To be honest, we never really considered Palm Beach as a weekend getaway destination. Not as an escape to nature, at any rate. Until we found ourselves without plans on a long weekend. With one day to spare, we hit the accommodation booking sites to see what was available and found what looked to be a very charming bed-and-breakfast in Palm Beach.
Now that we have escaped for a weekend to Palm Beach from Sydney, we are left wondering why we haven’t done so earlier.
Palm Beach is very picturesque. It lies on a narrow peninsular surrounded by water on three sides: the Pacific Ocean, Pittwater, and Broken Bay, and bookended by the 100-meter-high Barrenjoey Headland.
On the Pittwater side, ferries take you either across the bay to several tranquil beaches in Kur-rin-gai Chase National Park or Broken Bay and Central Coast beaches.
And the best part is that Palm Beach is only a 1.5-hour drive (or bus ride) from the centre of Sydney, but it feels miles away. So, if you are looking for a weekend escape from Sydney, consider Palm Brach for its beautiful nature and relaxed coastal charm.
Palm Beach Accommodation
The main challenge with planning a weekend getaway to Palm Beach is finding accommodation. There aren’t many options around for a 1 or 2-night stay. Most of the accommodations in Palm Beach are the 30-million holiday homes that are rented out by the week. And let me tell you, there are some unappealing boxy monstrosities among these.
Palm Beach Bed and Breakfast
As I mentioned, one of the main reasons we picked Palm Beach for our impromptu weekend escape was that we found a lovely B&B with last-minute availability.
Palm Beach Bed and Breakfast is a beautifully decorated four-bedroom house, plus the owner’s studio adjacent to the main house. Each bedroom comes with an on-suit and a private balcony. The hosts, Avalon and Rudi, are the loveliest people and welcome you with European hospitality.
My favourite part of the house is the stunning sunroom framed by gorgeous French doors on three sides that open onto a tropical palm garden. Not only is the space incredibly inviting, but it also becomes a wonderfully colourful bird bazaar at breakfast time. While Avalon serves continental breakfast, Rudi whistles to the birds on the veranda to announce breakfast time.
Within minutes, a medley of Sulphur-crested cockatoos, Little corellas, Rainbow lorikeets, King parrots and the resident Kookaburras arrive. Kookaburras get hand-fed raw meat, and the parrots go crazy for sunflower seeds. It is the most incredible multispecies breakfast you will ever have in Sydney.
Behind the garden is the McKay Reserve that spills down the hillside to the Pittwater coastline. A public path of 337 steps takes you from the house to Barrenjoey Road, about a 5-minute stroll from the Palm Beach ferry wharf.
If you don’t feel like the stairs, a 10-minute walk in another direction takes you to the tranquil Secret Bible Garden, which has a spectacular view over Palm Beach and Barrenjoey Headland. In short, Palm Beach Bed and Breakfast made our weekend. There are lots of things to do in Palm Beach, all within a 5-minute drive (or a 20-minute walk) from Palm Beach Bed and Breakfast.
North Palm Beach
The Northern end of Palm Beach is a 600m stretch of sand that retains a relatively pristine appearance. Think wooden steps rather than concrete stairs.
The dunes that run parallel the beach and the 100-meter-high Barrenjoey headland add to its ‘wild’ appeal.
If you watched Home and Away, you’ll recognise the area as Summer Bay. You can even visit the film set and buy a souvenir T-shirt.
The surf can be a bit rough for swimming here, but walking along this beach makes you feel like you are miles away from Sydney. If you are lucky, you might even spot dolphins riding the waves. A few days before our visit, dolphins were photographed close to shore.
Barrenjoey Lighthouse Walk
To see the picturesque Palm Beach peninsula fringed by the beaches and the sparkling blue sea, you need to get a bird’s eye view from the top of the headland that raises above the relatively flat landscape of the coastline, much like the famous Stanly Nut in Tasmania.
