About the Gold Coast

Gold Coast City spans across 1,402 square kilometres (approx 541 square miles) featuring coastline from South Stradbroke Island to Rainbow Bay. It has world famous beaches, nightlife, shopping theme parks and a tropical hinterland.

Famous for its sun, surf and sand the Gold Coast City stretches along 40 kilometres of coastline with water temperatures averaging 22 degrees. Beyond our beautiful beaches is vast rainforest hinterland with breathtaking scenery only a short drive from regional centres.

With a population of over 450,000 the Gold Coast is the 6th largest city in Australia and boasts a subtropical climate with 287 days of sunshine each year. Temperatures during summer vary from 19 to 29 degrees Celsius and Winter from 9 to 21 degrees Celsius. The name the ‘Gold Coast’ was first used by Brisbane newspapers in the late 1940’s when journalists referred to the real estate boom for land located on the coast south of Brisbane. It proved such a great promotional name that it was adopted by the Council however was not officially gazetted until April 1980.

The Gold Coast City is a dynamic city with a wide variety of built and natural attractions and is fast becoming the regional sporting and events capital of Australia. The City hosts many national and international events. In addition the City hosts yacht classics, horse races, triathlons and the Australian Surfing Championships.

The Gold Coast boasts beachfront esplanades, shopping precincts, exhilarating theme parks and relaxing restaurants. Attractions are diverse and colourful ranging from patrolled surf beaches, fantastic foreshore areas to the thrills and spills of our City Theme Parks featuring Dreamworld, Seaworld, Wet n Wild Water Park and Warner Bros Movie World. As well we have the Conrad Jupiters and the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre which opened in July 2004.