The Best Loca’s Guide On What To Do In Noosa

A locals perspective – Dianne Taylor, Anunda

Noosa is famous for its beautiful north facing beach and great shopping strip along Hastings Street, but there is so much more to Noosa.

We have lived here for the past 5 years and love exploring, finding new places of interest not too far from home, things to do on the Sunshine Coast and sharing our recommendations on what to do in Noosa.

Click here to learn more about Dianne’s superb, Bali inspired, Noosa Heads accommodation, Anunda.

Noosa Must-Do

Walk the Noosa National Park coastal walk 

Pram friendly for about half the way. approx. 1.5hrs to Hells Gate and back.  Starting in Hastings Street and follow the award winning board walk.  You will pass beautiful beaches and look outs.  Spot koalas and maybe dolphins and turtles.

Spend a day at Noosa Beach

Noosa main beached is patrolled all year round.  It is a relatively safe beach and when the surf is up is a great place for learners to surf.  You can hire umbrellas, beach cabanas, kayaks, SUP’s and sun chairs right on the beach.

Sunshine Beach – this is a east facing beach directly to the ocean. It is patrolled in parts, can be quite wild at times.

Scenic Noosa Lookouts

The cooler months bring with it some fabulous sunsets.  There are 4 great places to see sunset in Noosa.  Firstly and right in Noosa is Laguna Lookout.  This lookout is in the National Park and access to it is off Viewland Drive.  Along the Noosa river on Gympie Terrace.  Watch it near the boat ramp and you will see the local fisherman feeding the pelicans and the end of the day.  Noosa Spit, at the western end of Hastings Street in the Woods you will see the sunset behind the hills of the hinterland with the Noosa river mouth in front of you.  You might also see the local kite surfers.  A little further out of town is Mt Tinbeewah.  Here you will get a 360 degree view of the area and see the sunset in the hinterland.  Mt Tinbeewah is a 15 min drive from Noosa heading out of Tewantin.  You can drive almost to the top with a easy 15 minute walk to the lookout.

Noosa Activities

A great way to experience the water ways is a scenic river cruise.  There are a number of companies that do them from $10pp to $25.  There are eco friendly tours which go further up the river to explore the bird life.  Take a cruise from the Noosa Marina at Tewantin.

Hire a boat – There are many boat hire businesses along Gympie Terrace.  You can hire kayaks, Stand Up Paddle Boards, Jetskis, small boats, pontoon BBQ boat hire is very popular, and fishing boats with all the tackle included.

Hire bikes – there are many bike companies that will hire all kinds of bikes.  Some businesses will drop off bikes to your accommodation.  Noosa has many bike paths to get around and is well suited to bike riding.

Horse riding – you can book a ride either on the beach or through the bush

Noosa Markets

Noosa has a fantastic farmers market every Sunday morning at the AFL football grounds in Weyba Rd.  Eumundi is a 20 minute drive from Noosa and has Australia’s best artisan market on a Wed and Saturday morning as well as food and local produced goods.  Get there early as its very popular.  Yandina is 30 minute drive from Noosa and has a fantastic market on a Saturday morning.  Great for local fresh produce, plants, food, bric a brac you can brouse for ages.  Other local towns have markets on a monthly basis.

Sunshine Coast Hinterland Drives

If you have a car and more time to get out and explore the Noosa Hinterland is definitely worth a drive.  There are maps at the Tourist Information Centre in Hastings St that will help you navigate through the country towns and places of interest.  Towns I recommend to visit on your day trip would be Kenilworth, Maleny, Montville and Mapletown.  Other towns to the north are Cooroy, Pomona, Boreen Point and Kin Kin.

Bushwalks

Noosa National Park is one of Australia’s most popular.  The coastal walk is just one of many walks that you can do from right in Noosa Heads.  There are many National Parks and state forests in the area that are definitely worth exploring.  Some of my favourites Mapleton Falls – rainforest walk, Mt Nindery and Mt Coolum and of course Noosa National Park.

 

Noosa Accommodation

Click here to learn more about Dianne’s superb, Bali inspired, Noosa Heads accommodation, Anunda.

There are heaps of family friendly resorts accommodation in Noosa.  If you want to be close to the beach Hastings St, Noosa Sound, Little Cove, Noosa Hill are great locations but can be expensive. 

Gympie Terrace along the river is another great location.  The Noosa River foreshore has a fabulous pirate playground, many picnic tables and free BBQ’s  as well as heaps of restaurants and cafes.

There are many holiday homes and Noosa Airbnb’s dotted although Noosa Heads, Noosaville and Noosa Junction.

There are two caravan parks, one on the river and one further out near Tewantin.

 

Restaurants In Noosa

There are 4 main areas for cafes and restaurants.  Noosa Heads (Hastings Street), Noosaville (Gympie Terrace) and Noosa Junction (Sunshine Beach Road) and Sunshine Beach.

There are many cheap eats such as burger and pizza as well as many great eating restaurants from expensive to more affordable.  In the Junction you can have Japanese, Thai, Malaysian, Mexican, Spanish and Italian. 

Hasting Street has more high end restaurants, but you can also buy and pizza or burger for sit in or takeaway.  The Surf Club on main beach is fantastic for families and has the best views.  Gympie Terrace has a variety of great fish and chips, Greek, Italian, Spanish and Australian restaurants.

Best coffee in Noosa

There are plenty of cafes that open early for coffee and they are all good with many roasting their own blends.  But don’t think you will get a coffee at 3pm in the afternoon as many of the smaller cafes close around 1.30pm/2pm.

Noosa Breweries

Noosa has 3 micro breweries and there are more popping up in the hinterland at Pomona and Cooroy.

 

Things to do Sunshine Coast

Click here for our full guide for your next family holiday on the Sunshine Coast.

• Noosa is one hours drive to Australia Zoo
• 40 minute drive to Wildlife HQ (zoo) and Tree top Challenge (high ropes course)
• 45 minute drive to Mooloolaba Sealife aquarium
• 30 minute drive to Coolum water park (summer)
• 40 minutes Maroochydore – Sunshine Plaza (large shopping complex)