Harbour & Marina

For a stay on the water in Australia, choose between a working harbour town and a city quay: they suit different trips. This page groups 98 stays in 21 towns, rated 8.52 out of 10 on average across 138,536 guest reviews. Port Macquarie has the most (17), then Gladstone and Darwin (10 each), Newcastle and Townsville (7 each), then Coffs Harbour and Sydney (6 each). Not every stay here looks onto boats: the three in Cessnock are inland, in Hunter Valley wine country, so below I name the ones that put you on the harbour itself. In Sydney, the harbour hotel worth booking is at Circular Quay, where the ferries leave. Pullman Quay Grand Sydney Harbour, at 61 Macquarie Street on East Circular Quay, is a short walk from the Opera House and rates 9.0 from 1,022 reviews; Four Seasons Hotel Sydney, at The Rocks, rates 9.1 from 5,418. From the Quay, the Manly ferry is the beach plan, because a city hotel does not bring you closer to the sand. Sydney's top score here, Wildlife Retreat at Taronga (9.4), sits inside Taronga Zoo, across the harbour by ferry. Gladstone earns its place for one reason: the Heron Islander, the ferry to Heron Island on the southern Great Barrier Reef, leaves from the terminal at 72 Bryan Jordan Drive, in the Gladstone Marina parklands. It sails at 9:30 am on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, never on Tuesday or Thursday, and check-in closes at 9:00 am sharp. The crossing takes about two and a half hours. I would sleep in Gladstone the night before rather than drive in that morning; Oaks Gladstone Grand Hotel rates 8.6 from 2,151 reviews. For a reef trip, the marinas that matter are in Queensland. In Cairns, the Reef Fleet Terminal, at the end of Spence Street beside the Marlin Marina, is where many boats leave for Green Island, Fitzroy Island and the outer reef pontoons. Shangri-La The Marina, Cairns (8.4 from 3,695 reviews) sits on that marina; Cairns Private Apartments (9.1) and BreakFree Royal Harbour (8.4) complete the city's three. In Hervey Bay, whale-watching boats leave Urangan Boat Harbour from mid-July to early November; Akama Resort leads the town's four at 8.8, and Nightcap at Kondari Resort follows at 8.5. Townsville's harbour is the way to Magnetic Island: SeaLink ferries leave the Breakwater Terminal on Sir Leslie Thiess Drive for Nelly Bay, about 20 minutes across. Of the city's seven stays, Victoria Street Boutique Hotel scores highest (9.3), then Mariners North Holiday Apartments (8.8) and Grand Hotel and Apartments (8.7). Further south, Mackay's three, led by Ocean International Hotel (8.5), work as a stop on the Bruce Highway rather than as a marina base. Darwin splits between the Waterfront precinct, next to the city centre, and Cullen Bay Marina, which boats enter through a lock that runs from 6 am to 11 pm every day. Cullen Bay's foreshore lawns are where Darwin goes for the sunset over the sea, and in the dry season they host free music every week, with food trucks. Cullen Bay Resorts (8.1) puts you there; Vibe Hotel Darwin Waterfront (7.9) is the Waterfront option, and Argus Apartments Darwin tops the city at 9.2 from 1,197 reviews. With crocodiles in Darwin Harbour, I would never swim off the shore. On the New South Wales coast, the harbour is a walking base. In Coffs Harbour, the northern breakwall runs from the Yacht Club on Marina Drive past the International Marina to Muttonbird Island, a nature reserve and a sacred site of the Gumbaynggirr people, about 3 km return. Whales pass from May to November, and boats leave the marina for the Solitary Islands Marine Park. In Port Macquarie, the southern breakwall, built between 1897 and 1904, is covered in painted rocks from the Town Green to Town Beach, and Mantra Quayside (8.5) faces the Hastings River. Newcastle is a working coal port, and its harbour show is the bulk carriers passing Nobbys Head at the river mouth. The Stockton ferry crosses the Hunter from Queens Wharf in about five minutes. Little National Hotel Newcastle tops the city's seven at 9.2 from 3,556 reviews, ahead of Terminus Apartment Hotel (9.0); Noah's On the Beach (8.5) faces Newcastle Beach rather than the harbour. In Melbourne, Pan Pacific Melbourne (9.1) stands at South Wharf on the Yarra, the best rated of the city's five. Whyalla, on the Spencer Gulf, is the odd one out: its draw is the giant cuttlefish that gather off Point Lowly from May to August, best in June and July. In 2026 their numbers fell to a record low of 1,811, tours could not run, and a 90-day exclusion zone took effect on 1 July in part of the Upper Spencer Gulf Marine Park, so I would check the season before planning around it. The town's four are Whyalla Playford Apartments (9.0 from 368 reviews), Eyre Hotel (8.5), Sundowner Motel Hotel (8.4) and Whyalla Skysuites (9.5, from only 18 reviews). The rest of the page is scattered. On the Gold Coast, Silvershore Apartments on the Broadwater rates 9.2, ahead of JW Marriott Gold Coast Resort & Spa (9.0). In Devonport, Novotel Devonport (8.7 from 3,151 reviews) suits the night before or after the Spirit of Tasmania, which sails to Geelong from East Devonport. In Albany, whales pass through King George Sound from late May to October, and Albany Harbourside Apartments And Houses leads at 8.9. Brisbane, Perth, Wollongong and Geraldton have one stay each. In Hobart, I would sleep on Sullivans Cove: Hotel Grand Chancellor Hobart and Lenna of Hobart both rate 9.0, and the ferry to MONA leaves from Brooke Street Pier for a crossing of about half an hour up the Derwent. This page suits travellers who want to step out to ferries, seafood and an evening walk on a breakwall. It is the wrong page for a swimming holiday: a marina is not a beach, and in Gladstone or Darwin I would plan to swim in a pool, not off the harbour.