Kendalls Beach: A Fun-In-The-Sun Escape

Kendalls Beach, on the NSW SOUTH COAST, is a curving 380-metre-long surf beach that’s popular with locals, holiday-makers and day trippers.

The sound of summer: Kendalls Beach, near Kiama

The sound of crashing waves. The sting of sunburn and salt water in your eyes. The smell of fish and chips.

There’s something magical about summer in Australia, particularly that time after Christmas and New Year when the only sensible thing to do on those long, lazy days is to hit the beach.

Aussies are actually spoilt for choice with more than 10,000 beaches dotting the coastline. Tourism Australia even revealed its choice for Best Beach 2022 today.

Despite the countless beaches with the purest white sands and secluded bays, there’s one rather nondescript strip of sand that always seems to top my holiday wish list.

Kendalls Beach (pictured), about 120 km south of Sydney at Kiama, has a nostalgic charm that seems to always whisk me back to my childhood.

The 380 metre-long strip of beach – bookended by Kendalls Point and Keleula Headland – often plays second fiddle to the more crowded Surf Beach a little further north.

For me though, that’s the big appeal – it’s less crowded. It’s also less hazardous than Surf Beach as the headlands protect it from the wind and swell.

Here, you can settle in on your own patch of sand and watch the waves roll in. Or retreat to the grassy reserve where you’ll find some shade as well as barbecue facilities and children’s playground.

Playground and grassy reserve

Kendalls Beach is also home to Kendalls On The Beach Holiday Park (below). Now I’ve never been one for caravan parks, but this is something else with cabins literally metres from the beach.

After months of lockdowns and travel bans, you wouldn’t need to twist my arm to stay here for a much-needed dose of sun, sand and sea at any time of year.