Surfers Paradise Suburb Review

Summary: Long the Gold Coast’s most iconic suburb – for both good and bad – Surfers Paradise is the city’s central hub of partying and tourism that also brings along with it some undeniably pretty natural elements as well. As one of the most-visited suburbs in the region, it leans visitor-heavy but still offers a fairly wide array of spots to live in too, as its “signature strip” featured on postcards really only comprises a few highrise-heavy blocks closest to the ocean.

This slice of the suburb is its most active, entertaining and crime-prone, offering those who prefer to live in the thick of things numerous options for mid-to-high-density apartment living while having high-quality beaches, and plenty of dining options within walking distance. These benefits are offset by a combination of noise, heavy traffic and the odd bit of drunken behaviour of an evening that may seem harmless to some and entirely turn off others, depending on your lifestyle & age demographic.

Elsewhere, ‘Surfers’ is made up of a number of pretty, canal-encircled islands, many of which grant premium waterfront views – and command premium property prices to go along with them. Continued development on some of these islands continues to open up more options for apartment living, but likewise continues to exacerbate its already-tenuous traffic situation, with its still-fairly-recent tram addition only making up for this somewhat. As a result, Surfers Paradise as a place to live can be either a dream or a total turnoff depending on your life stage & financial situation… as there are few more polarising suburbs in the entire country than this one.

Key stats:

Surfers Paradise is a funny suburb to review as a place to live. This is because it’s otherwise almost universally documented, promoted or talked about as a tourist destination, place to party, or otherwise visit only on a temporary basis.

In reality, Surfers Paradise is home to a pretty robust population of permanent residents, as its actual suburb borders extend well beyond what most people immediately picture when they think of ‘Surfers’ proper. This typical image only really encompasses a couple of seaside blocks, which is proportionally only a tiny chunk of the suburb as a whole.

For long-time Gold Coast residents who live elsewhere throughout the city, Surfers Paradise is almost always subject to mockery or ridicule of some kind, receiving harsh criticism or dismissed entirely as somewhere most would never consider living. But is that entirely fair?

As with anything, the truth usually lies somewhere in the middle.

From an objective, purely physical standpoint even its harshest critics can’t deny that Surfers Paradise has some truly aesthetically impressive spots, and quite a bit to offer location-wise in general… with some associated warts.

Geographically, Surfers (we’ll refer to it as this occasionally for sake of brevity) sits fairly centrally on the Gold Coast’s north/south axis given how far the city has continued to sprawl these days. This makes it relatively central to the majority of the Gold Coast’s major amenities, landmarks and attractions, at least in theory.

‘As the crow flies’ it’s within a reasonable drive of key spots such as Pacific Fair Shopping Centre, Gold Coast Airport, Southport and its various amenities/hospitals, etc. by larger-city standards, however its extreme easterly location and its nature as a bit of a ‘nexus’ passing-through suburb cancels out some of this benefit.

Surfers is sandwiched on either side by fairly major arterial roads the Gold Coast Highway and Bundall Road, which both see high volumes of traffic for their relatively narrow width and amount of lanes.

This stretch of the coast is passed through quite heavily by people on their way to and from work in the mornings, with multiple busy intersections that have their traffic situation exacerbated by people wanting to access its two major islands in Chevron Island & the Isle of Capri.

This makes for a situation where traffic easily becomes backed up, particularly with the ceaseless cars wanting to drive down Thomas Drive on Chevron Island. Poor little Thomas Drive had already struggled somewhat with traffic dating back decades ago, with its narrow, single-lane-each-way layout – add in all the recent population growth the Gold Coast has experienced, and the situation becomes even more grim.

As a result, spots that should in theory take not that long a time to drive to from Surfers can in reality take longer than you’d think purely due to congestion. Knock-on effects from this traffic situation aren’t just limited to longer commute or access times, either. Ambient road noise is a factor, particularly should you be living in the ‘heart’ of Surfers, or not along one of its islands more exclusive back streets.

Central Surfers has always been a hub for ‘hoons’ and loud cars with loud exhausts as a “cruising” destination, in addition to loud motorbike rentals, which makes having proper double-glazing or other sound insulation when living here more important.

