Beaches · Under the lighthouse
North-facing, sheltered and tucked under the lighthouse. The pick when the southerly is up and Main is blown out.
The beach
Wategos faces north, which is the whole point of it. When a southerly has flattened the rest of the bay this is the one pocket of calm water left, and it holds its shape long after Main has gone to chop.
It is small, it is beautiful and the houses behind it are some of the most expensive in the country. Parking is the catch. There are perhaps forty spaces and on a Saturday in January they are gone by nine, so we will tell you when to go rather than where to park.
Photograph Maksym Kozlenko, CC BY-SA 4.0
Where it is
Around the headland from town, past the Pass. Eight minutes by car, forty on foot along the coastal path.
Roughly forty spaces on Marine Parade. Arrive before nine in summer or walk in.
Summer and school holidays only. Outside that, swim with care.
Swim. Longboarders work the point at Little Wategos when it runs.
Toilets and a shower. Raes sits on the sand if you want lunch.
Dolphins most mornings, turtles if you snorkel the eastern rocks.
Byron Bay
Wategos rewards good timing more than any beach in the bay. Tell us the day you have in mind and we will tell you the hour.
Contact the teamKeep going
Availability
