Palm Beach is a 4 km long, north-east facing beach bordered by Burleigh Heads and Tallebudgera Creek to the north, and Currumbin Point and Currumbin Creek in the south. Both creeks have rock groynes/training walls extending out across the surf zone to form the actual beach ends. The Gold Coast Highway parallels the beach 200 m inland and numerous side streets provide good access to the length of the beach. The entire beach is backed by beachfront houses and apartments, including several high rises. A continuous seawall has been built to protect this development from cyclone erosion, together with two small groynes toward the centre of the beach. The beach is patrolled by three surf lifesaving clubs, at Tallebudgera in the north, Pacific-North Palm Beach in the centre and Palm Beach to the south, together with lifeguards at all three locations. Waves average 1.5 m along the beach, which have produced a 200 m wide double bar system. The inner bar is usually cut by deep rip channels every 200 to 300 m, in addition to strong permanent rips against the end groynes and smaller rips against the two central groynes. A deep trough parallels the bar, with the outer bar cut by more widely spaced rips. At times, beach erosion cuts the beach back to the seawall.
SLSA provides this information as a guide only. Surf conditions are variable and therefore this information should not be relied upon as a substitute for observation of local conditions and an understanding of your abilities in the surf. SLSA reminds you to always swim between the red and yellow flags and never swim at unpatrolled beaches. SLSA takes all care and responsibility for any translation but it cannot guarantee that all translations will be accurate.