Woolamai Surf Beach: The best beach on Phillip Island?

Woolamai Surf Beach on Phillip Island is a National Surfing Reserve. Sweeping for 4.2km, this Phillip Island beach is stunningly attractive, and has consistently good surf. It’s probably the best beach on Phillip Island.

On Phillip Island, Victoria, Woolamai Surf Beach is arguably the first properly great beach as you drive south from Melbourne. You can visit as part of a Phillip Island penguins day tour from Melbourne.

That’s not to say Melbourne doesn’t have some nice beaches. You can have a perfectly lovely time at Mentone Beach or Sandringham Beach. But Melbourne’s beaches are on Port Phillip Bay, and don’t get much surf.

5 Phillip Island experiences to book before arriving

The legendary Penguin Parade – watch dozens of little penguins waddle home from the sea.
Seal-watching cruise – visit Australia’s largest fur seal colony.
Phillip Island helicopter tour – fly above the beaches and dramatic sea cliffs.
Whale-watching cruise – with dolphins, seals and rare sea birds on the way.
Phillip Island Chocolate Factory tour – with more than a touch of Willy Wonka.

Western Port Bay beaches vs Woolamai Surf Beach

Similar applies to any beaches you might care to detour to on the drive from Melbourne to Phillip Island. The likes of Lang Lang Bay Beach or Coronet Bay Beach are on Western Port Bay, protected from any real waves by French Island.

Woolamai Surf Beach, however, provides something altogether different. It is on Cape Woolamai, the peninsula in the south-east of Phillip Island.

Which Phillip Island tour from Melbourne should I choose?

For wildlife: Small group tour including Penguin Parade 🐧, Moonlit Sanctuary and Brighton Beach bathing boxes.
For koalas: Phillip Island Penguin Parade 🐧 trip including Koala Conservation Reserve 🐨.
For value: Full day tour including Penguin Parade and seals at the Nobbies Centre.

Cape Woolamai Beach or Woolamai Surf Beach?

Somewhat confusingly, Cape Woolamai is also the name of the village at the top of the Peninsula. You’ll find the smaller and not nearly as impressive Cape Woolamai Beach here. Don’t get the two mixed up.

Woolamai Surf Beach is the longest beach on Phillip Island, stretching 4.2km to the Pinnacles Lookout. It’s also the most exposed beach, too, with the swells of the Southern Ocean bringing in consistently sizable waves.

Woolamai Surf Beach on Phillip Island, Victoria. Photo by David Whitley/ Australia Travel Questions.

Surfing on Phillip Island, Victoria

The surfing is so notoriously good at Woolamai Surf Beach that it has been declared a National Surfing Reserve. It is also home to Phillip Island’s only surf-lifesaving club.

Access to Woolamai Surf Beach is via the steps and wooden ramp which lead from the car park at the top of the dunes down to the sand. Once on Woolamai Surf Beach, there’s a sense of epic, as the beach curves long around the bend, and the waves roll in.

Swimming at Woolamai Surf Beach

Swimmers should beware, however, as there are strong rips close to the shore. Woolamai Surf Beach, like Gunnamatta Beach on the Mornington Peninsula, is notorious for lifesaver rescues.

Other things to do on Phillip Island include getting happily lost at A Maze N Things, whale-watching cruises from Cowes, drinking at the Rusty Water Brewery and the Phillip Island Chocolate Factory. The nightly Penguin Parade is the number one top attraction, though. The best time to see penguins is just after sunset.

This article came as a result of a Melbourne to Sydney coastal road trip in March/ April 2022. This trip was supported by Tourism Australia and Visit Victoria.