast. Hastings Street runs one block back from Main Beach, a rare north-facing beach on the east coast that stays calm and sunny, and ends at Noosa National Park, where a coastal track passes Boiling Pot, Tea Tree Bay and Hell's Gates through rainforest and pandanus, with koalas in the trees near Tea Tree and dolphins and turtles in the bays. Behind the town, the Noosa River spreads into lakes and everglades, and the Noosa Triathlon and food festivals fill particular weeks.

What you actually see

• Noosa National Park - the coastal track past bays, headlands and koala trees.
• Main Beach - a north-facing, sheltered swimming and learner-surf beach.
• The point break - the long right-hander off the national park headland.
• The Noosa River - the slow river and lakes system behind the town.

When to go

April to October for the dry season and mild days; summer is hot, humid and packed with holidaymakers, with January and Easter at their most expensive. The national park headland is busiest mid-morning.

Honest expectations

Noosa is expensive, with accommodation and restaurant prices among the highest on the Queensland coast. Parking near Hastings Street and the national park is difficult and often full. The national park track is popular and rarely quiet.

Nearby

The Everglades lie upriver; Eumundi and the hinterland villages are inland.