HomeThis article is about a city in Queensland, Australia. There is also a Florida Gold Coast. For the African country known as the Gold Coast in colonial times, see Ghana.
The Gold Coast is a large city with many districts, see articles for Surfers Paradise andTweed Heads and Coolangatta containing sightseeing, restaurant, nightlife and accommodation listings for those districts
The Gold Coast is a coastal city in the southeast corner of the state ofQueensland in Australia, located between the state capital of Brisbane to the north and the New South Wales state border to the south. The Gold Coast has long been a high-profile tourist destination for Australians and overseas travelers, with Surfers Paradisebeing the hub of tourist activity.
- The Gold Coast Airport (IATA: OOL), also known as Coolangatta Airport, is in Coolangatta to the south. It may be unique in the world in that, because it straddles the NSW and Queensland borders, you land in one state and arrive in another.
It is a fairly small terminal but handles around 3.5 million passengers per year with frequent connections from major Australian cities and some international flights from New Zealand and Asia. It is NOT a 24hr airport and closes at night, so don't plan on spending the night before an early morning flight. It is around 30 minutes drive to Surfers Paradise. There is a shuttle bus connecting the airport to the main Surfside buses route on Gold Coast Hwy between Tweed Heads and Surfers Paradise.
- A viable alternative, especially if hiring a car, is to fly into Brisbane Airport (IATA: BNE). You can catch a direct train from the airport (105 minutes) to Nerang 8km to the west of Surfers Paradise, and connect with the local buses. Otherwise it is a 90 minute drive down the Pacific and Gold Coast Highways.
