Byron Bay is known as an epicenter of Australia’s counter-culture, a coastal idyll cradled by an ancient caldera, where hippies live alongside surfers and locals stopped McDonald’s from setting up its golden arches.
Byron Bay has 9 outstanding surfing beaches, for which it is internationally known. So eat, sleep, beach, repeat! Creamy white sand, glassy turquoise barrels, gently leaning pandanus palms—Byron’s beaches are the star attraction.
Start at Main Beach, a patrolled spot good for swimming, and work your way down past Clarkes Beach to the Pass, a peeling surf break perfect for long and short boards, then around the corner to pretty Wategos, beneath the millionaires’ mansions.