School Holiday Fun on the Southern Gold Coast: Your Ultimate Family Guide

Whether you’re visiting us for a week or settling in for a longer escape, there’s no shortage of fun, family-friendly things to do. From surf lessons and wildlife encounters to creative workshops and laid-back beach hangs, we’ve rounded up the very best local activities to keep the kiddos smiling (and the grown-ups sane). Consider this your insider guide to making magical school holiday memories—Nuve style.

Pizzey Park just keeps getting better and better. It has had so many upgrades and additions added to the park that if it’s not the best skatepark in Australia, it certainly must be one of the largest.

Pizzey Park still sports the original old-school skate bowl next to the river, and between the two parks is an extensive array of more recently added open bowls with seamless transitions, a lot of mini ramps to be found and spines linking different sections.

Tugun Skatepark is a contender for one of the biggest and best on the Gold Coast – set just at the end of the Gold Coast Airport, you’re sure to see a heap of planes taking off or landing. This skatepark is great for all skating levels.

Two of the greatest parks on this end of the GC for sure!

Livvi’s Place is at Jack Evans Boat Harbour in Tweed. It’s a lovely park for all ages and has water play, a skatepark and basketball park right outside the play area and BBQ area inside too. It’s super natural and is loved by all kids (and it’s not horrible to sit there as a parent too – winning! Best coffee shop nearby is Bread Social in Bay St)

Schuster Park Playground is in residential Elanora but so pretty and is well spread out park. It’s set right by a creek and lots of grassland for all ages. Lots for kids to do and lots of shady spots to sit – it’s a good picnic spot too.

NaturallyGC Kids is a service run by the Gold Coast City Council and events are held all over the Gold Coast with the sole focus being in mind is to get kids outdoors and appreciating the area we live in and in unstructured play in nature. They have activities from habitat research to marine studies. These can be booked via this link.

The GC Acqua park is an inflatable water park up at Broadbeach Parklands. It is great for kids 6 and over with good swimming skills. Life jackets are compulsory for every person in the water but little ones can get lost in the mix a bit sometimes – it gets pretty busy. Book yourself a session and climb, slide and jump into the water. (Mums/girls – our hot local tip is to wear bike pants if you’re joining in! Way more comfortable)

The Tree Top Challenge has 2 locations – One at Mt Tambourine and the other at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. This is such a fun activity for kids 10 and over and for the adults. It’s a high ropes course with 3 variations of difficulty (the easy one is challenging enough for most people we’ve found) with zip lines. Great fun!

If it’s raining and the kids (and you!) are losing their minds, take them to Bounce to quite literally bounce all their energy out. It’s in Burleigh Heads and you can either book a session online or just turn up. There are games sections, a ninja course for 10 years+ and a heap of trampolines and high drop jumps. Heaps of fun!

Timezone is the other main spot to take kids when it’s raining. There’s one in Coolangatta, one in Surfers Paradise and one at Robina Town Centre. It’s sensory overload and the kids love it! Load up a card with credit and let them run free for a bit. Most of these usually have a bowling alley attached too for extra activities while you’re there.

The easiest way to curb kids boredom (aside from having them sit on the iPad for a bit when you need peace and quiet!) is getting them outdoors and running around and enjoying nature.

Tallebudgera Creek is a firm favourite with locals and tourists as a top swimming spot on the GC. There’s two sides – a little inlet by Burleigh Headland and the flagged spot on the Palm Beach side of the creek (right near Custard Canteen). It’s a stunning spot with no waves and is usually sheltered.

If you’ve had enough of the beach, you can head out to the valley and go for a swim and adventure to Currumbin Rock Pools. It’s fresh creek water with lots of space to set up for the morning or afternoon – great for a picnic and a swim. We do need to mention that jumping off the rocks here are common but we don’t recommend it – it is well sign posted about how dangerous it can be -the signs are up for a reason!

Here are some kid-friendly places to eat that don’t include Stable Coffee + Kitchen (at Cornerstone where you pick up your keys from us).

Paddock Bakery – In Miami and they have the best pastry and treats around. They’re always creating new seasonal items to try. Their Dippy Eggs are also so good – they’re so yum. Their fancy milkshakes are a hit with the kids too.

Pasture + Co – Set out in Currumbin Valley and usually surrounded with kangaroos, this is a great spot to take kids coz there’s space for them to run around if you can get a table outside.

Currumbin RSL – Sit out on the deck for the best views and free access to the park for the kids to go backwards and forwards. It’s right on Currumbin Creek so is a pretty spot. Locals love a cold beer or drink (the margs are pretty good here too!) and the wood fired pizza.

Burleigh Town Hotel – In Burleigh Waters and just off the M1 this is an easy spot to bring kids and larger groups. The food is good, there’s a small playground for the kids to play and it has a good vibe.

Book the Perfect Holiday Stay

Make your school holiday escape hassle-free by staying in one of Nuve Escapes’ family-friendly holiday homes. Spacious, stylish, and perfectly located, our homes let you enjoy the best of the Southern Gold Coast with ease.

Explore our holiday homes here.