Mooloolaba surfing is okay-ish, but hardly matches up to the quality of the rest of the Sunshine Coast. There are some great breaks if you’re willing to travel a touch, though.
An introduction to Mooloolaba surfing
The charming harbor town of Mooloolaba has really cut its teeth as a family vacation mecca and well-to-do yachters paradise rather than a surf destination. But this is the heart of the Sunshine Coast and that means waves are never too far away. During the peak of the winter swell season, you will probably have to travel a little to get to the breaks, which start on Point Cartwright but spread up and down the golden beaches on either side of the town.
The main beaches that line the city itself aren’t really worth writing home about – they get too much protection from the marina breakwaters to get any regular swells. Go north, though, and you start to enter the overflow beaches of Noosa, which are all veritable swell magnets, with multiple peaks for all levels running along shimmering white sands.
We’d mainly put Mooloolaba down as a good pitstop for some beachside R&R on a East Coast romp. It’s also a fine stop for families looking to get surfing together, because the waves are invariably on the smaller side unless you case out the rest of old Goldie.
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This guide is just one part of our complete guides to Australia surfing and surfing in Queensland
Mooloolaba surfing at a glance
The good
- Great for families
- Access to lots of top-quality Sunshine Coast breaks
- Gets both winter and summer typhoon swells
The bad
- Often flat on the urban beach
- You need to travel to get the good breaks
- Can be expensive
What’s in this guide to Mooloolaba surfing?
- An introduction to Mooloolaba surf
- Where is Mooloolaba
- The top Mooloolaba surf spots
- Surf hotels and surf camps in Mooloolaba
- When to surf in Mooloolaba
Where is Mooloolaba?
The town of Mooloolaba is huddled into a wide bay that’s about a third of the way up the Sunshine Coast from Brisbane. Its boundaries are marked by Point Cartwright in the southeast and the mouth of the Maroochy River to the north. The good news is that the Sunshine Coast Airport is less than 15 minutes’ transfer away from the downtown.
A guide to the Mooloolaba surf spots
The breaks in Mooloolaba start on the exposed beaches to the south and run to the even-more-exposed beaches closer to Noosa up north. There are some spots on the urban sands of Mooloolaba Beach but they tend to be quite small compared to what’s on offer elsewhere. Let’s take a look…
Kawana
Kawana is peak after peak of relatively good-quality beach break. It runs for over five miles from top to bottom, so there’s usually scope to find a place totally to yourself. There are some parts of the beach that really benefit from a combo of underwater channels and the accumulation of sandbanks on interspersed reefs. They’ll usually pull in the crowds because they’re able to offer semi-hollow A-frames that shoulder out into big water banks for shortboarders to draw Zs and Ss on. You can take your place in the surprisingly friendly line ups that gather at those or choose the crumblier sets that bridge between them. Gets big in midwinter on SE swells but is rarely ever completely flat.
Point Cartwright
The whole of the lighthouse headland here will give some fantastic protection to kill those southerly winter winds before they can get into the bays on the north side. That helps the right that starts on the outside point form into some pretty nifty sections, getting barrely on bigger days and banking out to get rippable when it’s midsized. These points can also act a touch like nearby Noosa in that they suck in good NE swells on summer typhoons.
Mooloolaba Beach
If you check the map, it’s easy to see why Mooloolaba town and the main Mooloolaba Beach that fringes it are usually flat. They face northeast and are flanked by the big marina breakwaters on the headland, which act as bouncers to the dominant SE-SW swells that flow through from the Pacific from May to September. Rare summer typhoons can see the beach come alive with beefy A-frames but it’s usually rollers for the groms and SUPers.
The Bluff
The given name for the little lip of reef that pokes out from Alexandra Headland about midway between Mooloolaba harbor and the rivermouth, The Bluff is a longboarder’s stomping ground that enjoys almost all swell directions apart from heavy NE typhoons. Curvy, cruisy waves skirt into the rocks and then bend across the sands of Alexandra Headland Beach, creating long rights that invite minimals and up.
The Corner
As the right handers of The Bluff gurgle in against the rocks at the southern end of Alexandra Headland Beach, they reform to offer a take-off in another set of right handers at The Corner. They usually need some bigger swells to have the attraction of the outside section but can be fun for loggers and beginners.
Maroochydore Beach
Endless froth awaits along the whole length of Maroochydore Beach. Okay, so it’s not the marching right walls that Noosa gives, and there’s a tendency for any onshore or crosshore winds to turn the lot to mush, but this spot is fun. It’s also spacious, which means you won’t be jostling for take offs like you are in the rest of Sunshine or Goldie. There are some sandbank waves to be found closer to the rivermouth at the north end of the beach, but these are usually better quality so draw bigger crowds.
Where to stay when surfing in Mooloolaba?
Because Mooloolaba is a tried-and-tested family holidaying spot, you’re not going to go hungry for hotels. There are PLENTY on offer here, many close to the main beach and some even strung along by the better breaks at The Bluff and Point Cartwright. Here’s a look at some that we can recommend…
Oaks Sunshine Coast Seaforth Resort
This highly rated hotel offers walking access to the whole run of beach breaks that stretch up Maroochydore Beach and the longboard rights at Alexander Headland Beach. It’s also bloody lovely. Rooms are contemporary and minimalist, with uber-comfy beds and balconies that gaze towards the Pacific. There’s a garden pool and a fitness center with a sauna.
Alexandria Apartments
If you’re keen to score your own pad and want self-catering, Alexandria Apartments can tick all those boxes and still put you just across the road from The Bluff and Maroochydore Beach for all the surfing. They are clean, modern, and equipped with flat-screen TVs and family sitting areas.
Landmark Resort
Rooms with hot tubs on the balcony meet suites with BBQs overlooking the ocean at this much-loved resort. The Landmark is closest of all three to the town center and really aims at families who want to be near the best eateries and the uber-mellow waves that work on the inside of the bay.
Step-by-step guide to planning your Mooloolaba surfing trip right now
Step one: Book flights to the Mooloolaba surfing…We use Skyscanner and only Skyscanner for this. The reason? We’ve always found it the best site for comparing deals from basically ALL airlines and somehow seems to offer deals that beat going direct.
Step two: Book your surf lodge. There’s Booking.com. That has consistently unbeatable rates for hotels and a nifty map feature that lets you check how close EXACTLY that hotel is to particular breaks. Or Book Surf Camps, which is the numero uno online booking platform for fully-fledged surf-stay packages.
Step three: Book surf lessons and other activities For advance booking, you can use GetYourGuide or Viator. To be fair, though, we usually just leave this until we’re there – it’s easy to book in person in most surf destinations.
When to surf in Mooloolaba?
Winter (May to Aug) is key because it brings up the SE swells from the depths of the roaring 40s and beyond. They’re head-on for many of the beaches but also usually powerful enough to wrap around the heads at Point Cartwright and The Bluff to give the best waves of the year. Mooloolaba surf in summer can be surprising, as NE typhoon swells bring big sets straight onto the main beach and turn it into a frothing mess. Don’t be tempted by those closeouts – there will be better things on offer in the summer months on northeasterly swells up in Noosa for sure!
We might use affiliate links in this post. Basically, you click em’ and we get a little something from your booking or purchase. They help us keep offering more and more in-depth surf guides to awesome places all around the globe. So, thanks for that!
This guide is just one part of our complete guides to Australia surfing and surfing in Queensland
