Your guide to Easter camping in Queensland

The Gold Coast is full of prime camping real estate, with both beach and hinterland sites to pitch your dream family vacation. Water views don’t come easy at this time of year, so let your fingers do the walking and start calling the campgrounds on this list to check availability.

Our pick: Bigriggen Park offers over 100 acres to lose yourself in, and it's dog-friendly. Or, if you're lucky enough to score a camping reservation at O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat, you can spend your days exploring Lamington National Park. 

Brisbane

The capital of the Sunshine State isn’t just high-rises and hotel chains. There's some incredible opportunities to camp with the kids, you'll just need to head out of town - to the hills, country or islands. There's even some under-the-radar campsites and dog-friendly options as well. 

Our pick: Get a taste of the countryside at Lake Moogerah or Booloumba Creek. If you have a 4WD and all the gear for an off-the-grid beach camping adventure, you can't do better than Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island) - book a spot at one of the six Minjerribah campgrounds or find your patch of paradise on the sands along Main Beach. 

Sunshine Coast

Settled on the Sunshine Coast? This is a popular camping destination for a reason, so you may have left your run a bit too late to get into the Noosa North Shore Beach Campground (people make annual bookings here and have had standing bookings for over a decade!). Start by calling to check availability at these secret spots.

Our pick: Rainbow Beach Ultimate Camping takes all the pain out of set up and pack down. All you need to do is show up with your clothes and they handle the rest, including everything you need to cook. With all that time left on your hands, you can discover the Great Beach Drive uninhibited.

If you've got all the gear and a high-clearance 4WD, 15-kilometres of pristine beach camping awaits at Teewah Beach Camping Area in Great Sandy National Park. Aim to arrive early to secure a good spot.

Southern Queensland Country

If your definition of camping is sitting out under a sky full of stars, opt for a destination that’s got so many stars it even named a whole drive route after them. Follow this itinerary to make your way along the Big Sky Country Drive to the camping nirvana that is the Bunya Mountains.

Our pick: If you were on the front foot and booked early, chances are you’ll score a spot at the Dandabah camping area in Bunya Mountains National Park. It's well suited to those new to camping, with flushing loos, hot showers and coin-operated barbecues. 

Goomburra Valley Campground is the place to go if you want to swim in the creek and bushwalk by day, then rug up by the campfire by night. 

Fraser Coast

If there was an epicentre of camping in Queensland, K'gari (Fraser Island) would be it. And this World Heritage-listed campground is yours for the staking.

Campsites do book out – but you can often get lucky, especially if you opt for one of the 10 remote sites that separate the serious 4WD-ers from the city-SUV-ers. Read these tips before you go.

Our pick: Wyuna camping area, which is between Dundubara to Indian Head. You’ll be far enough north that you’re escaping the day-trippers who don’t venture further than Eli Creek, but not so far north you’ll chew through a tank of fuel trying to get back to your site after exploring these special sites.

Mackay

As if Easter wasn’t sweet enough, a trip to the sugar capital should do it. Go off the beaten track and into the hinterland, following our guide to secret camping spots in Mackay. You’ll find a rainforest that’s always covered by cloud, Eungella National Park, which happens to be the oldest and longest sub-tropical rainforest in Australia.

Our pick: At Cape Hillsborough Nature Tourist Park you’ll have front row seats to the daily sunrise show of wallabies foraging for seaweed on the beach. If you’re keen to discover more of this area that was once a volcanic plug, we’ve got the rest of your Easter long weekend covered in this guide.

Outback

Make this year one for travelling somewhere you haven’t been before, checking into the campgrounds at Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park.

You’re guaranteed the kind of camping holiday no one else will have this Easter, as you spend your days discovering the 28,200-hectare park. If you’re thinking of going off the grid on this adventure, we’d recommend starting with this guide, or this three day itinerary. 

Our pick: Adels Grove. Sure you can stay at one of the two national parks campgrounds within the park itself, but if you’re travelling with little ones, it’s always good to have a back up if you need a shower, extra food or a flushing loo.

Townsville

Dubbed Queensland’s sunniest city, chances are good for five-star camping conditions in Townsville. Put 8km between you and the city with a short ferry trip to Magnetic Island, where Bungalow Bay Koala Village offers the only camping on the island. What you save on your camping accommodation, you can splurge on these family-friendly things to do.

Our pick: Bungalow Bay Koala Village. While it won’t be the most secret or secluded campground, you’re likely to leave with 10 new best friends because this village doubles as a backpacker hangout. The koala park within the village offers three daily educational wildlife tours with rangers and Breakfast with the Koalas held three mornings per week. 

Cairns & Great Barrier Reef

While the April weather might bring a slight chill to other parts of Queensland, you’re guaranteed nothing but swimming weather in Cairns & Great Barrier Reef - from the Tablelands to the islands. 

For a camping experience where you live in your swimmers by day and sit out by a campfire by night, start by checking availability at our favourite Cairns campsites.

Our pick: At Babinda Boulders Campground you’ll have a nature-built swimming pool just a stone’s throw from your campsite. Prefer a little country atmosphere? Pitch your tent at pet-friendly Lake Tinaroo in Atherton Tablelands instead. 

Great Barrier Reef

The luxury island resorts of the Great Barrier Reef might be a bit of a splurge, but doesn’t mean you can’t sleep on the Reef.

Camping on the reef takes a little more effort than swiping a key for entry into a ready-made room, but you’ll be able to enjoy the same views for a fraction of the price. Follow this guide to choose which island is for you, or head here for islands in the Southern Great Barrier Reef.

Our pick: Enlist Great Barrier Reef Safaris for your Easter camping getaway. Based in Mission Beach, south of Cairns, they take all the hard work out of an island escape - including boat transfers to the Family or Barnard Islands, all your camping gear, and even equipment like snorkels, kayaks, fishing gear and more.  

Just want to go off the grid?

Leave the phone at home because no one will find you anyway with this list of off-the-grid camping destinations.