We love Holiday Park travel for how family friendly it is and are always on the look out for new parks that the kids will love. Often, this comes down to the "Resort Style" facilities on offer. Here is an itinerary exploring some of the best family friendly Holiday Parks in Northern NSW.
Distance: 3 Stops, 737 km total drive distance
📍 STOP 1: UMINA BEACH
Where to stay in Umina Beach?
The award winning NRMA Ocean Beach Resort is set in a fantastic beachside location and has a particularly family friendly atmosphere with kids running around and enjoying the copious activities and facilities focused on them that are on offer. There’s a wide range of accommodation options with various sites, Glamping, Cabins and Villas, but our favourite are the all new “Glamtainer” options. These are fantastic small, luxury cabins with modern fit outs and well utilised space, each of which comes with its own verandah area and BBQ facilities, the perfect space to enjoy the outdoors whilst maintaining some privacy.
What to do, eat and drink in Umina Beach?
We think this resort is all about the kids, so we’ll focus on activities for them. The park itself has a Kids Club which operates year round hosting activities for all ages - from arts and crafts to sport and games. If you’re keen for a dip, the resort has direct beach access or for those who prefer their swimming without sand, you’re spoiled for choice within the park thanks to three different swimming pools and a water park. Whilst kids are splashing about Mum & Dad can relax from the spa whilst still maintaining a watchful eye. When it comes time for fun on dry land you’re equally spoiled for choice thanks to a games room, multiple jumping pillows, playground and tennis court. If all this wasn’t enough, the park has also teamed up with the Bear Grylls Survival Academy to run some special programs for kids. In these, kids will take on four 60-minute survival missions, each operated by our team of survival experts. Each mission is completely supervised and aims to teach kids how to think like a true survivor, all while having fun and making new friends. Note that these are only run on weekends and in school holidays. Conveniently, our favourite place to get the day started is with a coffee at Umina Coffee Spot, located just under a 10 minute walk from the park and serving up delicious coffee and a rotating range of delicious baked goods. The Umina Beach town centre is slightly further away at roughly 15 minutes walk or 5 minutes drive from the park, there you’ll find several cafes and restaurants - our picks are Six Degrees Cafe and Wandee Thai. The latter is always a favourite with the kids for a takeaway night with the delicious spring rolls a hit.
What's the onward drive to Coffs Harbour?
This is a longer drive at just under five hours. We highly recommend a stop and several of the towns you'll pass through are some of our favourites, including South West Rocks, Seal Rocks and Nelson Bay.
📍 STOP 2: PARK BEACH/COFFS HARBOUR
Where to stay in Coffs Harbour?
BIG4 Park Beach is an ideal base to explore this vibrant region, but also serves as a fantastic ‘stay at the resort’ type holiday accommodation thanks to its number of great facilities on site. It’s a large park with Unpowered Sites, Powered Sites, Ensuite Sites Cabins & Villas. Grass Powered Sites 582-589 provide you the best proximity to the beach access path whilst also remaining within striking distance of all the main facilities within the park.
What to do, eat and drink in Coffs Harbour?
This is a park overflowing with facilities so we wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t plan to leave too often when it comes to your to do list. Kids will love the pool complete with water park and dumping buckets, or gravitate to the playground, games room or jumping pillow when they’re ready to get out of the water. There’s plenty of fantastic beaches in this area and one of the most popular is Park Beach, where the Holiday Park is located. It’s a well protected surf beach and whilst it’s fine for kids in the shallower areas, it is patrolled 7 days a week, year round. Coffs Harbour is a large and growing town with plenty of options when it comes to drinking and dining and if you make a roughly 15 minute walk to the Jetty Beach and Coffs Harbour Marina area you’ll find plenty of the best options. When travelling with the kids and keen to dine out, we head to Latitude 30. Whilst it does lean toward fine dining it still has a casual heart and isn’t at all stuffy, kids are very welcome and will love the Kids Menu. If you do want to stay on site for your meals then you’ll be absolutely fine. There’s a well stocked Camp Kitchen and BBQ area, as well as a Cafe and Convenience Store.
What's the onward drive to Hastings Point?
Another three hours on the road heading north and you'll find yourself at Hastings Point. You'll almost pass through Byron Bay along the way which is always worth a stop.
📍 STOP 3: HASTINGS POINT
Where to stay in Hastings Point?
North Star Holiday Resort is a family friendly resort style park that has the sorts of facilities to keep kids entertained for days. There’s Powered Sites, Ensuite Sites, Cabins & Villas to choose from and we love the Powered Sites that run along Orchid Ave. or Fuschia Ave., ideally located close to all facilities and a short walk to the beach.
What to do, eat and drink in Hastings Point?
It’s often easier just to stay on site when you’re travelling with kids, and beyond the Camp Kitchen and BBQ areas you’ll also find a licensed cafe open 7 days a week serving up coffee, snacks, lunch, dinner and a range of beverages. We do recommend coming well provisioned if you don’t want to hop in the car as Hastings Point isn’t a town with a large amount of options for eating and drinking out. One option approximately 15 minutes on foot from the park is Nook Cafe, a great all round spot serving up consistent breakfast, lunch and snacks. If you’re wanting to find a wider variety of options, we recommend making the 5 minute drive to the nearby town of Pottsville.
What's the onward drive?
Our itinerary ends here.
