Beaches

Drive-on beach of firm beige sand

One of the few South Australian beaches where you can legally drive your car onto the sand, a broad flat stretch perfect for kite-flying and sunset-watching.

One of South Australia's most accessible snorkelling reefs

A protected limestone reef system off Aldinga Beach and Port Willunga, fully protected since 1971 and home to wobbegongs, blue devils, schools of reef fish and dolphins.

Beachfront caravan park at Horseshoe Bay

A family caravan park right on the beach at Horseshoe Bay, Port Elliot - cabins, ensuite sites, caravan and camping sites, and a direct walk to the sand.

A quiet, family-friendly stretch of sand just east of Middleton, part of the Basham Beach Regional Park, with a clifftop walking trail and good rock pools.

A wild, remote cove inside Deep Creek National Park

A secluded sand-and-pebble cove on the southern Fleurieu coast, reached only by 4WD track or a steep 3km return walk down from Cobbler Hill - and gloriously empty when you get there.

Port Elliot's big-wave reef break

A dramatic reef break at the western end of Port Elliot, named for the thunderous sound of its crashing waves. A classic South Australian surf spot for experienced riders.

A wide white-sand beach north of Normanville

A wide, flat, white-sand beach stretching 3km along the Gulf St Vincent north of Normanville - safe for swimming, excellent for beach walks and one of the Fleurieu's best family beaches.

A small sand-and-rock beach between Port Elliot and Middleton, best known as one of the most consistent surf breaks on the south coast.

A long, sheltered family beach at the northern gateway to the Fleurieu, with a foreshore playground, boardwalk and a popular surf life saving club.

Where Flinders met Baudin in 1802

A sweeping bay on the Fleurieu's south coast, named by Matthew Flinders after his 1802 meeting with French explorer Nicolas Baudin - and today the heart of the Victor Harbor foreshore.

A sheltered fishing beach a few kilometres east of Cape Jervis, the site of an 1840s whaling station and the shipping port for the historic Talisker Mine.

Eighteen kilometres of open Southern Ocean sand

Goolwa Beach is the southern end of an 18-kilometre stretch of wave-pounded Southern Ocean sand running all the way to the Murray Mouth, with a patrolled swimming area and a legendary (and legal) 4WD beach drive.

A secret cove between the Port Elliot headlands

A tiny tucked-away cove between Rocky Bay and Knights Beach, reached via the Harbourmasters Trail. Calm days bring crystal-clear water for snorkelling; rough days bring dramatic wave shows.

Port Elliot's sheltered family cove

A near-perfect horseshoe of sandy beach framed by sandstone headlands at Port Elliot, one of the safest swimming beaches on the Encounter Coast.

A hidden beach at the foot of the Waitpinga Cliffs

A small, hidden beach framed by dramatic sandstone cliffs in Newland Head Conservation Park - reached by a short walking track from the carpark.

World-class bodyboarding and a sheltered swim

Knights Beach sits on the eastern edge of Port Elliot's headlands and is rated among the top bodyboarding breaks in the world when a south-southeast swell is running. On smaller days it offers a safer family swim than neighbouring Boomer Beach.

Beachside seafood shack at Goolwa Beach

Seafood kiosk and cafe at the Goolwa Beach carpark from the Goolwa Pipi Company - specialising in pipis (kuti) pulled from the beach out front.

Towering ochre cliffs & Australia's first legal nude beach

Sweeping beach beneath dramatic multi-coloured ochre cliffs, famous for its unbroken length and for being the first legal clothing-optional beach in Australia.

Surf beach village between Port Elliot and Goolwa

Small beachside village between Port Elliot and Goolwa on the Encounter Coast, with one of the Fleurieu's most consistent surf breaks and a famous pub.

The Fleurieu learn-to-surf beach

A long, gently-shelving sand beach between Port Elliot and Goolwa, widely regarded as the best learn-to-surf beach on the Fleurieu Peninsula.

A long, dog-friendly surf beach between Port Noarlunga and Maslin, one of only a few beaches in South Australia where you can legally drive on the sand.

A small 800m sandy cove beneath 50-metre bluffs near Cape Jervis, popular for fishing, swimming and sunset views past the Starfish Hill Wind Farm.

A quiet, secluded beach below Myponga Reservoir reached via a steep dirt road - one of the truly off-the-beaten-track beaches on the Fleurieu west coast.

A coastal reserve south-west of Victor Harbor protecting Waitpinga Beach, Parsons Beach and the spectacular cliffs of the Wild South Coast Way - the Heysen Trail's most dramatic Fleurieu section.