How many beaches are there in Sydney?
Sydney has 169 beaches across 11 regions, plus 41 bonus beaches on the Central Coast.
That count covers ocean, harbour, bay, estuary, river and lake beaches from Palm Beach and Ku-ring-gai Chase in the north to Royal National Park in the south. Every beach below has its own page with patrol status, access and facilities.
Sydney beaches by region
| Region | Beaches | Patrolled |
|---|---|---|
| Sydney Harbour | 34 | 0 |
| Northern Beaches | 28 | 23 |
| Botany Bay | 21 | 0 |
| Pittwater | 18 | 0 |
| North Harbour | 16 | 0 |
| Eastern Suburbs | 12 | 9 |
| Port Hacking | 10 | 0 |
| Royal National Park | 10 | 3 |
| Bate Bay | 9 | 4 |
| Middle Harbour | 7 | 0 |
| Hawkesbury/Cowan | 4 | 0 |
| Sydney total | 169 | 39 |
| Central Coast (bonus, not in the Sydney total) | 41 |
Counts update automatically from our beach list. Patrolled includes seasonal patrols.
Sydney beaches by type
- 62Ocean
- 77Harbour
- 17Bay
- 13Estuary, river and lake
How we counted
We count a beach when it is a named, publicly accessible sandy beach on the ocean, the harbour, a bay, an estuary, a river or a lake, and it is in our master beach list with a name, suburb, region, location and patrol status. There is no minimum size, and beaches you can only reach by boat or bush track still count. Rock platforms and ocean pools without sand are not counted as separate beaches.
Sections of one long beach count separately only where our master list names them separately, such as Kyeemagh at the northern end of Lady Robinsons Beach, or North Steyne and Manly. Duplicate entries are merged, and Bumbora is counted as part of Phillip Bay.
Our boundary is the Greater Sydney coast: from Palm Beach, Pittwater and Ku-ring-gai Chase in the north to Bulgo in Royal National Park in the south, including Sydney Harbour as far west as Barangaroo, Middle Harbour, Botany Bay, Port Hacking and the mouth of the Georges River. Beaches north of Broken Bay on the Central Coast are a separate bonus set and are not in the Sydney total.
The list started from the project owner's master beach spreadsheet. Locations and nearby cafés were checked against OpenStreetMap, and patrol status against Beachsafe (Surf Life Saving). Patrol status can change, so always check Beachsafe before you go.
Why other sources count fewer
You will often see Sydney described as having around 100 beaches. Counts like that usually cover the ocean beaches plus the better-known harbour beaches. Our list has 62 ocean beaches, so ocean beaches alone come to fewer than 100.
The difference comes mostly from the smaller beaches: we also count 77 harbour beaches, many of them small coves below the headlands, plus 17 bay beaches and 13 estuary, river and lake beaches in places like Botany Bay, Port Hacking, Pittwater and the Hawkesbury.
Frequently asked questions
- How many beaches are there in Sydney?
- Sydney has 169 beaches across 11 regions, plus 41 bonus beaches on the Central Coast.
- How many ocean beaches does Sydney have?
- 62 of the 169 Sydney beaches on our list face the open ocean. The rest are 77 harbour beaches, 17 bay beaches and 13 estuary, river and lake beaches.
- Which part of Sydney has the most beaches?
- Sydney Harbour has the most, with 34 beaches on our list.
- How many Sydney beaches are patrolled?
- 39 of the 169 Sydney beaches on our list are patrolled by lifesavers or lifeguards, most of them only in season. Check patrol times on Beachsafe before you go.
- Are Central Coast beaches included?
- No. The 41 Central Coast beaches north of Broken Bay are a separate bonus set and are not part of the Sydney total of 169.