The Gold Coast Travel Guide

Three hundred days of sunshine a year and an average temperature of 24°C (75°F) ensure the popularity of the Gold Coast, the most developed tourist destination and one of the fastest-growing regions in Australia, with plenty of amusement complexes and resorts. Easter weekend and December through the last week of January and Australian school holidays are peak seasons. Around 80 km (50 mi)—an hour's drive—south of Brisbane, the Gold Coast stretches some 70 km (43 mi) from Labrador in the north to Coolangatta-Tweed Heads in the south, and has now sprawled as far inland as Nerang. It has around three dozen patrolled beaches and 446 km (277 mi) of canals and tidal rivers, nine times the length of the canals of Venice.