A relaxing week at beautiful Yamba
Every year my family meets in Yamba for Christmas in July celebrations. Yamba is a gorgeous coastal town in NSW, about an hour south of Ballina or an hour and a half north of Coffs Harbour. With the upgrades to the Pacific Highway it is so quick and easy to get there now. There is plenty to do in and around Yamba, heaps of cute cafes and boutique shopping, bars, beaches, and it is a super dog friendly little town!
Where to stay?
There are heaps of holiday houses in Yamba, you can book on sites like Stayz or Airbnb. We have stayed in the same holiday house the last couple of years but the owner is not the friendliest so I am not going to recommend it. This year my Grandparents and my Aunt, Uncle and cousins stayed in the Calypso Yamba Holiday Park. I would recommend staying here, its right on the waters edge, right on the edge of the main strip of shops, its dog friendly, there are cabins or campsites. I just think its a great all rounder and you really cant beat the location. We all plan on staying here next year.
Where to eat?
The main strip has plenty of food options. I would recommend for breakfast Yum Yum Angourie Cafe and General Store. It has a beautiful menu, great coffee, lovely wait staff, and the cutest little bits and pieces for sale inside. The seating is good, they can accommodate groups of over 10 with three dogs so it worked well for us! They grow their own herbs out the back and its just a wholesome little place right in the middle of town. Please see below my Brioche French toast rolled in cinnamon sugar, served with housemade Labne, blueberry reduction glaze, macadamia nuts and spiced baked apples. Literally to die for. We also had some little birdies join us requesting crumbs.
Another place which is up above Yamba Beach is the Sandbar Restaurant Yamba, great food and nice feel, right near the beach, and of course – dog friendly!
For a pub feed, we had some nice food at the Pacific Hotel, very much a pub feel kind of place but great location up on the headland. And they have entertainment Friday and Saturday night and I imagine it is the place to be in Yamba if you want to have a boogie!
Another good pub to go to is Luxury Waterfront Tavern | Yamba Shores Tavern | Yamba it is waterfront and quite the location! The food is always good here, great kids play ground and there’s always some fishes in the water if you walk down the pier. This one is a bit of a drive out of town but they do have a courtesy bus so make sure you take advantage of that! We also went to the Bowlo Sports and Leisure, its walking distance from the main strip but it is just a bowls club but we took the grandparents there and they seemed to enjoy it. I thought for the price of it, we were better off going somewhere nice. Not sure why old people like that kind of dining as I always thought it was because it was cheap, most meals in there are over $30 – wild! Food was nice though and the servings were quite large. There is also great kids area, free rock climbing wall, soft play kids gym, ten pin bowling and mini golf for about $3-$5. So great little family friendly venue. No dogs allowed but.
If you want dinner at home there is a Coles on Yamba Rd as you are coming into Yamba. There is a chemist, newsagents, bottle shops, pet shop, Kmart K Hub, tobacco shop, petrol stations; all the basic shops at Yamba Fair Shopping Centre.
Where to drink?
For a drink at a nice bar try Paradiso Restaurant & Bar, great cocktail menu, beautiful bar and they seated about eight of us easily. You can also have dinner here which I have heard is lovely, but we didn’t make it there – next year!
Another cool place we found was Last Rites, this is a funky bar with live music and a really cool variety of different beers. I found a medieval beer for Laws which he thought was the bees knees! They seem to always have an artist playing, great spot for an afternoon drink, cocktails, and seating outside so the hound dog could join us!
We also had a drink at Drift Pizza Bar, it has a cute little set up and a nice bar. The staff weren’t that friendly and they wouldn’t serve you over the bar, only from the QR code on the menu so kind of took away that interaction and made it feel less personal. Nice venue but and was very busy for dinner so they must be okay!
One place we wanted to go but it was shut was the Clarence Distillery & Bar | A New Gineration – a gin distillery. They have tasting boards on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from about 1pm and you can get deli platters to accompany, sounds a treat, if you go let me know how it is – leave a comment. Next visit we’ll be there!
