# Coolangatta surf guide Gold Coast's southern end and home of the Superbank: Snapper Rocks, Greenmount and Kirra, among the world's best sand-bottom right points. - **Location:** Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia (-28.1680, 153.5400) - **Best season:** Jan – May (January, February, March, April, May) - **Water:** 21–27°C (boardshorts (warmest) to shorty or rash vest (coldest)) - **Waves:** Point break, Beach break - **Suits:** Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced surfers - **Interactive map, stays and what's on:** https://swellcabin.com/town/coolangatta - **Feed (new YouTube surf videos and Instagram posts from Coolangatta):** https://swellcabin.com/town/coolangatta?feed ## Surf spots - **Fingal Head**: Point break, right-hander, advanced surfers, faces ENE (offshore wind from the WSW), best at all tides. Experts only. (-28.1980, 153.5710) - **Kingscliff**: Point break, right-hander, all levels, faces NE (offshore wind from the SW), best at all tides. Suits all levels. (-28.2536, 153.5761) - **Cabarita**: Point break, right-hander, all levels, faces ENE (offshore wind from the WSW), best at all tides. Suits all levels. (-28.3345, 153.5770) - **Pottsville Beach**: Beach break, lefts and rights, advanced surfers, faces ESE (offshore wind from the WNW), best at all tides (-28.3820, 153.5731) ## What's on Coolangatta's nights centre on the Coolangatta Hotel ("the Cooly") on Marine Parade, one of the Gold Coast's best-known live music pubs with a public bar and band room, plus a few bars along the beachfront. No fixed weekly nights could be confirmed online; check the Cooly's gig list. Upcoming: 2026-12-27 Thirsty Merc: 20 Good Regions Tour at The Balcony at Cooly Hotel; 2026-12-31 NYE Live with Division 4 & Rekless at Coolangatta Hotel _Updated 2026-11-03._ ## Where to stay 188 places to stay within 10 km. Hostels: Komune Resorts, Greenmount Beach House, YHA Coolangatta. ## FAQ ### When is the best time to surf in Coolangatta? The best surf season in Coolangatta is Jan – May (January, February, March, April, May). The sea ranges from 21°C to 27°C over the year. ### Which months have the most good surf days in Coolangatta? Measured over the last three years (2023-11-01 to 2026-10-31), the waves at Coolangatta's best spot were good or better most often in May (85% of days, 25% great), April (69% of days, 14% great) and July (60% of days, 12% great), and least often in December (13%). From each day's swell and wind (Open-Meteo), rated like Swell Cabin's forecast. ### Do I need a wetsuit in Coolangatta? Water temperature in Coolangatta is 21–27°C: boardshorts (warmest) to shorty or rash vest (coldest). ### Is Coolangatta good for beginner surfers? Yes. Coolangatta suits beginner, intermediate and advanced surfers; spots that work for beginners or all levels include Kingscliff and Cabarita. ### What are the surf spots in Coolangatta? Coolangatta has 4 surf spots on Swell Cabin: Fingal Head (Point break, right-hander, advanced surfers, faces ENE (offshore wind from the WSW), best at all tides); Kingscliff (Point break, right-hander, all levels, faces NE (offshore wind from the SW), best at all tides); Cabarita (Point break, right-hander, all levels, faces ENE (offshore wind from the WSW), best at all tides); Pottsville Beach (Beach break, lefts and rights, advanced surfers, faces ESE (offshore wind from the WNW), best at all tides). ### Where should surfers stay in Coolangatta? Swell Cabin lists 188 places to stay within 10 km of Coolangatta, 3 hostels, 24 guesthouses and homestays, 37 rentals and villas. Each one shows its distance to the nearest surf spot. ### What is the nightlife like in Coolangatta? Coolangatta's nights centre on the Coolangatta Hotel ("the Cooly") on Marine Parade, one of the Gold Coast's best-known live music pubs with a public bar and band room, plus a few bars along the beachfront. No fixed weekly nights could be confirmed online; check the Cooly's gig list. ### What is the surf forecast for Coolangatta this week? Swell Cabin shows a live 7-day surf forecast for Coolangatta and each of its 4 surf spots on https://swellcabin.com/town/coolangatta: each spot rated hour by hour (Flat, Poor, Fair, Good, Great or Epic) from the way its coast faces, the swell, its period, the wind and the tide, with the best time each day and why, the size in surfers' words (e.g. "chest to head high, clean"), tides, and how sure the forecast is (three wave models compared). It is checked live against the nearest buoy and airport wind reports where there are any, and refreshed every few hours (waves from Open-Meteo, wind from MET Norway). ### When is the best tide to surf in Coolangatta? It depends on the spot: shallow reefs usually want mid to high tide, most beach breaks work best around mid tide. Swell Cabin's forecast for Coolangatta weighs each spot's tide hour by hour and shows the best window each day with the high and low tide times, predicted from the Gold Coast Southport tide gauge (25 km away). ### How accurate is the surf forecast for Coolangatta? Swell Cabin checks it against the Tweed Heads buoy (4 km away, Queensland Government Coastal Data System): over 171 hours from 2026-10-29 to 2026-11-05 the forecast wave height was within 20% of the buoy 86% of the time after correcting the wave model, which ran 12% high there (68% before); the correction applies to the spots that face the same sea as the buoy. Last checked 2026-11-05. ### How reliable is Swell Cabin's information about Coolangatta? Trust in this page's data is low (48/100): the town has not been verified against sources in the last 12 months; 0 of 4 spots fully verified, 4 with a researched tide; season and water temperature checked against measured data; 2 open audit warnings. How we check: https://github.com/danielgalam/swellcabin/blob/main/docs/data-accuracy.md Last checked against sources on 2026-11-05. Every value comes from measured data (Open-Meteo, buoys), open databases (OpenStreetMap, Wikidata) or a published page we opened, never from visitor reports; a daily audit compares them and a weekly evaluation measures the error rate (https://github.com/danielgalam/swellcabin/blob/main/docs/data-quality.md). ### Is there a live surf cam in Coolangatta? Swell Cabin hasn't found a live surf cam it could check in Coolangatta yet (it only lists cams it has opened); the surf forecast on its page shows the waves this week. ### Where can I take surf lessons in Coolangatta? Surf schools in and around Coolangatta include Snapper Rocks Rainbow Bay, Walkin' On Water Surf School, Coolangatta Surf Club, Tweed Heads & Coolangatta Surf Life Saving Club, Kirra Point and Coolangatta Learn to Surf.