What's On in August 2026: Your Local Guide to Avoca, Copacabana & Surrounds

A local’s guide from the George Brand team

Staying on the Coast this August? Good choice. Winter here means crisp mornings, beaches you’ll have nearly to yourself, and whales moving past the headlands most days. This is the guide we give our own visiting friends, so consider yourself family for the week.

Whales, first and foremost

August is the heart of the humpback migration, which runs along this coastline from May to November, and 2026 is a big year with an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 humpbacks travelling the so-called humpback highway.

You don’t need a boat. Captain Cook Lookout above Copacabana gives you views from Terrigal’s Skillion right down past MacMasters Beach, and The Skillion at Terrigal is the other reliable spot. Take a thermos and binoculars and give it half an hour. Patience gets rewarded most days.

If you’d rather be on the water, Terrigal Ocean Tours runs whale watching cruises out of Terrigal Haven through the season and is the Coast’s only Eco Certified whale watching operator. The whales often pass close to the Haven, so you’re not in for a long steam to find them.

Market days

The Avoca Beachside Markets run on the fourth Sunday of the month at Heazlett Park Foreshore, which this year means Sunday 23 August from 9am. The markets have been going more than 15 years and have the awards to show for it, with local artists, makers, food producers and musicians set up right by the beach.

For a Saturday wander, the Terrigal Beach Markets are on the first and third Saturdays, the 1st and 15th this August, with local makers, vintage finds and fashion by the water.

The walks

The classic here is the 5 Lands Walk route, a coastal path linking the surf clubs at MacMasters Beach, Copacabana, Avoca, North Avoca and Terrigal. Allow about two and a half hours one way at an easy pace, with lookouts and coffee stops along the route. With small kids, the Avoca to North Avoca leg is an easy 3km return. With bigger legs, push through to Terrigal and earn your lunch.

Just south sits Bouddi National Park and its famous coastal walk, with boardwalks hanging over the ocean’s edge and quiet beaches most visitors never find. In August, keep one eye on the horizon while you walk. This is prime whale-spotting country.

If it rains

The Avoca Beach Picture Theatre is a genuine treasure, a heritage cinema run by the same family for generations, and there are worse ways to spend a wet afternoon than in its old seats.

Otherwise head to Distillery Botanica at Erina, where an award-winning gin distillery shares a garden with a café known for its brunch and gelato. Their Sip by Numbers paint-and-sip sessions run on 11 and 23 August if you fancy a paintbrush with your drink, and if you’re after something louder, a Tina Turner tribute show plays Bateau Bay on Friday 14 August.

Food and coffee

Terrigal is the dining strip of this stretch, with restaurants, bars and live music ten minutes from Avoca by car, or a very scenic walk if you’re keen. Closer to your accommodation, the cafés at Avoca and Copacabana will sort your post-walk coffee, and fish and chips on the sand at sunset remains undefeated. Ask us for current favourites when you check in. The list changes, the enthusiasm doesn’t.

From your hosts

George Brand has been part of the Central Coast for a long time, and August is one of our favourite months to share it. Whales on the horizon, markets by the beach, and no queues for anything. If you need a hand booking a tour or picking the right walk for the weather, call the George Brand holiday team any time.

And if you fall for the place while you’re here, which happens a lot, any of our offices will happily show you what staying for good might look like.