While authorities have made some efforts to offset this in recent years, there’s only so much they can do given the suburb’s location and fairly narrow layout.

One of its most notable still-recent additions has been its inclusion on the tram network, adding a layer of public transport connectivity that didn’t exist and was much-needed for a long time. Surfers now has 5 separate tram stops just within the suburb itself that span pretty much the entire length of it, which is pretty nice.

This makes for a very solid way to be able to access key spots like the shopping & dining of Broadbeach, the ‘CBD’ of Southport, Griffith Uni and even all the way up to Helensvale Station on the heavy rail network for further travel without needing to deal with traffic headaches.

As a result, this makes Surfers Paradise one of a small handful of suburbs on the Gold Coast where you could actually theoretically survive without a car, or live in an apartment without a parking spot, provided you’re willing to eat the occasional taxi or Uber charge in return for the $$ savings.

This only really applies should you live in the heart of Surfers and not its islands however, as the tram stops are a fair walk from the suburb’s other extremities.

In that case, you’d be more reliant on the bus network. And while Surfers is one of the better-serviced suburbs in the city in that regard – with multiple routes that connect it to nearby hubs, and pretty frequent services – you’re still dealing with the same traffic situation while sitting on a bus as you would be while driving most of the time anyway.

Buses in and out of Surfers also tend to attract their share of dodgy characters, particularly of an evening.

Otherwise, simply walking or biking around Surfers Paradise is actually quite a solid option for shorter distances. Pretty much the whole suburb, including its consisting islands, is almost entirely nice and flat while also having good walking paths.

It’s set up well for biking/cyclists as well, with wide bike lanes/paths and signed directional indicators, both in areas along the foreshore and elsewhere throughout.

And if you can walk or ride places, it’s highly recommended as parking in the heart of Surfers is also pretty abysmal. Its popularity for visitors makes finding street parking anywhere on the east side of the Gold Coast Highway a chore, particularly on weekends or school holidays.

Paid parking prices have also risen substantially over the years, with even former go-to spots like the Bruce Bishop Carpark having nearly tripled in cost in not too long a time frame.

In terms of lifestyle and what it offers, living in Surfers Paradise really needs to be divided up into several sub-sections: ‘central’ Surfers, Chevron Island, the Isle of Capri, and Macintosh Island. This with the latter three being fairly similar, and the former a different beast on its own and is basically an entirely different living environment.

Fairly or unfairly, Surfers Paradise is typically judged based on its central strip to the east of the highway, as that’s what makes the postcards.

Much of central Surfers is still the same as it always was, despite the odd facelift that has breathed life into certain sections/buildings.

This part of the suburb that stretches from around Ferny Ave in the north to First Ave in the south features avenues of nearly exclusively mid-or-high rise resorts and apartments within walking distance from the beach. These apartment buildings are usually split between holiday accommodation and permanent owners to varying degrees.

Many of these have been around for decades, with some starting to show their age, but others also having received a fresh coat of paint that at least makes them look a little less 70s-wannabe-Florida than they used to in the past. The addition of the Q1 Building years back is the most obvious example of semi-newer construction, although there have since been several other higher-end apartment/hotel highrises built as well.

There’s always substantial new mid & high rise construction going on in the present day, as Surfers receives one of the highest levels of crane activity in all of Australia. However most of these newer builds are ‘luxury’ apartments designed to capture the wealthier market, and again won’t help much with housing affordability.

Living in this section means almost exclusively being happy with higher-density apartment living outside of a handful of extremely-expensive detached homes and duplexes, or over the road on the likes of Paradise Island.

In return for your smaller dwelling, you’ve got easy on-foot access to pretty high-quality beach, as well as a better helping of amenities than many locals probably give Surfers credit for.

Cavill Avenue remains the focal street for surface-level tourism and commercialism, as always. It’s a wide, foot-traffic-only thoroughfare where the token ‘Surfers Paradise’ sign can be found and is almost perpetually filled with tourists window shopping or posing for photos and locals alike.

