Surfers Paradise is part of the Gold Coast in south east Queensland and is a very popular holiday destination for visitors from Australia and overseas.
The main entrance to Surfers Paradise beach
The Gold Coast stretches from Coolangatta on the NSW border in the south to Ormeau, about 42km south of the Brisbane CBD. It is the sixth most populous city is Australia and is to host the Commonwealth Games in 2018.
Looking south towards Coolangatta
We visited Surfers Paradise in 2014 and 2015 and both times we stayed in the Hotel Grand Chancellor. This hotel is located in a very central position just 150 metres from the beach and close to Cavill Avenue. It is also very close to the new light rail that runs from Broadbeach to Griffith University.
The Hotel Grand Chancellor
Our room in 2015
In 2015 we were upgraded to a suite on the 27th floor, which was a real treat. The weather in July was beautiful and the view from our suite over the beach would be hard to beat. We opened the curtains when we went to bed and this allowed the colourful sunrise to paint the room with crimson and gold each morning. We were also able to watch the annual whale migration north, with quite a lot of whales playing within a few hundred metres of the beach.
Beachgoers viewed from our balcony
The hotel is very close to a lot of great dining places and for the three nights were were there we ate at Japanese, Indian and Thai restaurants. We also walked down to the Esplanade each morning for breakfast, watching the passing parade. The Gold Coast Airport Marathon was held on the Sunday morning and we sat at the cafe watching thousands of competitors pound the pavement.
There are a lot of eating options along the beach and we found that Elston in the Soul building did a fabulous charcuterie share board for lunch and this went very well with a couple of glasses of sauvignon blanc.
The Soul building, with Hotel Grand Chancellor to the left
While the water was too chilly for us to swim, it was still lovely walking on the beach and we made the most of this. The beach was patrolled all along and lots of people were swimming.
Beach on a winter afternoon
We saw a primary school group from Japan learning about lifesaving and they were being taught the beach flags event. It was very cute to see them in blue surf caps jostling to get the flags.
Japanese school students running for beach flags
From the beach you can see a lot of the Gold Coast coastline, from Coolangatta in the south to way past Southport in the north. There was a lot of uncontrolled building in the 1970s and 1980s, but the high rise buildings that line the beach do have their own charm.