‘Two Days of Taste & Trails’

If you think a trip to Caloundra means just sitting on the sand with a servo sandwich, you’re doing it wrong. We’ve designed a 48-hour itinerary that proves Caloundra isn’t one place. It’s a series of distinct neighbourhoods, each with its own character, its own food culture, and its own version of a perfect Coast morning.

No need to pack and unpack. Just grab the keys (or comfortable walking shoes), bring an appetite, and prepare to see why this stretch of the southern Sunshine Coast has quietly become a heavyweight in the food and drink world.

Day 1: The Coastal Heart (Kings Beach to Bulcock Beach)

Day 1 is built around the Coastal Pathway. You can do the entire day on foot, hopping between neighbourhoods and letting the beach be the through-line.

Morning, Kings Beach

Start at Coffee Cat On Kings Beach under the Rolling Surf Resort, which opens at 5:30am every day and roasts its own house blend, Catnip Brew. There’s no road between your table and the waves, and the breakfast menu has earned this place the #1 ranking of 14 restaurants in Kings Beach on Tripadvisor. Order the Quinoa Nasi Goreng or the Shakshuka if you want to go beyond the standard. This is your foundation.

Walk it off with a stroll along the Coastal Pathway from Kings Beach toward the headlands. The grassy lookouts, the elevated views back across the cove, and the occasional whale sighting between May and November (if you’re here in season) make this the most rewarding morning walk in town.

Midday, Kings Beach

Loop back for lunch at Kings Beach Surf Club at 1 Spender Lane. This elevated club gives you the surf life saving experience without the sand in your socks: ocean views from the deck, a full bistro menu, and the genuine satisfaction of knowing every meal supports the volunteer lifesavers below. Open from 10am to 10pm seven days a week.

For something more casual, De Lish Fish @ Kings at 8 Levuka Avenue does famous beer-battered chips, fresh local seafood, family seafood packs, and runs an award-winning gelateria on the same premises. The dual-purpose lunch and dessert option in one beachfront stop is genuinely hard to beat.

Afternoon, Bulcock Beach

Continue along the Coastal Pathway toward Happy Valley and stop at The Happy Turtle Cafe. This converted shipping container, painted with a Pumicestone Passage-inspired mural by local Caloundra artists Thom and Marni Stuart, sits right at the playground at the Esplanade. Run by Chloe Donaldson with a properly eco-conscious ethos (bring your own cup for a Sea Life Trust donation, all cups recycled on-site), it’s a perfect afternoon pit stop. Grab a coffee and a cabinet slice, set up on the grass with the headland in view.

Continue to Bulcock Street for an artisan pastry pause at 22 Cribb St (90 Bulcock Street), the Caloundra branch of head pastry chef Dhanushka Manjula’s well-loved Landsborough original.

Evening, Bulcock Beach

Time the sunset for Acqua Restaurant and Bar inside the Grand Pacific Resort on the Bulcock Beach Esplanade. Every seat in the house looks out across the Pumicestone Passage to Bribie Island, and the Mediterranean-meets-Modern-Australian menu leans heavily into local seafood (the calamari and barramundi get called out constantly in reviews). Acqua has picked up an AGFG Reader’s Choice Award in 2022 and a Diners’ Choice in 2025, and the waterfront setting at sunset is the most refined dinner experience in central Caloundra.

If you want something with more buzz and less linen, Bianco Italian Cuisine and Bar at 5 Tay Avenue is the alternative. Head chef Ibrahim Haddad runs a kitchen built around handmade pasta, Pizza Contemporanea (the lighter, long-fermented style), and a wine programme served by the glass via a Coravin system. Weekly live jazz lifts the room without overpowering the conversation.

Day 2: The Wider Postcode (Moffat Beach to Golden Beach)

Day 2 needs a car. You’re heading north to Moffat and Dicky, west to Caloundra West and Baringa, then back south to Golden Beach for sunset. The geographic loop covers roughly 25 minutes of driving across the day, and shows you the parts of the postcode most visitors never see.

Morning, Moffat Beach

Drive north to Moffat Beach for breakfast at One Block Back at 106 Nothling Street. This unassuming tin shed in a suburban side street has been voted #6 Best Cafe in Queensland by the Courier Mail, with a 4.7 OpenTable rating from over 300 diners. The signature Okonomiyaki, the Eggs Benny with house-made hollandaise and tomato-maple jam on artisan sourdough, the braised pork bao buns, the Cuban toastie: this is a destination breakfast that’s worth the early start. Open 7am to 2:30pm daily, bookings strongly recommended for weekends.