Whats fun?
Shopping and brunch
My favourite thing to do in this little town is just a lap of the main strip, there are so many cute clothing boutiques, homewares shops, gift shops, an old school lolly shop, cafes and bakeries for shopping sustenance, surf shops, there are just alot of shops with beautiful things to look at. You can easily spend your morning uptown Yamba.
Beaches, break wall and the Yamba Lighthouse
After this I would say head along the beaches, from the caravan park you can walk along the break wall, there is a beach to the left called Whiting Beach (not dog friendly) but you can walk up to the end and there are some walking tracks around the point. As you walk further along the break wall, Turners Beach is to the right, this is the best beach to watch the surfers. You can sit on the break wall and watch them, its always pretty wild surf out there. They also have Farmers Markets in the carpark here.
You can then walk past Turners Beach to Clarence Head, the light house is on the hill which you can access via stairs at the start of the break wall or you can explore the rocks below. They are pretty beautiful around sunset and its nice to watch the surfers from here too.
Yamba Lighthouse is up on the headland, its a nice lighthouse, great backdrop of the ocean and nice for photos. The headland here is great for photos too – this years family photo was taken at the headlands, I try to pick somewhere different every year and get a cool drone family shot.
Dog friendly beaches
From the headlands you will be overlooking Yamba Main Beach and the Yamba Ocean Pool is connected amongst the rocks. There are a few more beaches along the coast line to checkout – Convent Beach, Mckittricks Beach, Barri Beach. The best being Pippi’s Beach as it is dog friendly! There is also an off-leash area for dogs at Green Point Reserve, Angourie which is about 5km out of Yamba.
Skatepark
The skate park is right in town, a block from the shops, its great and big – if you are a skater at heart I am sure you would have a good time here!
Blue Pools Angourie
Blue Pools is a five minute drive from the main street of Yamba. It is a beautiful area that was once a rock quarry until it hit a natural spring and filled with the nicest of waters. Sometimes it is closed off if there is a green algae bloom, but if it is open its a nice a great place for a swim and people jump off the quarry walls, one is six metres, the others are 10-15 metres high, looks dangerous and if I was there when it was warm enough to swim I would have to give it a go. But winter time is a bit cold for me to get in the water! Still a nice place to visit for a stroll around. You can explore Spooky Beach while you are there, or just check out the sea life in the rock pools, its a pretty place to explore.
Ferry to Illuka
If you want a morning out, you can get the ferry across to Iluka, another cute coastal town. Ferries run every hour and a half or so, so you can head over early for lunch and a look, then be back by 3pm. The ferry takes 45 minutes each way and its $9.50 for adults, $4.60 for kids. You purchase your tickets on board there is a high chance you will see dolphins which is awesome. They also do a Sunday Live Music Cruise which I wish I knew about before now, that is on the list for next visit! Check out the cruises here CRUISES | clarenceriverferries they also do a history one if you are in to that.
My Aunty, Uncle and little cousin took the ferry over to Iluka, I didn’t go cause last time I went to Iluka at this time of year all the shops were shut – they literally close down for a week off in winter – makes sense but sucks for us visiting same weekend every year! Luckily my Aunt took lots of pictures so I can still show you guys! Full props to my Aunty Tia, and lucky for them they saw dolphins and the ferry did a loop around so they could check them out up close! You can tell by my little cousins face that its a good time!
We love Yamba!
All and all, Yamba is a great place to spend a weekend or a week, there is plenty to do and it is a very chill place to be. I would recommend a visit to anyone who may be passing by or if you are looking for a nice weekend away. My aunt just said that every afternoon at the Calypso Caravan Park, everyone took their chairs to the waterfront to watch the sunset. Its that kind of place.
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Wow Yamba looks beautiful – I’m definitely adding it to my list! Looks like you had an amazing time!