Start the walk at Governor Philip car park and, to get the best of both worlds, walk along North Palm Beach first and then cross over to Pittwater side. This is the narrowest part of the peninsular and walking across it from one beach to the other takes all of five minutes. Once you are on Station Beach, keep heading towards the headland until you come to the start of the trail going up the headland.
There are two trails to choose from to climb to the top: the 400-meter Smugglers track via a steep set of stone steps and the 800-meter Barrenjoey track via a more gentle path. Both take about 15 minutes to reach the lighthouse.
We climbed up via the steps and came down via the Barrenjoey path. And I can tell you that the Barrenjoey track is far more scenic. There are several lookouts on the way to the top on both sides, and the ones on the Barrenjoey side are more picturesque, have better light (in the morning) and there are some lovely rocky outcrops towards the top to perch on for a good vantage point.
Whichever path you take, you’ll be accompanied by Bush turkeys scratching about on the forest floor and New Holland Honeyeaters chirping in the bushes. Sometimes, Swamp Wallabies are seen on the trail, but there is a better place to see them up close that I tell you about later.
The top of the headland is crowned by the charming Barrenjoey Lighthouse and the keeper cottages. There are quite a few things to do and explore here once you tear yourself away from the view. If you are visiting in winter months you can spot Humpback whales as they cruise past Sydney on their annual migration between Antarctica and the Great Barrier Reef.
You can also take a 30-minute tour of the lighthouse. Just behind the lighthouse, you’ll find the grave of George Mulhall, the first keeper of the lighthouse from 1868 to 1885. The plaque on George’s grave gives a colourful description of his untimely death:
“On a stormy night in June 1885, George Mulhall, venturing out for more firewood, was struck down by a tremendous bolt of lightning and was burned to a cinder”
There is another 10-minute trail running from the grave to an unfenced lookout with a sweeping view over Broken Bay and the Pacific Ocean. Just before you reach the lookout, you’ll pass a stone structure that marks the site of one of the original lighthouse towers. And just before this structure you’ll see a faint side trail running into the bush on the Pittwater side. It leads to a particularly picturesque view of the peninsular below.
If you feel like a little “pick-me-up” after the walk, head to Palm Beach Golf Club across the road from the car park. They brew excellent coffee, and their fresh-from-the-oven blueberry muffins are so delicious they melt in your mouth.
Secret Bible Garden
Another lovely spot in Palm Beach with great views is the Secret Bible Garden on Pacific Road. The garden is quite small – it is a prime real estate location, after all – but it’s very tranquil and has a superb view of Palm Beach, especially first thing in the morning when the landscape is bathed in golden morning light.
The garden consists of several gently descending terraces planted with rosemary, coriander, lavender, mint, lilies, sage, and a crown of thorns. There is even a little lily pond.
The garden was established in the 1960s by Gerald Hercules Robinson, who believed that “this glorious view of creation was too lovely for a house.” A devout Christian, he planted the garden with plants mentioned in the Bible, hence its name.
Palm Beach Sunset
Palm Beach gets spectacular sunsets over Pittwater Bay. The Ferry Wharf is a great spot to watch the sunset, with the sky reflected in the water and the boats bobbing up and down on the waves. The boat shed and the jetty are also very picturesque.
There are some lovely benches along the shoreline to relax on and soak in the wild colours of the setting sun. We caught a particularly special light show, with the entire sky lighting up in reds and purples and bathing everything around in vivid hues.
Another great spot for watching the sunset is the Barrenjoey House restaurant. Grab a table outdoors, and you’ll have a front-row seat for watching the sunset over Pittwater Bay. Just make sure to book your table in advance. Barrenjoey House is one of the best restaurants in Palm Beach and it gets booked out on weekends. Their food is superb, as are their house Margaritas.
Palm Beach Ferries
Palm Beach is surrounded by picturesque waterways and the best way to explore them is by riding a ferry. There are two types of ferries departing from Palm Beach wharf that cover two routes: Broken Bay and the Central Coast (Ettalong and Wagstaffe) and several beaches on the western shores of Pittwater in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park.
