Start from 31 curated places around Yamba, AU, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Karrikin
A small contemporary dining room a few blocks back from the water serving a daily-rotating four-course set menu built on native and local produce, with sage and timber finishes that read as quiet rather than fussy. It is the closest thing Yamba has to a destination restaurant and books out from out-of-town. Best saved for a celebration dinner rather than a casual one.
Beachwood Cafe
A long-running High Street cafe with a Turkish-Mediterranean bent and a courtyard garden, serving the lamb kofta, Turkish eggs, and braised octopus that turned it into a Yamba breakfast institution. The coffee program runs on Allpress and the cakes are made in-house. The default morning move when you want something better than a beach kiosk.
Trails & outdoors
Yamba to Angourie Coastal Walk
A roughly 7km one-way coastal walk linking Main Beach to Angourie via Pippi Beach, the headland tracks, and Spookys Beach, doable at low tide along the sand or higher up on the headland path. Ends at the Blue Pool or the Angourie cafes. The standard locals' long walk and the warm-up section of the Yuraygir Coastal Walk.
Yuraygir Coastal Walk
A 65km multi-day signposted coastal track running south from Angourie to Red Rock through Yuraygir National Park, with overnight camps along the way through heath, headlands, beaches, and a marine park. Most visitors walk the first day section from Angourie to Lake Arragan as a day-trip or shuttle hike. The full walk is one of the better mid-length coast walks in NSW.
Things to do
Clarence River Ferries
The passenger ferry between Yamba and Iluka, the only practical way across the river without driving an hour around through Maclean. Doubles as a sightseeing run with at least four crossings daily plus a longer history cruise upstream. The ferry is the backbone of any day trip to Iluka's rainforest walk or beaches.
Yamba Surf Life Saving Club
Founded in 1908 and one of the oldest surf clubs in the world, sitting in the middle of Main Beach with a kiosk for coffee and basic food and a clubroom upstairs that opens to members and visitors. The patrolled flags on Main Beach run weekends and school holidays from September to Easter. Watching the Sunday morning training swims is a Yamba pastime.
Landmarks & sights
Yamba Lighthouse
A small white lighthouse on Pilot Hill above the Clarence River mouth, surrounded by open grass that opens onto headland views in three directions. You cannot climb the tower, but the walk up from the carpark is the standard sunset routine for locals. Best paired with the Yamba Pool and Main Beach below for a single early-evening loop.
Yamba Main Beach
The patrolled town beach tucked into a small north-facing bay below the Pacific Hotel, sheltered enough for kids and beginners while the surf club watches over swimmers between flags. The ocean pool at the southern end and the surf club kiosk make it the default morning spot for families. Walk south along the rocks to reach Convent Beach and the ocean pool.