Three days is the right dose of Merimbula. The town sits on the Sapphire Coast, the far south coast of NSW, an easy run from Sydney or Canberra, and almost everything worth doing sits between a lake, a beach and a jetty you can walk between.
This plan keeps the car parked from Friday night to Monday morning. One good feed a day, one proper walk, and an honest note on what to skip.
The shape of the thing: day one is arrival and the ocean side, day two is the lake circuit that the town is actually built around, day three is history and the headland north of town. Swap days two and three if the wind is up.
Day one: arrive, orient, eat by the water
Get the lay of it at Merimbula Main Beach, five kilometres of sand a few minutes from the town centre off the Princes Highway. It is patrolled in summer, there is an off-leash stretch for the dog, and it borders Ford Park with its playground and monthly market. In the cooler months the fishing picks up instead. Either way, it resets you after the drive.
For dinner, walk to the end of Market Street, the town’s restaurant strip, where The Waterfront Cafe looks over the water and runs a menu of seafood, pasta, burgers and salads in a spacious, modern room. The outdoor tables are the ones to hold out for, and the fresh seafood is the thing regulars keep ordering. Book nothing else tonight. You have driven enough.
Day two: the lake circuit
Coffee first
Fuel up before the walking starts. Cranky Cafe at 33 Ocean Drive opens at 7am seven days, sits at one end of a superb beach, has outdoor seating and is wheelchair accessible, and pours the sort of coffee people mention first when they describe the place. If you want something greener, Nourish Wholefoods & Cafe on Market Street does chia bowls, wraps, toasties and quiches with proper vegan cover, plus a small bulk-foods shop if you are self-catering.
Morning: walk the edge
Start on the Rotary Walk, the Djirringanj Peoples Walk, which traces Merimbula Lake’s turquoise edge and finishes at Bar Beach. Keep an eye on the shallows: giant stingrays cruise through, and the birdlife is constant. The Lake Street Shared Path runs the same country on an elevated walkway from Rotary Park to Bar Beach, wide enough for prams, wheelchairs, dogs and bikes, with the wharf and the village each 10 to 15 minutes away on foot.
Afternoon: pick your water
Spencer Park, a short walk from the centre of town, is the calm-water option: kayak, SUP and small-boat hire off the lake edge, a playground and barbecues for the kids, the Merimbula Fishing Club inside the park, and at low tide a shallows stroll across to Bar Beach spotting crabs and stingrays. If the moon is full and the tide is right, this is also where the prawning happens.
Mitchies Jetty at Fishpen is the other mood entirely: sheltered swimming, SUPing, kayaking and fishing, with coffee and baked treats from the espresso bar on the jetty. It is the pick if you have littlies, or if your idea of watersports is watching them from a deck chair.
A seasonal note: Bar Beach is patrolled seven days a week in summer, which makes the whole lake circuit swimmable end to end in the warm months. Outside them, treat the walk as the main event and the swims as a bonus.
Lunch belongs to MorMors on Market Street, a leafy little spot pouring Ona coffee from Canberra with an all-day burger and gluten-free options, most things between $3 and $13. Dinner is Ritzy Wine Tapas Bar at 56 Market Street, Mediterranean and Australian small plates built for ordering too many of, with a wine list to match.
Day three: bakery, history, headland
Start at Merimbula Bakery & Café/Inthemix near the bottom lake, where the pies and sausage rolls are the local order and the fresh bread sells daily. Take it walking along the water.
Then give half an hour to the Old School Museum on Punt Road, an 1870s schoolhouse that taught 39 children in 1875, closed in 1945 and reopened as a museum in 1973. The building is classified by the National Trust, and it is a sharper history lesson than a town this size has any right to.
Finish north of town at Dolphin Cove and North Tura Beach, a 4.4-kilometre run of sand under Tura Headland’s red Devonian rock. Dolphins visit often, whales pass in late winter and spring, and the 1.6-kilometre headland track gives you the lookout for both. If you are here between September and November, this is the show.
What to skip, honestly
Middle Beach looks irresistible on the map, 500 metres of sand under cliffs with rock pools and snorkelling water. But it is unpatrolled with treacherous tides and a steep stair track down, so give it a miss for swimming and save it for a calm-day look at the rock pools. The Wharf to Wharf Walk to Tathra is magnificent and best done as two or three single-day hikes, which is to say: not this weekend. Put it on the list for next time.
And do not leave without oysters. Merimbula Lake is known for them, along with its charter boats and the sea life that fills its edges. The lake is ringed by beaches, walks and boardwalks, so a dozen by the water on your last morning requires no planning at all, which is the correct amount of planning for day three.
Before you go
Timing the trip: summer gives you patrolled beaches and the full swimming circuit, autumn gives you mild walking weather and fewer people at the jetty, and September to November puts whales off the headland. There is no bad answer, just different weekends.
Browse the full run of things to do in Merimbula and places to eat in Merimbula, and if you need a bed, the Merimbula local guide carries the accommodation listings too.