It’s filled with a mix of boutique eats, chain restaurants and an ever-changing array of retail stores and cheesy tourist traps that come and go seemingly every few months as people try their luck at running a business here. Street performers are fairly common, and it’s home to spots for drinking as well, so noise radiates outwards from here.

This then extends along to Orchid Avenue around the corner; between the two of them, this is where the biggest concentration of nightlife (and thus crime) spots in the suburb tend to congregate.

As with any suburb, crime stats generally go hand-in-hand with alcohol consumption levels, and Surfers – and these two streets in particular – being the focal points for that activity makes its statistically high crime level no surprise.

While during the daytime there’s little to worry about in this regard other than the odd junkie stumbling around, at night time things can become a little wild here, typically after 10pm or so.

This is by far the “least classy” strip of Surfers Paradise that cops the most flack from the anti-Surfers crowd. However it’s also still a spot for the younger crowd to have fun and socialise, which shouldn’t be held inherently against it just because you may (no longer) fit that particular demographic.

It’s also pretty much this single strip that drags most of the suburb’s crime score up single-handedly, branding the entirety of Surfers with a bit of an unfair reputation given things immediately settle down just a few streets back.

As a result, Surfers Paradise sports a crime rate that clocks in at an eye-popping 85.34% higher than the Queensland average and puts it third on the Gold Coast statistically. While almost all of this is concentrated around this hub, there’s no denying that it’s actually real, with alcohol and other drug-related crimes chiefly responsible for juicing the stats up.

Orchid Ave (and Surfers Paradise Boulevard on the other side) are essentially the Gold Coast’s “boulevard of broken dreams”. A handful of nightclubs, couple of pubs, countless small takeaway joints and street-side dining, and seemingly endless massage joints round out most of its other offerings. There’s certainly a lot to see and do… and ways to spend money, especially if you’re a fan of $25 burgers.

There’s also been multiple additions of newer and more modern/upmarket restaurants in addition to many long-standing oldschool favourites, and to its credit present-day Surfers now has a huge range of dining to choose from that caters to a wider range of food types and budget levels than in the past.

The suburb has several newer pockets of dining of various cuisines, and has come a long way in terms of variety from past years.

This includes the newer Cavill Lane complex with various Asian dining restaurant options added; think Korean, Indian, Indonesian, sushi, yum cha, etc.

Even the old Paradise Centre has received a long-overdue facelift befitting its aspect overlooking the ocean, and now feels a bit more swanky rather than dated and stuck in the 1980’s.

This couples with the range of restaurants and cafes that face the water to make for a pretty nice dining spot, even if you are paying ‘tourist prices’ most of the time.

Further to the south, Northcliffe Surf Club also sits right on the beach which offers great views but likewise commands relatively hefty prices for pub food.

In addition, rather than having a central “hub” shopping centre for your groceries, Surfers Paradise as a suburb instead has multiple mini-centres befitting its somewhat fractured layout.

Central Surfers’ is quite decent in this regard, with a Woolworths each in the Paradise Centre and Circle on Cavill complexes, and a Coles within Chevron Renaissance, with one of these pretty much guaranteed to be within walking distance of your apartment if living here.

Everything else is pretty consistent with a busier, and more hectic tourist hub; expect ‘Lime’ electric bikes and trolleys dumped occasionally, people talking or singing in loud voices, families/backpackers/surfers/influencers and everyone in between milling about when you step out of your apartment onto the street.

Couple all of the above with various tourist attractions such as rides and exhibits, people who come here for dining, and even just the beach itself, and there’s simply a lot of “life” here most of the time.

If this is the type of environment that isn’t appealing to you, and you can’t stand dealing with the occasional group of drunk idiots, then you likely wouldn’t consider living in this kind of precinct in the first place. However it’s still easy to see how renting here for a couple of years for someone in their 20s, or for older ’empty nesters’ who simply love the beach, might have appeal.

While Surfers’ most obvious natural asset is widely seen as its long stretch of beach, this is something that can likewise be said about a dozen other Gold Coast suburbs that sit alongside the ocean as well.

