Where to stay in Sawtell

Sawtell sits about fifteen minutes south of Coffs Harbour, which is close enough to use the city and far enough to forget it is there. The village is two blocks of shops on First Avenue under a row of enormous figs, with a patrolled beach at the bottom of the hill and a headland at each end. What makes it work for a family holiday is the water. A creek runs out to sea at each end of the beach, and back from the mouths, where the water is quiet, the tide fills warm shallow reaches that behave nothing like the surf.

Why stay in Sawtell

Plenty of towns on this coast have a good beach. Sawtell has a good beach and somewhere to walk to afterwards. You can have breakfast under the figs, swim between the flags, walk the headland at five and be back on First Avenue for dinner and a film, all without moving the car. That combination is rarer than it sounds, and it is why the village fills up over summer with the same families year after year.

The other reason is the calm water. Sawtell Main Beach is a proper surf beach, moderately hazardous, with an inner bar cut by rips. But the ocean pool on the headland, the sheltered corner behind the reef at Sailors Bay, and the flat estuary water up at Boambee Creek Reserve give you three places to put small children in that are nothing like swimming in the surf, all within about three kilometres. Very few towns on this coast let you pick the grade of water like that.

The beach, the rock pool and Sailors Bay

Sawtell Beach runs a little over two kilometres between two headlands: Boambee Head in the north, which is the high one, and Bonville Headland in the south. The council splits it in two. Sawtell Main Beach is the southern half, below the village, with the surf club on the corner of Fourth and Second Avenue and the flags in front of it. It is patrolled every day from the start of the NSW school holidays in September to the end of the April holidays, by the surf club on weekends and public holidays and council lifeguards through the week, 9am to 5pm in daylight saving and 9am to 4pm outside it.

The northern half is Sawtell Beach North, which everyone calls Murrays Beach. It is not patrolled, it is quieter, and it is where people walk early.

At the southern end, two reefs called Sawtell Island run out about 600 metres offshore and knock the swell down behind them, leaving a protected corner at Sailors Bay with tidal rock pools and a boat ramp. Surf Life Saving points people there as the alternative to the flags, and at low tide you can walk out onto the reef.

Around on the southern side of the headland is the Sawtell Memorial Rock Pool, a walled ocean pool made by filling the gaps in a natural rock bar. The council built it with local volunteers in the early 1960s, it was dedicated as a war memorial pool in 1963, with a granite tablet set into the rocks, and it has been heritage listed since 2000. It is the only ocean pool in the Coffs Harbour area and it costs nothing. One warning worth taking seriously: a strong rip runs out to sea right beside it, so the pool is safe and the water immediately outside it is not.

Two creeks, and where the kids actually swim

Boambee Creek comes out at the northern end, against Boambee Head, and Reflections Boambee Creek Reserve on Sawtell Road is where families go. About five minutes from the village, it is a grassy day-use reserve on a bend of the creek with picnic tables at the water’s edge, free barbecues, shelters you can book, a playground and toilets. The creek here is shallow, sand-bottomed and tidal, so it fills with clear, warm water and drops back to sandbanks a few hours later. It is day use only, with no camping, and you come in through a boom gate with a vehicle entry fee, card only. The gate shuts in the afternoon and the operator’s own pages give different closing times, so ring ahead if you are going late. The kiosk that used to run there has closed, so bring your own food.

The one thing to get right is the tide. Come in on a rising or high tide and it is a warm shallow lagoon. On a falling tide the water runs out through the mouth hard, and the council is blunt about not swimming or floating near the creek mouth on an outgoing tide.

Bonville Creek comes out at the southern end, inside Bongil Bongil National Park. It is quieter, wilder and better for a paddle than a swim: the Bongil picnic area at the end of Williams Road has a pontoon, a lookout over the water and free barbecues, and the creek is made for a canoe, a kayak or a board. The same warning applies twice over, because the tidal flow through the Bonville mouth is strong. Do not try to wade across it.