After breakfast, walk one block back (literally) to Moffat Beach for a stroll along the headland and watch the surfers at the famous Moffat right-hand point break.

Late morning, Dicky Beach

Continue north along Esplanade Bulcock Beach to Dicky Beach village strip for a wander. The strip is genuinely worth exploring: a cluster of cafés, the iconic SS Dicky shipwreck site (one of the few accessible shipwrecks anywhere on the Australian east coast), and Three Restaurant Bar and Grill, which sits at #3 of 146 restaurants in Caloundra and does fine-dining seafood and Wagyu if you want a long, considered lunch.

Afternoon, Caloundra West and Baringa

Drive 10 minutes inland to Caloundra West for the makers loop. Beachtree Distilling Co at 14 Industrial Avenue is Australia’s only certified First Nations distillery, co-founded by Steve Grace (Kamilaroi) and Kirra Daley. Beachtree won World’s Best Craft Producer in both 2024 and 2025, plus World’s Best Sustainable Distillery in 2025. The cellar door is open Wednesday to Saturday. Try the Organic Koala Gin or the Native Skippy Gin. Their “You Sip, We Plant” initiative has put more than 25,000 trees in the ground.

Continue to Moffat Beach Brewing Co Production House at 51 Caloundra Road, an industrial brewery space with 20 rotating taps, low-and-slow BBQ smoked on-site, and the kind of atmosphere where you can see the tanks while you work through a paddle. Or push on to Baringa for Brouhaha Brewery Baringa at 1 Edison Crescent (production brewery and taproom run by Head Brewer Matt Jancauskas, ex-Beavertown London).

Evening, Golden Beach

Wind back south to Golden Beach for sunset on the Pumicestone Passage. Caloundra Power Boat Club has deck dining so close to the water you’d need to shuffle your chair back at high tide, with three dining options: the Quarterdeck Restaurant for à la carte, the Galley on Pumicestone for Asian-inspired seafood, and Portside Café for something more casual. 90% of supplies come from local producers. The view across to Bribie Island as the sun drops behind the Glass House Mountains is one of the best sunset spots in town.

For a more relaxed final-night option, Golden Beach Tavern at 32 Bowman Road does $19 rump steaks Monday to Thursday from 5:30pm and has an outdoor kids’ play area if the day’s energy needs working out of someone smaller. It’s the unpretentious local pub experience at its best.

A Note on the Wider Region

Technically just outside Caloundra’s postcode but close enough to fold into a weekend, Bocca Italian at the corner of Bokarina Boulevard and Longboard Parade in Bokarina (about 10 minutes north of Caloundra) is worth the visit. Exec Chef Harry Lilai (ex-Cecconis Melbourne) runs a share-style Italian kitchen with hand-stretched pizzas from a Moretti oven imported from Italy, fresh pastas, an osso buco that’s become a cult dish, and a limoncello meringue dessert that’s worth the drive on its own. Open 7 days, 11am to 10pm.

Pro Tips for the Weekend

Walk Day 1, drive Day 2. The Coastal Pathway makes Day 1 entirely walkable. Day 2’s wider geography needs wheels.
Book the big ones. Acqua, Bianco, Three Restaurant, One Block Back and Coffee Cat (for dinner Thu-Sun) all reward bookings, especially on Friday and Saturday. The pubs and clubs are walk-in friendly.
Time the cellar doors. Beachtree opens Wednesday to Saturday only. If you’re doing the makers loop on a Sunday or Monday, swap in a different brewery stop.
Build in a swim. This is a coastal town. A morning ocean swim before breakfast, or a sunset dip after an afternoon at the brewery, completely changes the rhythm of the weekend.
Stay local. By keeping your accommodation in Caloundra, you’re never more than a 15-minute drive from any stop on this itinerary. The proximity is the whole point.

Caloundra isn’t one neighbourhood. It’s six (and counting). Two days, six neighbourhoods, more than a dozen distinct food and drink experiences. You just need to know which streets to walk and which roads to drive.ke.

Start planning your Caloundra food trail now – explore the Taste of Caloundra dining directory and interactive map to discover what’s on your next plate. Have a favourite Caloundra dining spot we should know about? Get in touch, we’re always hungry for recommendations!