Rainbow Beach: Where to Go, What to Do, Where to Sleep

Rainbow Beach: Where to Go, What to Do, Where to Sleep

In case you didn’t know, Australia is absolutely full of beaches. It’s got beaches here, it’s got beaches there, it’s got beaches everywhere. According to this article here, Australia is home to over 10,000 beaches, and if you were to visit only one beach a day, it would take you 27 YEARS to see them all!

Some of these beaches will have towns attached to them (Bondi, Byron Bay). Some of them have whole cities built by them (Gold Coast, Perth). Now, we are not big fans of cities usually, we more prefer small-towns in general. Less people, more relaxed atmosphere. Add that to the calming effect of the sound of ocean waves from the beach, and you’ve got a winning combination.

And one of the best small-towns-on-a-beach in South-East Queensland is: (in my humble opinion) Rainbow Beach (duh, it’s in the title). It’s a beautiful spot, surrounded by stunning natural scenery and it’s just popular enough to have everything you need, while not being too popular to make it hard to get around. Which is important if you’re towing a caravan or driving a bus or motorhome.

Ok, So where is it?

Rainbow Beach is stationed along the coast east of Gympie, in Queensland. It takes roughly less than an hour to get there by car (more than an hour if you’re towing a caravan or driving a motorhome/behemoth bus) from Gympie. The road there is scenic, and not too bad to drive on quality-wise. Just avoid the potholes and you’ll be fine.

It’s easy to find your way, just follow the signs from the Bruce Highway and you’re good as gold. The roads there can be cut off in the event of heavy rains or flooding, but at the time of writing there is work being done to remedy the problems. Besides, there are much worse places to be stuck at.

Once You Get There…

Driving in, you’ll get the feeling that this is a town that should be bigger and busier than what it is. It has a charming and appealing atmosphere, and I get the feeling it would be quite easy to lose track of time and accidentally stay here permanently.

The ocean displays its colour in a brilliant spectrum of blues and greens, and the sand ranges from gold to white and to black. It’s quite easy to see how the town got its name (it actually was through the rainbow coloured sands that surround the area). The town itself has the quintessential relaxed (but not quite sleepy) Australian coastal town atmosphere – where it’s not uncommon to see men and women walking around in respective budgie-smugglers and bikinis. I’ll leave that image up to your imagination…

The town thrives on the tourism industry. There are always travellers frequenting the area, and (if you’re only there for a day trip) there is always ample parking for your car, van, motorhome, caravan or bus.

What to Do?

Because Rainbow Beach is a tourism-driven town, there is always plenty of “touristy” things to do there. Apart from enjoying the beach and natural scenery (more on that soon), there’s surfing lessons/board hire (including standup paddleboards), helicopter tours, skydiving, tag-along tours of Fraser Island (more on that below), kayak hire, guided horse rides and fishing tours. And if none of that tickles your fancy, or maybe you just want to chill out and enjoy the serenity, there’s plenty of bakeries, cafes, and eateries to lounge around at. If you fancy having a cold one and watching the waves roll in, you can’t go wrong with visiting the local surf club. The food is decent and – more importantly – the beer is cold. What more could you ask for?

Moving away from the typical touristy activities, Rainbow Beach also has some unique and fun natural attractions the you can enjoy. Like the fact that Rainbow Beach is also a gateway to accessing and enjoying Fraser Island (the world’s largest sand island). It is only accessible to offroad/ 4-wheel drive vehicles, but if you don’t have one it’s simple enough to hire one from one of the companies in town. Or, if you don’t feel up for that or maybe you want to relax and let someone else drive you around, there are guided adventure tours on offer (where all you have to do is jump in and enjoy the ride).

Rainbow Beach is also home to a sandblow (a massive sand dune that, because of the wind keeps growing inland) that is nestled in some amazing natural park scenery. Carlo Sandblow is the also the world’s largest sandblow It’s definitely worth a wander through the bush (if you’re lucky you might be able to spot a koala) to get there.

One other exceptionally nice place to visit is called “Bymien Picnic Area”, located just a few minutes drive from Rainbow Beach down an unsealed gravel road. It’s easy to find, and accessible for normal 2-wheel drive cars (although the road was a bit too rough and narrow to try and drive the bus there, I’m sure she would’ve made it). Bymien Picnic Area is a patch of sub-tropical rainforest, and a great place to bring some food (and mosquito spray) and just relax amongst nature (to see what it looks like, check out our video on YouTube). It’s also a gateway to some great natural walking tracks, one of which leads to Poona Lake. Poona Lake is a small freshwater lake, about a 2.1km bushwalk from the picnic area. If you go during the week, you should have it all to yourself. (Seriously, check out the video for a better idea of how great this place really is). I cannot recommend going to check this place out enough, it will blow your mind. (And, watch the video. Give it a like, and a share, and subscribe. Do it for me, please?)

Where to Sleep?

Ok, obviously I’m going to biased here towards sleeping in your caravan/motorhome/bus. And if you’re like me and prefer this option as well, Rainbow Beach has a caravan park/camping spot right on the main esplanade. You’ll have access to toilets, hot showers, easy walking distance to shops and cafes and (if you’re lucky) you’ll get ocean views thrown into the mix as well. You will pay for these mod-cons, so it’s up to you to decide if it’s worth it.

However, if you’re up for a rougher but cheaper option, there’s an awesome camping location just a few clicks down the road at Inskip Point. The scenery there is amazing, there’s toilets at the campsites and in some spots, the ocean is literally a stone’s throw away. For some of the spots, you will need a 4 wheel drive to get there, but there are plenty of other places that are accessible to cars, bikes and big buses like this one.

If you’re not up for sleeping in the van again, or maybe you want a break from it, there are plenty of units, houses and other locations available for holiday leases.

I’ll Shut Up Now

We could go on and on about how nice it is here, how easy everything is, how relaxed it all seems. We could also continue ranting and raving about the natural beauty of the place, about how accessible nature is to enjoy here, and how cheap and simple it is to camp.

But that would rob (anyone reading this, does anyone read this?!?) from discovering those things out for themselves.

Seriously, don’t take our word for it. Come here and experience it for yourself. And, do yourself a favour, and take a few days (or weeks) to come and immerse yourself in the area.

We think you’ll bloody love it.