How To Spend The Perfect Weekend in Port Stephens
Discover the perfect itinerary for a weekend in Port Stephens, NSW, including pristine beaches, awe-inspiring sand dunes and wonderful wildlife spotting!
At the time of writing, I’m living in Sydney, Australia for a while! Mostly to avoid the UK winter, if I’m honest While we’re here, we picked up a camper van, with the aim of spending our time off from work exploring more of New South Wales and Australia’s East Coast.
For our very first weekend trip in New South Wales, we headed up to Port Stephens, around 2.5 hours drive from Sydney. Port Stephens is a coastal area just north of the city of Newcastle, a popular East Coast spot for road trippers, family holidays and those in search of an escape from city living.
In this guide, I’ve shared why Port Stephens is an ideal weekend trip from Sydney, and recommended our favourite things to do there!
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Want to visit Port Stephens but only have a day to spare? Book a day trip from Sydney with included transport, sandboarding and a dolphin cruise or scenic hike.
Day 1: Nelson Bay, Dolphin Cruise & Beach Time
Exploring Nelson Bay
On our first morning, we took the bus to Nelson Bay, a charming harbour town in Port Stephens. It’s a great place to explore before or after a dolphin watching cruise, reminding me a little of my favourite seaside towns in the UK.
Before our dolphin cruise, we took a walk along the marina to check out all the boats. Afterwards, we headed into town to enjoy some classic fish and chips, and check out the shops. Nelson Bay has an array of boutiques selling clothing, souvenirs and trinkets. We picked up a couple of beach towels from the Lifeline op-shop, which is one of my favourite Aussie thrift shop chains!
Nelson Bay also has a small yet thriving art scene, and you’ll find colourful murals dotted around the town on the Nelson Bay Art Walk. Port Stephens Community Art Gallery displays a range of artwork and handicrafts from local artisans in the region. Open seven days a week, it’s free to enter.
Dolphin Watching in Nelson Bay
One of the main things that attracted us to Port Stephens is that it’s considered one of the best places in New South Wales for dolphin watching!
We chose a dolphin watching cruise with Imagine Cruises, as the boat is smaller than some of the others we’d looked at. The catamaran holds a maximum of 25 people on the front deck, and our tour actually only had around 14 people on board! They also offer a rebooking guarantee if you don’t see any dolphins – which is why we booked this for the first day of our itinerary. Turns out, we had nothing to worry about.
The cruise started at 11.30am, and we made our way out of the harbour into Port Stephens Bay. Even without the dolphin watching, it’s a really fun boat ride as you get to see some of the gorgeous coastline, including Tomaree National Park and the beach that stretches across Winda Woppa.
Not too long into our ride, we spotted some movement in the water, and noticed some fins break the surface. The boat moved closer to follow while maintaining a respectful distance, but the dolphins had other ideas as we stopped to let them pass right beside and underneath the boat! Jumping into the boom net at the front, I had an incredible view to witness the dolphins jumping out of the water playfully.
I was expecting to just spot a few fins and have that count as a sighting, but the guides gave us loads of time with the dolphins. In the end, there were between 20-30 of them in the water! It was an amazing experience, and one of my highlights of our time in Australia.
Port Stephens has a voluntary code of conduct for tour operators to reduce pressure on dolphins in the bay, to ensure responsible wildlife watching practices. Imagine Cruises are a certified eco-tourism provider, and support marine wildlife research and conservation initiatives.
Dolphin tours run in Port Stephens from November to April. If you’re visiting between May and November , you can book a whale watching tour instead! We’re planning on heading back during whale season to do this too, as we had an unforgettable experience whale watching in Vancouver.
Beach Time
You can’t spend time on the New South Wales coast without checking out a beach or two, so after our time in Nelson Bay, we took our brand new beach towels for their first spin!
For an easy beach visit in Nelson Bay, you can head to Fly Point Aquatic Reserve, a popular spot for water activities with an over-water obstacle course. Shoal Beach and Fingal Bay Beach are also close by, offering more space and soft sand.
Our campsite had direct access to One Mile Beach, so we made our way back on the bus, grabbed our swimwear and spent a couple of hours relaxing before dinner. Popular with surfers, this pristine sandy beach has plenty of space to spread out on its one-mile stretch.
Day 2: Port Stephens Koala Sanctuary, Sand Dunes & Additional Activities
On the second day of our weekend in Port Stephens, we ticked off another amazing Aussie wildlife encounter, and explored some incredible sand dunes!
Port Stephens Koala Sanctuary
Seeing koalas is an Australian wildlife bucket list for any traveller! There are plenty of koala attractions all over Australia, but for us it was important to choose to visit one with a focus on rehabilitation and conservation.
Port Stephens Koala Sanctuary rescues injured and sick koalas, giving them first-class care and aiming to rehabilitate them back into the wild. The koalas that are unable to be rehabilitated become residents on site, where visitors can observe them in a setting as close to their natural habitat as possible.