And although there are better beaches on the Gold Coast – especially for those who want to actually surf, seeing despite its name Surfers Paradise’s beach is anything but good for that – it’s still a very pretty stretch of sand by most global standards. It’s easy to get desensitised to this fact as a local, regardless of how busy with tourists it often gets.

Solid efforts have also been made to renovate & expand its foreshore area. Again, government authorities have done a good job with this, widening the foreshore footpaths, modernising toilet and shower equipment, adding extra garbage bins and so forth. Is it touristy as hell? Sure, but it’s still been pretty tastefully done.

Elsewhere, Surfers’ constituent islands offer a fairly drastically different lifestyle from central Surfers Paradise, despite being only a few minutes away across the road. Chief among the differences is a more peaceful lifestyle, and more of a chance at (mostly eye-wateringly-priced) detached homes.

In addition, while it’s the beach that gets most of the national and international credit for Surfers from a nature-oriented perspective, it’s the canal systems that encircle these islands that give the suburb more of a premium feel. Waterfront + property = high prices in general, and there’s certainly no exception here given the abundance of water-facing properties these islands boast.

Most central among these is Chevron Island, which ranks as the most developed of the islands in terms of both amenities as well as density.

‘Chevron’ is carved down the middle by the aforementioned traffic-heavy Thomas Drive, and consists of handfuls of upper-end, flat and walkable streets populated by a mix of high-end homes as well as increasing pockets of mid-and-higher density.

Chevron consists of mostly large, wealthy homes worth millions of dollars, and built on two levels to maximise water views while providing the chance to moor your own boat… which gives an idea of the level of wealth required to live in a detached house here.

There’s been a fair bit of modernisation and renovations having happened over the years, and many of the houses are knockdown/rebuild newer models that bear that shine of money-heavy modernity.

Chevron also technically includes the little “offshoot” island Cronin Island, comprising of even more elaborate houses encircling its central namesake Cronin Park.

This is one of the wealthiest little niche locations on the entire Gold Coast given the houses are only one-sided & water-facing, and thus reserved only for those with the deepest pockets (or highest debt).

To its credit, Chevron also still has a decent quantity of older low-rise unit blocks, as well as a handful of older houses that can make living here more ‘affordable’ (relatively speaking). And again, there’s a clear dividing line between the properties that sit on the water and the ones that don’t.

In recent years, Chevron Island has seen multiple instances of higher-rise apartment construction continuing which has altered its face a bit, and raises that same old question: how will its roads cope with all these new cars?

There’s one-way-in, one-way-out from the island, which already struggles traffic-wise at the best of times, even though it does see some decent bus services passing through.

Thomas Dr is not just the main way of getting in and out, but also serves as the island’s central hub for dining and services.

To its credit, it’s home to quite a number of decent little eateries these days; think gourmet bakeries, multiple cafes, seafood and butcher stores, tavern, several foreign cuisine restaurants etc.

It also offers an array of basic services such as medical, bottle shops, tobacconists and convenience stores – as well as a seemingly continually-rotating collection of boutique stores that come and go as business owners try their luck every other year.

It’s a solid little strip and well worthwhile to occasionally visit, although its centre-of-street parking is always difficult to score a spot during busier hours and you’re often better off parking in one of its back streets and walking around the corner instead.

In addition, while it doesn’t have its own supermarket, groceries & bigger-box amenities can be reached not too far away north up the road on the fringes of Southport, or south along the main retailer strips of Bundall.

Chevron Island Park, its main green space, can also be found here. It’s a nice, flat roomy, park with plenty of palm trees, several picnic tables, and the like, albeit being located right next to a busy road. The adjacent Korman Family Park faces the water and boasts a small playground right next to the canals, making for a scenic outlook.

One of the newer flagship additions has been the construction of its foot bridge joining together Chevron Island with the HOTA (‘Home Of The Arts’) complex – the Gold Coast’s most significant attempt at having a reliable hub for the arts. Authorities have done a pretty great job with this, and it was something that was long overdue.

