Map view
Sydney Opera House
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Multi-venue performing arts center in Sydney
- Often regarded as one of the world’s most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of expressionist 20th century architecture
- Opened in 1973
Whitehaven Beach, Whitsunday Island
Best time to visit: Sept
Cost: $$
- Beach known for its crystal white silica sands and turquoise colored waters
- It is on an island only accessible by boat, seaplane, and helicopter from Airlie Beach, as well as Hamilton Island
Royal Botanic Garden Sydney
Best time to visit: Jan-March, Sept, Dec
Cost: $
- Heritage-listed major 74 acre botanical garden, event venue and public recreation area located in Sydney
- Opened in 1816
- The garden is the oldest scientific institution in Australia and one of the most important historic botanical institutions in the world
Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Melbourne
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria are botanic gardens across two sites: Melbourne and Cranbourne
- Melbourne Gardens was founded in 1846, and it extends across 38 hectares (94 acres) that slope to the river with trees, garden beds, lakes and lawns
- It displays almost 50,000 individual plants representing 8,500 different species
Great Barrier Reef
Best time to visit: June-Oct
Cost: $$
- World's largest coral reef system
- The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms
- This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps
Spit Bridge to Manly Walk, Sydney Harbour National Park
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- National park renowned for its sheltered beaches, tranquil picnic spots, rich Aboriginal, colonial and military heritage, aquatic reserves and harbour islands
Rainforest Circuit Track, Daintree National Park
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: May-Sept
Cost: $
- National park in Far North Queensland, founded in 1981, and is part of the Wet Tropics of Queensland
- The Greater Daintree Rainforest has existed continuously for more than 110 million years, making it possibly the oldest existing rainforest
- South of the Daintree River at Mossman Gorge a visitor centre has been built from where tourists take a shuttle bus to the gorge, where they can take a walk or swim
Nawurlandja Lookout and Burrunggu Walk, Kakadu National Park
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: May-Oct
Cost: $
- Kakadu National Park is a protected area gazetted as a locality, with 313 people recorded living there
- Kakadu National Park is the second largest national park in Australia (after the Munga-Thirri–Simpson Desert National Park)
- Most of the area is owned by the Aboriginal traditional owners, who have occupied the land for around 60,000 years, who manage the park jointly with Parks Australia
Uluru Base Walk, Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: May-Sept
Cost: $
- Uluru / Ayers Rock is recognised as Australia's most natural icon and has become a focal point for Australia and the world's acknowledgement of Australian indigenous culture
- The sandstone monolith stands 348 metres (1,142 ft) high with most of its bulk below the ground
- To Anangu, the local indigenous people, Uluru / Ayers Rock is a place name and this "Rock" has a number of different landmarks where many ancestral beings have interacted with the landscape and/or each other, some even believed to still reside here
Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach Walk
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Bondi Beach is a beach and the name of the surrounding suburb in Sydney
- While the northern end has been rated a gentle 4 (with 10 as the most hazardous), the southern side is rated as a 7 due to a famous rip current known as the "Backpackers' Rip" because of its proximity to the bus stop, the fact that many backpackers and tourists do not realise that the flat, smooth water is a rip, and quite dangerous
#15 in Best Beaches in the World
Halls Gap to The Pinnacle Loop, Grampians National Park
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- The Grampians feature a striking series of mountain ranges of sandstone
- The Gariwerd area features about 90% of the rock art in the state
- The rock material that composes the high peaks is sandstone which was laid down from rivers during the Devonian period 425 - 415 million years ago
Stone & Wood Brewery Byron Bay
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Stone & Wood Brewing Co. is an award winning Australian brewery which is based in Byron Bay, New South Wales.
- Its Pacific Ale won a silver medal at the World Beer Cup in the English-Style Summer Ale category
Dove Lake Circuit, Cradle Mountain - Lake St. Clair National Park
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: Jan, Dec
Cost: $
- Dove Lake is a corrie lake near Cradle Mountain in the central highlands region of Tasmania
- It lies in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park
- Like several other lakes in the region, Lake Dove was formed by glaciation
- Among animals wandering the shores of the lake are numerous wombats, echidnas, pademelons and tiger snakes
Great Barrier Reef Drive (Cairns to Cape Tribulation), Great Barrier Reef National Park
Best time to visit: June-Oct
Cost: $
- The Great Barrier Reef Drive from Cairns to Cape Tribulation is a coastal drive in northern Australia
- The 140 km scenic drive goes from the city to the jungle in 2.5 hours
- The drive shows two World Heritage areas, remote beaches, scenic views, resorts, crocodiles, and rain forest
Hyams Beach Loop
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Seaside village in the City of Shoalhaven, New South Wales, on the shores of Jervis Bay
- A seaside resort, its beach is known for having turquoise/aqua-coloured waters and fine, squeaky, brilliantly white sand composed of pure quartz
#16 in Best Beaches in the World
Lake Hillier
Best time to visit: Jan-April, Oct-Dec
Cost: $$$
- Lake Hillier is a saline lake on the edge of Middle Island, the largest of the islands and islets that make up the Recherche Archipelago in the Goldfields-Esperance region, off the south coast of Western Australia
- It is particularly notable for its pink color
Ngilgi Cave, Margaret River
Best time to visit: Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Ngilgi Cave is a karst cave in Western Australia
- In many sections of the cave a red layer of soil can be seen; this is called paleosol
#20 in Best Beaches in the World
Turquoise Bay
Best time to visit: Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Pristine stretch of white sand offering swimming, snorkeling and a scenic viewpoint
#18 in Best Beaches in the World
Twelve Apostles Overlook
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- The Twelve Apostles are a collection of limestone stacks off the shore of Port Campbell National Park, by the Great Ocean Road in Victoria
- The Twelve Apostles are located on the traditional lands of the Eastern Maar peoples
- Seven of the original eight stacks remain standing at the Twelve Apostles viewpoint, after one collapsed in 2005
- Though the view from the promontory by the Twelve Apostles never included twelve stacks, additional stacks—not considered part of the Apostles group—are located to the west within the national park
#47 in Best Landmarks in the World
Passage Peak, Whitsunday Islands National Park
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: Sept
Cost: $$
- The Whitsunday Islands lie midway along Australia's Queensland coast and are bordered by the Great Barrier Reef and the waters of the Coral Sea
- Migrating humpback whales favor the waters around the Whitsunday Islands as a calving ground between May and September each year
- Marine stingers are found in the waters of the islands between October and May
- All 74 of the islands are surrounded by the Great Barrier Reef and only eight of them are inhabited.
Sydney Harbour Bridge
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge in Sydney, spanning Sydney Harbour
- The view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is widely regarded as an iconic image of Sydney, and of Australia itself
- Opened in 1932