Tamborine Mountain

Tamborine Mountain is a basalt plateau standing about five hundred and fifty metres above the coastal plain, with three villages, North Tamborine, Eagle Heights and Mount Tamborine, strung along it. Queensland's first national park was declared here at Witches Falls in 1908. The plateau combines short rainforest walks to Curtis Falls, Cedar Creek Falls and Cameron Falls with a visitor economy of galleries, distilleries, wineries, a German-themed shopping precinct and a rainforest skywalk on a steel bridge through the canopy. A commercial glow-worm cave, a purpose-built tunnel rather than a natural one, operates on the mountain. The escarpment edges give views over the Gold Coast and the caldera.

What you actually see

• The rainforest walks - Curtis, Cameron and Cedar Creek falls on short tracks.
• The skywalk - a steel bridge through and above the rainforest canopy.
• Gallery Walk - the shopping and gallery strip at Eagle Heights.
• The escarpment views - lookouts over the Gold Coast and the caldera.

When to go

April to November for the driest weather; summer is humid with heavy afternoon storms. Weekends are busy with day trippers and traffic on the mountain roads is slow. Falls run strongest after summer rain.

Honest expectations

The mountain is heavily commercialised and can feel more like a shopping day than a nature one. Roads up are narrow, winding and busy at weekends. The glow-worm cave is artificial, which surprises some visitors expecting a natural site.

Nearby

Springbrook lies south along the caldera rim; the Gold Coast is half an hour east.