HOTA itself now provides a hub for seeing increasingly-good-quality performing arts and displays, including plays, musicals, dance, art house movies and the like. This includes a dedicated outdoor rotunda area for outside musical concerts and events as well.

The landscaping and outdoor layout here has been done really tastefully as well, and it’s now a great little hub for gathering around its main central lake area and mini-beach, or having a short walk alongside the Nerang River even if you’re not seeing a show or exhibition.

It’s also home to a solid farmers market of a weekend offering food and farmed goods, but is increasingly packed nowadays due to the city’s growing population, which decreases its enjoyment somewhat in terms of crowding and parking availability.

To the south of Chevron, there’s a number of small commercial parks for offices and businesses, and more busy/noisy roads alongside its border with Bundall.

Traffic here is always pretty bustling, and it’s home to some fairly chaotic intersections like that of Ashmore and Bundall Rd; these are confusing enough in themselves, but then factor in the high quantity of tourists that patronise the area and things get even worse.

After this, the Isle of Capri ranks as the next major ‘slice’ of Surfers living. This spot is also likewise expensive, but has some differentiating individual aspects that make it stand out.

It’s not only another hub of gorgeous and expensive houses (although those obviously exist here in large numbers), but also home to a number of those Gold Coast style ‘tropical’ villa/townhouse complexes dating back several decades.

Most of them are the type that play on some variation of the city’s “Florida/America” or “Mediterranean Islands” themes, and provide a middle-ground between detached homes & apartment living.

Mostly though, ‘Capri’ is an island of wealth, consisting mostly of elite-level, quiet cul de sacs that branch out into the canal system and experience little noise due to a lack of through-traffic.

We’re talking borderline compound-level houses here in terms of size in some cases that fetch in the tens of millions price-wise (and some of which have hit all-time Gold Coast sales records in terms of sheer price). But hey, at least most of these are highly unique architectural styles for the price, so there’s that.

The island is also home to its ‘Capri on Via Roma’ shopping complex, which sits on the waterfront and is home to several decent-to-high quality restaurants, delicatessens, and other stores/services such as medical and chemists.

It also has a Harris Farm, which is typically a sign of ‘our residents don’t bat an eyelid at paying premium prices for groceries’ and an easy indicator of an area’s general affluence.

While Surfers Paradise doesn’t particularly do ‘family-friendly’ living very well, the Isle of Capri ranks as the best of the options in the area in this regard.

This is not only due to its educational offerings – both Surfers Paradise State School plus its Kool Kids early learning centre can be found here – but also its handful of parks & sporting amenities, of which there are multiple.

Lex Bell Oval is its main hub, featuring sporting grounds for soccer, and two separate, nice playground areas, as well as one of the limited number of public toilet blocks in the entire Surfers Paradise area (useful when nature calls).

Roma Park further up its central street of Via Roma is also a nice, wide, flat, open grassed area with very good playgrounds, but is again unfenced.

There’s also Franquin Park which allows dogs unleashed (but isn’t fenced, so owners with skittish dogs beware), and is home to a secluded little stretch of sand and views out to Girrung Island.

Even little spots like Vespa Park on the fringe of the Isle of Capri come equipped with a playground, basketball court, etc.

And this speaks to the overall high-quality natural aspect of Surfers Paradise as a whole. Despite its reputation as ‘trashy’, pretty much the entire suburb is quite well taken care of and maintained; its parks are decently groomed, there’s little litter about, and most amenities are either relatively new or have at least been given a fresh coat of paint.

Throw in other, more secluded and nice waterfront walking paths like Budd’s Beach, and the overall package from this perspective is pretty hard to beat for an otherwise fairly built-up suburb. It’s not hard to see why many people are willing to throw plenty of money around at the chance of living here.

Head to Surfers’ northern end, and probably the best example of this can be found, with this area having its own special natural highlight across the highway.

Macintosh Island Park is a fairly large (and hugely underrated) parkland on the Gold Coast full of water-centric aspects, including several water features, tons of shady tree cover, and multiple playgrounds.