On our morning visit, we took a walk along the Sanctuary Story Walk, a pathway through the trees and gardens with sculptures and information boards. The sanctuary is also home to a state of the art Koala Hospital. If you’re there at the right time, you’ll be able to observe a non-invasive treatment through the observation window. There were no koalas in treatment when we were there, but we did see staff giving care to an injured bird.
The highlight of any visit is the Sanctuary Sky walk and viewing platform, where the resident koalas live. They can be a little hard to see initially as they like to rest in tree branches, but we managed to spot all of them! Most were sleeping, but a couple were tucking into some leaves for breakfast. Cute, charming and fascinating, our visit was a wonderful opportunity to learn more about koalas.
Opening Times: 9am-5pm (the viewing platform closes at 4pm)
Admission Fee: $28 (adult) / $15 (child) / $19 (concessions) – book your tickets in advance here.
If you’re looking for somewhere unique to stay in Port Stephens, you can book one of the glamping tents on-site – with accommodation proceeds contributing to the sanctuary’s work.
Stockton Beach Sand Dunes
The longest beach in New South Wales is also home to the Southern Hemisphere’s largest moving coastal sand dunes! The entire beach is 32km long, stretching from Anna Bay in the north to Stockton in the South, and the highest dunes reach 30m. Much of the beach and dunes is within the Worimi conservation lands, an Aboriginal-owned park.
We drove to the car park at Birubi Beach, and went for a walk across the dunes. The spectacular desert landscapes combined with the ocean on one side and forest to the other perfectly encapsulates Australia’s diverse scenery. Dunes stretched along the coast as far as the eye can see, it felt like we were in a movie set.
If you want to have a go at sliding down the dunes, you can book a 4WD Sand Dunes Tour with unlimited sandboarding! Walking on the dunes is free, however be aware of the 4WD trucks along the dirt path through the dunes. I’d recommend sticking close to the entrance at Birubi Beach if you want to climb some dunes in relative quiet.
More things to do in Port Stephens
After visiting the koalas and sand dunes, it was time for us to make our way back to Sydney. If you have more time than we did, you can add some additional activities to your Port Stephens itinerary. Here are a couple of my suggestions!
- Take a snorkelling cruise in Port Stephens Great Lakes Marine Park. Look out for rays, coral and an extensive variety of colourful fish!
- Go walking in Tomaree National Park, and take a a short but challenging 45 minute hike to Tomaree Head Summit for views over the surrounding islands.
- Ride the 1km bobsled track at Toboggan Hill Park, which also has rollerskating, mini golf and an amusement arcade.
Getting to Port Stephens
From Sydney: Port Stephens is around 2.5hrs drive from Sydney – you can rent a car in Sydney if you don’t have your own vehicle.
From Newcastle: Nelson Bay is around 50mins drive from the nearest city. The B131 bus route to Fingal Bay from Newcastle Interchange goes to Port Stephens, taking around 1hr 30mins to get to Nelson Bay.
Where to stay for a weekend in Port Stephens
We booked a powered site for our camper van at Ingenia Holidays One Mile Creek. The park has plenty of amenities, including shared grills for cooking, a swimming pool and easy access to the beach. There’s a bus service that runs regularly from outside the holiday park to Nelson Bay. There are also cabins available for those who prefer a more solid roof over their heads!
If you’re looking for more traditional accommodation options, these are a few of the best:
- Budget: Melaleuca Surfside Backpackers is the closest hostel to the beach in Port Stephens, with cabins and dorms available.
- Mid-range: Hotel Nelson (Nelson Bay) offers comfortable rooms close the beach and town amenities
- Luxury: Anchorage Port Stephens offers a high-end Port Stephens stay, with luxury accommodation in Hamptons-style guesthouses.
Eating and Drinking in Port Stephens
To keep our trip budget-friendly, we cooked most meals at our holiday park. It’s amazing what you can do with a camping stove or a shared grill!
- Little Beach Boathouse (Nelson Bay) is the top rated restaurant in Nelson Bay, serving seafood and other dishes in an upmarket waterfront setting.
- Red Ned’s Pie Bar (Nelson Bay) serves classic Aussie pies at an affordable price for a more casual dining experience.
- The Deck (Soldiers Point) is an award-winning independent restaurant serving Greek and Italian dishes.
- Romanza Pizza & Pasta (Anna Bay) does what it says – pasta and pizza!
- Holbert’s Oyster Farm (Salamander Bay) is the spot if you want to try local oysters at a reasonable price.
Summary: Is Port Stephens worth visiting?
Absolutely! We had a blast taking a weekend trip to Port Stephens. There’s loads to do to fill your two days, and I loved the coastal town vibe of Nelson Bay. If you’re looking for the perfect weekend break from Sydney, definitely consider a visit to Port Stephens!