First Avenue

The main street is short, and the trees are what you remember. A row of figs planted in 1946 arches right over the road, so the footpath stays cool and dappled in the middle of January. Under them are the cafes, a couple of bakeries, the pub, the RSL, a gelato shop and the cinema.

Sawtell Cinema deserves its own paragraph. It opened in 1941 in the old community hall, run by the same family for three generations, and later closed and sat empty. A group of locals formed to save it in late 2014, and it reopened in December 2015 as a two screen, 190 seat cinema. It still runs, mixing blockbusters with arthouse and festival programmes. On a wet afternoon it is the best thing in town.

Things to do

• Swim the ocean pool on the headland, then walk the reserve above it
• Take the kids to Boambee Creek Reserve on a rising tide
• Walk the sand north to Boambee Head, the last leg of the Solitary Islands Coastal Walk
• Paddle Bonville Creek from the Bongil picnic area
• Look for koalas on the Bluff loop or the Bundageree walk in Bongil Bongil
• Watch for whales off either headland between May and November
• Drive fifteen minutes to Muttonbird Island at Coffs Harbour, about 2 km return, for the Solitary Islands view
• Catch a film at the Sawtell Cinema

Food and coffee

There is more good food here than a village this size has any right to. Split Cafe and Cafe TREEO are the two First Avenue cafes that open at six, and The Hilltop Store up the hill is the one people drive over from Coffs for. Hearthfire Bakery bakes organic sourdough in a wood-fired stone oven, and The Kiosk at the surf club does breakfast looking straight over the beach. For dinner, Taste is the fine dining room, Bar Que Sera does Mediterranean share plates and wine, The Spare Room does pizza with live music, and the Sawtell Hotel, trading since 1932, covers the pub end. Gelato on First stays open until half eight, which is the reason everyone ends up back on the street after dinner.

Shops and supplies

Sawtell handles the daily shop on foot. There is an IGA in the village along with a chemist, the bakeries and a handful of boutiques, which covers most of a week of self-catering without getting in the car. It is not a shopping town, though, and there is no Coles or Woolworths in the village. For a full shop, Toormina Gardens is three kilometres away and is the only centre on the Coffs Coast with Coles, Woolworths and Kmart together. Park Beach Plaza and Coffs Central are both about fifteen minutes north.

Dogs

Worth knowing before you book, because the rules change beach by beach. Dogs are not allowed on Sawtell Main Beach at all. They are allowed on lead on the northern section at Murrays Beach, which is the closest dog beach to the village, and on lead inside Boambee Creek Reserve. Boambee Beach, the long stretch over the creek to the north, is off lead along its whole length, and the walkable way in is on foot from the reserve rather than by car. Dogs are not permitted in Bongil Bongil National Park, as with any NSW national park. The council does move these zones around, so check its current dog areas before you let one off the lead.

Good to know

The wettest months are February to April, with March the wettest of the lot, so an autumn trip can get a washed-out stretch. September is the driest and sunniest month of the year, but the afternoon wind gets up from September and peaks in November. February has the warmest water, August the coldest. Bluebottles are a summer problem here, more so on the open beach than in the creeks.

Sawtell station is a request stop, which catches people out: the train only stops if you have booked to get on or off there. Coffs Harbour station is the practical one.

If you are walking in Bongil Bongil with a dog in the car, note that National Parks has 1080 fox baiting running across the park from August 2026 to the end of February 2027, taking in Bongil Beach and Bonville Creek.

The village’s big day is the Sawtell Chilli Festival, held on First Avenue on the first Saturday in July, which closes the street and pulls more than thirteen thousand people. Accommodation goes early that weekend. On New Year’s Day the Sawtell Super Fun Day and Fun Run has been running since 1920.

Local tip: check the tide before you drive to Boambee Creek. Arriving on a rising tide is the difference between a warm shallow lagoon and a lot of sandbank.