If you plan to take several ferries, consider pre-purchasing the Palm Beach Harbour Hopper ticket. Otherwise, you can pay for individual rides via credit card onboard the ferries.
The more charming of the two ferries is the historic old wooden ferry ‘Myra’ that connects Palm Beach to Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. There are five stops on this route: Bennetts (Coasters Retreat), Bonnie Doon, The Basin, Currawong, and Mackerel. We visited two of these spots: The Basin and Mackerel.
The Basin
Accessible only by ferry or 2.8km hike, The Basin is a popular beach camping spot. But for us, The Basin’s appeal was its friendly Swamp wallabies. It is by far the best place to see these adorable Australian animals up close in Sydney. Just like Maria Island wombats in Tasmania, the wallabies are a defining feature of the Basin. You can see them browsing on the sunny lawns virtually at any time of the day.
The beach at the Basin looks like a fantastic swimming spot, but… In Australia, there are often dangerous critters roaming under the sea. There are Blue-ringed octopi in the Basin’s waters, and their sting can be deadly.
A friend of mine also had a freak accident swimming at the Basin – she got stung by a Sting ray and had to be airlifted to an emergency department. So watch where you step if you get tempted by the Basin’s inviting waters.
Mackerel
Great Mackerel Beach is one of Sydney’s last hidden gems. Home to fewer than 100 residents and their pets, Mackerel is the only suburb in Sydney where the streets (all two of them) are grass. The council mows the grass for the residents to keep the streets walkable.
Accessible only by ferry or water taxi from Palm Beach, Mackerel is an idyllic, sleepy village of beach houses and rustic shacks strung along the beach and down a cliffside. You might feel like spending the entire weekend here, but the rustic cabins don’t come cheap.
The most popular – Jamie and Ingrid Kwong’s Little Black Shack, will set you back about $1,500 per night with a minimum stay of 2 nights. You’ll also have to carry all your food and drinks up a cliff side – there are no shops or cafes on Mackerel.
If you don’t have a spare 3K to enjoy the simple life for a weekend, you can visit Mackerel for a half-day trip from Palm Beach, as we did.
We loved Mackerel as soon as we stepped off the ferry. The wharf greets you with a small public library, which is great for cutting down on screen time while you wait for the ferry.
Mackerel is the departure point for the hike to one of Sydney’s prettiest secret beaches – Resolute Beach in Kur-rin-Gai National Park. The walk flows the 5.4km, grade 4 Resolute Loop track that should take around 3 hours to complete. To find the path, head to the northern end of the beach, cross the wooden bridge and follow the trail.
We didn’t feel like a strenuous hike, so we explored the town, the beach, and the idyllic creek at Mackerel. A White-faced heron kept us company as it hunted small fish in the creek. There isn’t much to see and do at Mackerel, but it is the perfect spot to relax for a few hours.
More Things to Do in Palm Beach
If you are looking for more things to do for your Palm Beach weekend, consider catching the faster Fantasea ferry to Ettalong and exploring the central coast beaches.
Or, for something different, start your day with a sunrise or early morning kayaking adventure tour on Pittwater.
More Nature Adventures in Sydney
- Warriewood Wetlands – A Bird Watching Hotspot in Sydney
- Migratory Waders and Other Birds in Sydney Olympic Park
- 40 Fun Things to do in Kangaroo Valley
- Werrong Beach – the best-kept secret in Royal National Park
- Karloo Pools and Uloola Falls – A beautiful walk in Royal National Park
- Garie Beach to Curracurrong Falls Walk & a Secret Viewpoint
- Best of Whale Watching in Sydney – a Local’s Guide
- The Lost World of the Grand Canyon Track in the Blue Mountains
- Otford to Burning Palms Beach: Palm Jungle Loop Track
- Blue Mountains Jenolan Caves – how to explore the world’s oldest crystal caves
