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Kirra had been popping up in my algorithm for months, thanks to a cluster of new openings and a growing buzz around this tiny pocket at the southern end of the Gold Coast. It was just enough breadcrumbs to make me suspicious that something special was brewing, so I packed up the car, bribed my children with Pocky sticks and drove down from Brisbane to have a looksy for myself.
From the moment we arrived, the difference from the rest of the Goldie felt obvious – no towering hotel stacks or chaotic main drag teeming with tourists in neon rashies clinging to their melting soft-serves. Instead, it had the easygoing nature of a place where people actually live: young parents pushing prams, kids scootering along the flat beachfront boardwalk, and locals doing their usual coffee and sunrise routine. Where Surfers and Broadbeach lean into the Gold Coast’s signature glitz and grit, Kirra is disarmingly low-key – a surf village with some scruff.
There’s no shortage of ways to stretch a morning out here. If you’re partial to a wander, the whole Kirra-to-Coolangatta boardwalk is one of the prettiest ocean promenades in Australia. Each morning, we’d collect a coffee (or breakfast gelato) from whichever beach-adjacent café had the shortest line and follow the curve of the coastline, stopping at a playground every 11 metres. The strip attracts an eclectic cast of characters: families burning off morning energy, hyper-jacked Gold Coast joggers and retirees living out their coastal-grandparent fantasies. We’d amble past the surf clubs, pause to watch the longboarders gliding across the break at Kirra Point and eventually end up in Coolie for a second breakfast – sue me. One morning, we made it all the way to Rainbow Bay, mesmerised by the world’s most competent ten-year-old shredders.
If you’re someone who likes a bit of variety, this coastline offers it easily. Beginner surf lessons along the beach, bathhouses nearby for a post-swim steam and pockets of sand ideal for a mid-morning flop. Sunsets are an activity in their own right, the entire neighbourhood migrating onto the beach to watch the skyline of Surfers Paradise dissolve in the distance with roadies and a picnic rug.
Accommodation-wise, the Kirra Point Holiday Apartments are part of the KTQ Group’s broader project in the area – the same people behind Elements of Byron, which tells you a little about their instinct for thoughtful placemaking. They’ve spent years reshaping this iconic headland, including resurrecting the old Kirra Beach Hotel (a 1956 surfside institution) and stitching together a new dining, retail and accommodation hub into what was once a carpark. The aim was to create an open-air village rather than another Gold Coast concrete monolith, and they succeeded. Even the foreshore has been reworked with generous pedestrian paths, native plants and shaded pockets that feel designed for actual everyday use.
As for the location, the beach is directly across the road, and the water here is reliably gentle in a way that parents and rookie swimmers (such as myself) will appreciate. A wide natural lagoon forms at low tide, perfect for our small kiddos to bring boogie boards and for parents who just want to supervise from the non-splash zone. Still, the real lure at Kirra is the apartment pool. Elevated just above street level, it’s long and horizontal with one of the best unbroken views of the Pacific that I’ve seen in Australia. Lounge chairs, barbecues and shared spaces are perfect for big groups who naturally end up spending the whole afternoon here.
Eating and drinking required almost no thought, which is exactly how I like to holiday. Kirra Beach House, which has already cemented itself as one of the Gold Coast’s buzziest long-lunch venues, served up a delightful menu of seafood-forward modern Australian. Downstairs, the Kirra Beach Hotel has clearly returned with its full surf-pub DNA intact: cold beer and a solid schnitty and chips. Just a short wander away, Siblings became a favourite for prawn toast and relaxed share plates right on the sand. A bit farther along, the Coolangatta Surf Club served up one of the best lookouts on the entire Gold Coast, so good that we went back the next day.
Even in the thick of school holidays, when we visited, the place never tipped into disorder. Kirra felt markedly different from its glitzier northern siblings: a neighbourhood with world-class surf and just enough newness to feel interesting without losing its soul. By the end of the weekend, I understood exactly why people are talking about it again. And it was just as clear that this quiet phase is on borrowed time.