Top Backpacker Spots on Australia’s East Coast

Byron Bay

There’s a reason backpackers call it the “Byron Bubble.” You plan to stay three days, and before you know it three weeks have slipped by in the most pleasant way imaginable. Byron Bay is a small coastal town in northern New South Wales that somehow manages to be simultaneously laid-back and electric, a rare quality that keeps travellers from every corner of the world coming back year after year. Byron Bay is one of the first departure point for Joey Travel and you’ll soon see why. Make sure you check out our other stops and route options

The town sits at Australia’s most easterly point, which means the sunrises are genuinely spectacular. Walking the headland track to the Cape Byron Lighthouse at dawn is one of those travel experiences that earns its reputation. The views are uninterrupted in every direction, turquoise ocean stretching to the horizon, the hinterland hills behind you, and often a pod of dolphins carving through the water below.

Byron Bay has loads to see and do. Walk to Cape Byron Lighthouse at sunrise, take a Surf lessons at Main Beach, meander around the Byron BayThursday market, Kayak with dolphins in the bay, join the Sunset drum circle on Main Beach or for the thrill seekers amongst us go – skydiving over the coast — one of the best skydive locations in Australia.

Don’t miss out on this epic coastal stop – Get your Joey Pass today

Brisbane

Brisbane is Australia’s third-largest city and one of the most underappreciated stops on the East Coast. Many backpackers speed through it on the way to more obviously photogenic destinations, but that’s a mistake worth correcting. Brisbane is warm year-round, genuinely easy to navigate, and offers a quality of life that has been drawing people from Melbourne and Sydney for years.

The city’s biggest surprise for first-timers is South Bank, a sprawling riverside precinct that includes a free, lifeguard-patrolled man-made beach sitting right in the middle of the CBD. It is exactly as absurd and wonderful as it sounds. Swim in the morning, grab brunch, then walk to an art gallery in the afternoon: South Bank is the kind of place that makes you understand why Brisbanites are so annoyingly smug about where they live.

Queenslands capital has an abundance of activities. Start your day with a swim at South Bank beach, take a ferry ride to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary where you can hold a koala or feed a kangaroo, visit the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) free entry to main collection and wrap up your day exploring the Fortitude Valley bar and live music scene

Make sure you include Brisbane as one of your stops when travelling with you Joey Pass

Noosa

Noosa occupies a special place on the East Coast trail. It has the golden beaches and laidback atmosphere you’d expect, but layered on top of that is a genuinely refined energy with beautiful restaurants, boutique shopping on Hastings Street, a world-famous national park right at the edge of town, and a general air of having figured something out that other beach towns haven’t quite managed yet. Walking through Noosa, you feel less like a backpacker and more like someone on a very well-organised holiday.

Noosa National Park is the centrepiece. The coastal walk winds along dramatic headland cliffs with the ocean on one side and dense bush on the other and if you time it right, you’ll spot dolphins, turtles, and humpback whales (the migration runs June to October) from the clifftop lookouts. Koalas are regularly spotted sleeping in the eucalyptus trees just off the main path, often close enough that you don’t need binoculars.

The beaches at Noosa are famously beautiful, but what sets them apart is the variety. Main Beach is the social scene. The string of hidden coves inside the national park such as Alexandria Bay, Tea Tree Bay, Granite Bay are quieter and more secluded, perfect for snorkelling or an afternoon away from the crowds.

If you’re visiting Noosa make sure you don’t miss out on some of the amazing day trips like Australia Zoo or the Buderim waterfalls.

Rainbow Beach

Rainbow Beach is the kind of place that sneaks up on you. Most backpackers arrive here as a stepping stone to K’gari (Fraser Island) the world’s largest sand island and one of the most extraordinary natural environments on the planet and end up falling for the town itself. It’s small, unpretentious, and surrounded by some of the most unusual coastal scenery in Australia.

The town’s name comes from the rainbow-coloured sand dunes that run along the coast made up of layers of ochre, rust, cream, and terracotta deposited over thousands of years by different minerals in the sand. The Carlo Sand Blow is the most dramatic of these formations: a vast, wind-sculpted dune with a moon-like surface that provides one of the best vantage points for sunrise or sunset on the entire East Coast. Sandboarding down the coloured dunes is a rite of passage cheap, exhilarating, and absolutely ridiculous in the best way. Ask your hostel if you can rent a body board to surf down the dunes.

Rainbow Beach’s real claim to fame is K’gari. The island is reached by barge from Inskip Point, just south of town, and a Fraser Island tour out of Rainbow Beach is widely considered the best way to experience it, more intimate than the larger tours that depart from Hervey Bay, and with a tighter-knit group that tends to bond fast. Expect 4WD convoys along the beach highway, a dip in the crystal-clear Lake McKenzie, the rust-coloured Pinnacles sand cliffs, and if the timing is right, spinner dolphins riding the bow wave of the barge on the way home.

The four destinations above slot together beautifully as a self-guided section of the East Coast trail.

Whether you’re planning a two-week sprint or a six-month working holiday, Australia’s East Coast will deliver. This corridor in particular Byron, Brisbane, Noosa, Rainbow Beach is the beating heart of it all. Make sure you don’t miss any of it. Get your Joey Pass today!