Avoca does holidays the old way
Some beach towns chase every trend. Avoca just keeps doing what it has always done, and that is the charm of it. A long curve of sand between two headlands, a lagoon at one end, a rockpool at the other, and a village behind the beach with a cinema that has been screening since 1948.
The surf here has real pedigree. The beach breaks are consistent, a well known right hander peels off the southern point, and the surf club has run the flags every summer for generations. Kids get the lagoon, officially Bulbararing Lagoon but Avoca Lake to everyone here, for pedal boats and shallow splashing.
Evenings sort themselves out. Fish and chips on the sand, a session at the picture theatre, or dinner overlooking the water. And every fourth Sunday the markets take over the foreshore with local produce, live music and half the Coast wandering through.
Fill your days
Avoca Beach Picture Theatre
One of Australia's best loved heritage cinemas, still family run and screening daily. Check the program for live music nights too. Rainy day insurance, sorted.
Aquafun on the lake
Hire kayaks, SUPs and pedal boats on Avoca Lake from September to mid May. No bookings needed, just wander down to Heazlett Park and pick your vessel.
Avoca Beachside Markets
More than a hundred stalls of local produce, food and crafts on the foreshore, with live music and dogs welcome. Parking is tight on market days, so walk if you can.
Rockpool and coastal walk
A big natural rock pool sits on the southern rock shelf, shallow even at high tide. From the other end of the beach you can walk the headlands through North Avoca to Terrigal.
Eat & drink
Everything worth eating is within a short stroll of the sand.
Avoca Beach House
Seafood and long lunches overlooking the beach. Locals night on Tuesdays and Wednesdays is the well kept secret worth knowing about.
The Point Cafe
Perched above the southern end with arguably the best view in Avoca. All day breakfast, poke bowls and a cocktail list for the afternoon.
Avoca Beach Seafoods
Award winning fish and chips, best eaten on the sand while the sun goes down. The holiday dinner that never misses.
Explore the area
Our Avoca homes.
Browse all stays →When to come
Summer
The full Avoca experience. Flags up, the lake busy with pedal boats and the cinema packed on rainy afternoons. Book months ahead for school holidays.
Book earlyAutumn
Warm ocean, quiet sand and patrols through to the end of April. The markets and the cinema keep rolling all year.
Locals' pickWinter
Humpbacks pass the headlands from June, the point does its best work on winter swells and accommodation is at its most affordable.
Whale seasonSpring
Patrols and the pedal boats both return in September, and the southbound whales bring their calves past the coast through November.
About 90 minutes from Sydney
M1 north, exit at Kariong, then follow Avoca Drive to the coast. Allow longer on Friday afternoons.
Gosford, then 20 minutes
Trains run to Gosford, with a local bus or a twenty minute drive to finish the trip. A car makes the week easier.
Free but keen
Beachfront parking is free but fills early on summer weekends and market Sundays. The side streets pick up the slack.
Village strip
The village has a general store, pharmacy, post office and bottle shop. Bigger supermarkets are ten to fifteen minutes away at Kincumber or Erina Fair.