Is Honeymoon Bay the Most Romantic Beach in NSW?

Dan’s got a cruuuush and he wants the world to know! Honeymoon Bay on NSW’s South Coast will make you fall in love with lazing on the beach all over again.

We Are Explorers acknowledges that this adventure is located on the traditional Country of the Yuin people who have occupied and cared for the lands, waters, and their inhabitants for thousands of years. We pay our respects to them as the Traditional Custodians and recognise that sovereignty was never ceded.

Quick Overview

Honeymoon Bay is a beachside campground located within the Beecroft Weapons Range on the northern headland of Jervis Bay on NSW’s South Coast. It’s only available for camping on Friday and Saturday nights, NSW school holidays, and NSW public holidays when defence activities allow for public entry.

Read more: Remember to leave no trace!

Quick Facts

Distance from Sydney: 206km (2 hours 45 minutes)
Facilities: Toilets, garbage and recycling bins
Check in times: 12pm-6pm on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays
Nearest town: Currarong
Cost: $15 a night for 2 people, extra $5 per night for each extra person
Where to book: Beecroft Weapons Range Page

Honeymoon Bay Highlights

• Only a three-hour drive from Sydney
• Relatively quiet outside of the summer holidays
• Obscenely beautiful

How to Get to Honeymoon Bay

Get yourself onto the A1 from wherever you are, then take Forest Road between Nowra and Falls Creek. Follow this to Currarong then head south on Lighthouse Road.

The turn in looks like an intimidating military complex because it is, but they’ll let you through on the weekend. The third left is Honeymoon Bay Road. Keep straight on until you hit it.

Skill Level

Beginner – it’s a beach, man!

However, visitors are advised to take caution as the campground resides on an active weapons range where unexploded ordnances may be found. There are also natural hazards such as unpatrolled beaches and up to 75m high cliffs.

Read more: How to Stay Safe at the Beach

Essential Gear

• Beach chairs
• All your own water
• Stove
• Tent
• Toilet paper
• Beer
• Snorkel (not in that order)
• That novel you’ve been meaning to read
• Someone you want to impress

Please note! Fires aren’t permitted in the campground without a permit and may incur a $2,000 fine!

What It’s Like to Camp at Honeymoon Bay

Find True Love at Honeymoon Bay

Once I’d seen it on Google Maps I couldn’t go past it.

I was smitten.

From above, Honeymoon Bay looks like a perfect scalloped shell, like a piece of the jigsaw puzzle of the world that the creator forgot to smudge out.

From ground level, it’s surprisingly small, in a perfectly-formed kind of way, but we don’t discover this until we’ve run the gauntlet of the A1 down from Sydney, pies in hand, on a Saturday afternoon.

The journey is uneventful until we get to Currarong and look for Lighthouse Road. We drive past the intimidating military installation three times before we twig that it’s guarding the very route we seek.

Of course, we hadn’t done our homework. If we had we’d have known that most of the Beecroft Peninsula is administered by the Royal Australian Navy and used as a weapons range during the week.

They kindly open it up on weekends (Friday nights included) and school holidays to allow Joe Public to enjoy its beautiful white sand beaches, reefs, and high cliffs. A trifling $15 camp fee to the gate guard and we’re through. But this was a few years ago. Nowadays sites can be booked up to 14 days ahead of time, except in summer school holidays when booking dates open around three months beforehand. 

Day visitors are directed to leave their cars in the car park before the beach, and once we work out which lazy buggers decided they didn’t have to walk those extra 300m and just parked at a camping spot, we eject them and are all set.

An East Coast Sunset Over the Water

We finally amble down to the beach and are stopped in our tracks – it’s a stunner! The setting sun casts an orange glow on the perfect crescent of sand and silhouettes the happy folk splashing in the shallows or exploring the rocks protecting the petite bay’s entrance.

Once the Saturday trippers have left, the spot is blissfully uncrowded. Maybe the patchy cloud is helping? Who cares.

We flop into our chairs and enjoy it, first through the evening, on into a good part of the night, and then again the next day. Could this be love at first sight?

Sunset over the water? In NSW? Pinch me | @michaelharrisphotography

Honeymoon Bay FAQs

Do you need a 4WD to get to Honeymoon Bay?

No, you don’t need a 4WD to access Honeymoon Bay in NSW, however access is along a gravel road, so a 4WD or SUV is more suited.

Do you have to pay to get into Honeymoon Bay?

Yes, campers and visitors to Honeymoon Bay, NSW do need to pay. Campgrounds cost $15 per night for two people, and an extra $5 for each extra person.

Can you take a caravan to Honeymoon Bay?

Yes you can take a caravan to Honeymoon Bay, however there aren’t any powered sites in the campground.

Can you visit Honeymoon Bay?

Yes you can visit Honeymoon Bay on a day trip and don’t need to pay a fee to enter if you’re not camping.

Feature photo by Jordan Robins. Table of contents photo by Dee Kramer

The South Coast is a Beach Camping Haven!

• Termeil Point Campground is Idyllic for a Weekend in Nature on NSW’s South Coast
• Best Camping Jervis Bay: Top Spots for an Unforgettable Stay
• Meroo, Tabourie, and Burrill: 3 South Coast Adventures in 3 Days
• Murramarang South Coast Walk – A Magical 3 Day Hike Along the NSW South Coast