When friends and family come to visit, and there’s no room at the inn, the water slides, kids’ clubs and beachfront vistas of Gold Coast’s best family holiday parks await. From the mountains to the creeks, these are our picks of where to book.
By Josie Sargent
Tallebudgera Creek Tourist Park
Come summertime, the fondly nicknamed “Tally Creek” is absolutely heaving with rubber-ringers, swimmers and cabanas. This caravan park is waterfront and protected and offers views to the leafy and culturally significant Burleigh Headland to the east and the hinterland to the west. You’ll find a boat ramp and netted swimming hole opposite, three on-site swimming pools (heated seasonally) and a patrolled surf beach just round the corner. While the park has waterfront cabins, the Tallebudgera Creek Tourist Park is perhaps best known for its camping – offering prime creek-side spots for caravans and campervans, plus barbeques, a playground, rec room and even a tennis court.
If you can’t be bothered cooking – or you’re dying for a coffee – then a short walk under the bridge will take you to the Tallebudgera Surf Club and to the sweet treats of Custard Canteen bakery. To get rid of any lingering energy before the day is up, walk the iconic and culturally significant Burleigh Headland. A visit to Jellurgal Aboriginal Cultural Centre is a must for visitors and locals alike to experience the traditions of the oldest living culture in the world here.
Nobby Beach Holiday Village
You can spot the Nobby Beach Holiday Village by its distinctive 35-metre blue and yellow waterslide that snakes round the park on the Gold Coast Highway. While the slide is guaranteed to keep the kids happy for hours, the village also offers a hub of games, movies and a kids club room, not to mention its very own “Ninja Warrior” playground, and a dedicated program of activities during the school holidays. Grown-ups are more likely to be enticed by the two heated pools, barbecue spots, and crucially, the seaside suburb of Nobby Beach, just a short dash across the road, with its trendy strip of bars, speakeasies and eateries.
Each Wednesday, Friday and Saturday night, the nearby Miami Marketta - a bustling global street-food night market - comes alive with a dizzying selection of bao, burgers and burritos, plus live music, street art and cute little boutiques.
O’Reilly’s Campground
Love the idea of sleeping close to nature in a tent – but hate the thought of putting it up? Same. The team at O’Reilly’s have you covered – they have safari-style glamping tents, ready to go and complete with actual beds, so all that’s left is to put your feet up and enjoy a cool drink while overlooking the Heritage Listed Gondwana Rainforest. If you do enjoy a BYO situation, there are camping and caravan sites too.
There are short hikes to dramatic waterfalls plus the Tree Top Walk, that is a series of boardwalks and suspension bridges. Older kids can test their resilience by attempting to climb up a huge eucalypt, thanks to the ladders and rungs that lead to a dizzying crow’s nest style lookout.
For the more adventurous, explore the forest on an E-Bike or Segway Safari Tour (that includes a daring creek crossing), go ziplining or sign up to visit creek-side glow worms in a torch-led adventure in the evening. There’s a communal kitchen overlooking the McPherson Range, a fire-pit and, joined to the original homestead, a bar with the best views in town to watch the sun go down.
Kirra Beach Tourist Park
Kirra is one of the Gold Coast’s most famous surf breaks, and the tourist park is just a hop, skip and a jump from the beach.
If the surf’s not pumping, there is an onsite swimming pool and a small playground, and the kids will love zipping around the paved roads on all manner of wheeled modes of transport, from scooters to skates, from bikes to trikes. It is dog friendly, and, unlike other caravan parks, is incredibly leafy with lots of open space to kick around a footy or throw a frisbee.
The friendly park staff also regularly put on extra activities - from face painting to food trucks and live music.
Big4 Gold Coast Holiday Park
Just a stone’s throw from the screams and thrills of the Gold Coast’s famous theme parks is this family heaven. In fact, it could’ve even been designed by a kid. From water slides, giant buckets and splash zones to arcade games, and from a remote-control car track to ride on buggies, the kids may not even want to leave to go on the rollercoasters at all. Parents, rejoice. There is a kids club that will get the kids crafting while you order food and drinks straight to the cabana via a QR code.