Some of Australia’s Best Bites Are Worth Road-Tripping To

The secret to a good road trip? Never let anyone get hungry. And a perfect road trip means the detours are as delicious as the destination. These are the spots where that’s guaranteed, thanks to a lobster shack off the coast of Western Australia, a lottery-only Korean diner in Cockatoo, and the institutions that have mastered their crafts over decades.

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Secluded swimming out of Sydney

If anyone knows where to swim in Sydney, it’s Caroline Clements (she, quite literally, wrote the book on it). Her ideal beach day out starts with coffee and a chocolate custard croissant in Manly, before loading up at Norma’s Deli with picnic supplies for the drive north. The destination is Palm Beach, where a short ferry ride across Pittwater drops you into Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. From there, hike through calm coastal rainforest and past Indigenous art sites to the headland above Great Mackerel Beach. Her pick for best place to jump in the water is a bit further at Resolute Beach, near West Head. And because nobody wants to cook after a day out, she recommends takeaway at Queen Ester Newport to finish on.

Destination dining beyond Melbourne

Some of Victoria’s best restaurants require leaving Melbourne. Broadsheet’s Melbourne food and drink editor Audrey Payne has curated five worth the trip, starting with Tedesca Osteria in Red Hill: here, chef Brigitte Hafner serves long lunches from a biodynamic farm in a century-old weatherboard house. Chae in Cockatoo is a six-seat Korean restaurant inside a private home, allocated by lottery and nearly impossible to get into (but worth planning a trip around). Many Little, also in Red Hill, brings Sri Lankan-inspired cooking to wine country, while Greasy Zoe’s in Hurstbridge is an eight-seat fine diner with a hyperlocal menu. And for a real experience, Tony Tan’s Cooking School in Trentham turns a daytrip into a hands-on lesson with one of Australia’s most beloved food figures. Pack an appetite and clear the afternoon.

NYT-approved pies near the Gold Coast

There’s an unofficial road rule in Queensland: a road trip begins at a bakery. The journey to Burleigh from Brisbane is a lot of highway, so pick up some treats from Idle. Grab a pastry, cross the Story Bridge and hit the M1. There are detours worth taking on the way down; Sunnybank, the semi-rural suburb turned hub of Brisbane’s Asian dining scene, is worth an exit for a proper meal before the highway speeds up. But the Gold Coast has earned plenty worth waiting for with spots like Commune, Tarte and Rick Shores. Just save room for the drive home: Yatala Pies has been pulling people off the highway for decades, and even the New York Times has noticed. This journey is a beach sandwich bookended by baked goods.

A Turquoise Coast lobster shack

A picturesque 230-kilometre stretch from Perth Airport, this road trip starts at the Lancelin sand dunes – three storeys of white sand rising above the Indian Ocean – before pushing north along the Turquoise Coast. Take a dip at one of the deserted beaches along the way, leaving time for the Lobster Shack in Cervantes and the western rock lobster that’s made this coastline famous. Spend a night in a tiny home near Sandy Cape, which backs onto a nature reserve with kangaroos and kookaburras on your doorstep. If you’ve got the time, keep pushing north to Jurien Bay and beyond.

A bakery crawl across Sydney

Speaking of baked goods, carby treats are the raison d’être for this road trip. Broadsheet’s Sydney food and drink editor, Grace Mackenzie, has picked five essential bakeries across a city heaving with exceptional sweets and carby creations. Veer between an institution making kunefe and pistachio baklava that’s been made with specific Turkish pistachios since 1999, a thick pudding-y sticky date cake in Manly, and a buzzy suburban bakehouse in Caringbah. But if you’re only in it for one hit, beeline to one of Sydney’s best croissants at Iggy’s. Take it down the hill to Lookout Point, then stroll an iconic stretch of coastline all the way to Bondi.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Avis.