This park offers a bit of a “sanctuary” feel despite being right alongside the highway, with its wetlands-heavy environment quite refreshing. It also has a bridged walkway across to the beach front, and even a peacock enclosure, with peacocks as well as numerous water birds always strutting about.

This area’s island, Macintosh Island, features a few more clusters of resort-style apartment buildings facing the highway, before bleeding into yet more waterfront backstreets dotted with huge luxury homes, showcasing yet more wealth and affluence.

It also comes with the benefit of being closer to Southport, and having immediate access to the extended amenities that suburb provides (an actual shopping centre, the offices and employment opportunities there, dining options, etc.)

Its main suburban parkland of Ewan Bart Park again backs onto the waterfront, with a small playground and more water views, as well.

Price-wise, Surfers Paradise is again a bit of a land of extremes. For housing with a land component, it’s in the top handful of most-expensive suburbs on the whole Gold Coast, with current median house prices clocking in at a cool $2,894,400.00, which obviously puts it out of reach for most average buyers.

This is particularly true since most people who would want a full-sized house, a.k.a families, still have to work on a daily basis and have to fight to commute in/out of Surfers to their place of work. Especially given Surfers Paradise itself offers fairly limited chances for employment outside of the tourism industry or its small handful of office buildings.

However, paradoxically, it’s actually not too bad a deal as far as apartments go, given its large inventory of fairly-older buildings where you can still buy a unit for sale to live in as a resident.

Surfers boasts one of the best house-price-to-unit-price ratios among Gold Coast suburbs, with median units currently priced at $750,000.00; that’s about a 4-to-1 house price:unit price ratio that makes it better value than you’d think, especially compared to some of the other ‘brand’ waterfront suburbs in the city.

As mentioned, most of the newly-constructed apartment/unit inventory here are ‘luxury’ builds however, and also drag the average apartment price up higher. In reality it’s still possible to get an older unit for quite a bit under that median figure without too much of a struggle, which you can then potentially progressively renovate.

The Verdict

Overall, Surfers Paradise is one of those rare suburbs that mostly caters to the extremes on either side as a place to live.

It’s potentially a good spot to live for young adults content with an apartment as a rental for a couple of years, as well as either wealthy retirees (or near-retirees) or those professionals with high levels of wealth – while being almost completely non-viable for most of the “middle”, a.k.a average families.

In this regard, it’s almost the exact opposite of most other suburbs on the Gold Coast; particularly those newer residential-centric ones that have been built out further to the north. If you’ve got kids, you almost certainly wouldn’t want to live in the heart of central Surfers specifically; its combination of noise, crowdedness and dashes of seediness aren’t really intended to be that kind of environment.

Likewise, even if you’re a wealthier family who could afford/want to live waterfront, there are better suburbs on offer in the city for this demographic, with better and more convenient access to schools, while providing less of a daily travel headache.

However if you’re the type who will actually take advantage of a more active lifestyle, enjoys having a bunch of dining options at your fingertips, and will be sure to use the beach/waterfront on a regular basis to justify the cost of living here, Surfers Paradise isn’t necessarily a spot you should dismiss outright.

For the younger crowd, the more active part of the suburb is obviously the most suited, as there’s some decent ways to have fun here. However, ironically its rising rental prices in recent years also serve to lock some of this very same demographic who might get the most enjoyment of living here out.

If you can get by without driving everywhere and are happy to rely more on public transport, then Surfers also climbs up the ‘appeal rankings’, but that’s fairly limiting given the network’s mostly north-south route.

In all, while Surfers Paradise has a handful of obvious, glaring flaws – notably its high prices for detached housing, drunk randoms in the centre, and traffic/parking situations – it probably cops slightly too much flack from disgruntled locals. This can either simply be due to it not being their ‘thing’, or having aged out or become desensitised to its appeals over the years… and that’s entirely OK.

It still has its shallow aspects for sure, but there’s more to Surfers than Cavill Avenue. Whether that’s your thing, will almost entirely depend on your life stage and interests – and Surfers still offers plenty of natural appeal & can still provide plenty of ‘sugar hits’ of joy along with its aspects of trashiness, if you’re willing to fork out the money for it.