The Places Locals Know (And Tourists Drive Past)

Most visitors to the Gold Coast spend their time on the sand, which is understandable. But the hinterland and the southern suburbs hold a different kind of Gold Coast, quieter, stranger, and considerably more interesting. Here is where to find it.

The Café That Doesn't Need to Advertise

The pastry case at Custard Canteen in Palm Beach is restocked daily and gone by mid-morning. That Biscoff croissant reviewers keep mentioning is not a fluke. It is the result of someone in that kitchen taking pastry seriously. The chips are genuinely exceptional, which is not a sentence you expect to write about a café, and the Portuguese tarts disappear before the lunch crowd arrives. Sit at the outdoor tables by Tallebudgera Creek with a Marvell Street coffee and the salted caramel milkshake, and resist the urge to tell anyone about it.

The Valley Lunch Worth the Drive

Currumbin Valley has a reputation for being scenic and not much else. Currumbin Valley Harvest corrects that. The menu is plant-forward and sourced from local organic growers, the coffee trees at the entrance set the tone early, and there are tortoises in the creek if you sit outside long enough. Order the Earth Buckwheat Wrap. The valley does the rest. It suits the kind of Saturday where you have nowhere specific to be, which is exactly the right kind of Saturday.

The Wildlife Park That Isn't Currumbin

Everyone goes to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, and they should. The lorikeets at 8am are worth the early alarm, the animal hospital is genuinely affecting, and four hours with kangaroos roaming freely around you is a different experience than most wildlife parks offer. Buy tickets online and skip the gate queue.

But the one locals rate equally, and tourists reliably overlook, is David Fleay Wildlife Park in Burleigh Heads. Named after the naturalist who first bred platypus in captivity, it is compact, unhurried, and staffed by people who actually stop to tell you things. The naturalistic habitats feel less like a park and more like a proper encounter. Time your visit around the bird show. It earns the detour.