This town has finally realised its potential as the perfect beach getaway

Common wisdom says galleries and museums are the mark of a fully formed destination. I believe it’s coffee. At least this is the conclusion I reach over a latte at Cici’s Continental Deli, a hole-in-the-wall cafe a stone’s throw from Mooloolaba Beach.It’s a cave-like refuge from all that Sunshine Coast sunshine (though of course there’s outdoor seating), with clever mid-century styling that makes it feel decades older than 2025 when it opened. The coffee is excellent, the sandwiches generous and the attitude distinctly Sunshine Coast: friendly, relaxed and chatty.Mooloolaba Beach, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, has come of age.The last time I was here, more than a decade ago, finding decent coffee required local knowledge. Friends who lived there pointed me in the right direction. This time I simply stumble across it.If not fully formed in the way top destinations are, Mooloolaba, I think, is at least growing up. Could it be the new Noosa, the aspirational jewel in the Sunshine Coast crown? Queensland coastal destinations have never needed museums for holiday crowds to think of them as the perfect getaway. What they need is sun, sand, surf and lifestyle.Despite having all that, Mooloolaba has had the reputation for being a bit, well, daggy. Locals and regular holidaymakers have liked it that way.Sign up for the Traveller Deals newsletterGet exclusive travel deals delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up now.But there’s change in the air and on the ground, and it’s the kind that can turn daggy to de rigueur.Mooloolaba prawns fresh from the trawler at Mooloolaba Marina.Of course, with its ’80s architecture along the main drag, a population of retirees who favour trackie dacks over palazzo pants, and a cohort of triathlete types who prefer Lycra to linen, Mooloolaba is a fair way from today’s Noosa, where high-end shopping, celebrity chefs and luxury holidays are part of the brand.But if we’re talking about the Noosa people remember fondly – the one a Facebook group is devoted to under the moniker “I remember Noosa before it was cool” – then Mooloolaba is surely a contender.It’s a leap to declare all this on the back of finding a great cafe. In fact, it’s almost contradictory. Good coffee can be a gateway drug to parking problems and other conditions that make a place insufferable.The Mooloolaba Spit separates the Pacific Ocean from the Mooloolah River.But for now, Mooloolaba is having a moment, balancing lived character with contemporary sophistication – and that’s in no small part due to the new Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel, the first full-service internationally branded new-build hotel on the Sunshine Coast in four decades.With a young, enthusiastic staff, there’s a real sense of place at the Avani. It’s a $50 million landmark development that runs to the seaside-holiday playbook perfectly. It’s got beachy tones in a relaxed decor that pops with decorative accents and an airy sense of space. Rooms have balconies, many of which have big ocean views and beds oriented for a sunrise wake-up.The story of the site on which it sits is emblematic of the town’s change. Just a block back from the beach, hence premium real estate, it was previously an expansive council-owned ground-level carpark. Council sold off half – that became the hotel – while the other half was developed into a far more efficient multilevel parking structure.Avani Mooloolaba’s highlight is its upper reaches. There’s a rooftop infinity pool and terrace, and Sully’s Rooftop, the hotel’s signature restaurant, eagerly patronised by locals. Later this year at street level, First Avenue Cellar & Bar will also open, joining the excellent Lobby Bar (another spot for good coffee).The Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel is the first new full-service hotel to hit the Sunshine Coast in 40 years.A bedroom with an uninterruped beach view inside the Avani hotel in Mooloolaba.The 180 rooms span 12 storeys in line with local height restrictions, meaning no Gold Coast-style shadows on the beach.Mooloolaba’s second luxury hotel, though, the Aria development just down the road, will be bigger, with council recently approving two extra storeys on the basis of needing additional hotel rooms in the region.Locals worry about such incremental height creep. Up to now, though, their biggest worry amid all the change, has been the demolition of Mooloolaba’s much-loved but undeniably dated “loo with a view”, a badly placed public convenience that blocked the beach view and became a joke’s punchline. It makes way for a foreshore precinct that is currently under construction and which features boardwalks, terraced sea walls and community facilitiesSeafood eatery Prawn Star inhabits a couple of converted prawn trawlers and a pontoon.Those same priorities have seen Mooloolaba Wharf become a lively hub of hospitality. Too often, old wharf precincts can become Disneyfied white elephants. But here, the wharf is still in regular use for boating purposes, and the boutiques, cafes and eateries are packed with visitors and locals alike. A highlight is Prawn Star, a seafood-serving institution inhabiting a couple of converted prawn trawlers and a pontoon.A didgeridoo performance during a Salwater Eco Tours cruise.One morning, we leave the wharf with Simon Thornalley, founder of Indigenous tourism operator, Saltwater Eco Tours, for a cruise on Gubbi Gubbi/Kabi Kabi Country. His boat is a 1908 heritage-listed sailing vessel that he restored himself. It’s big on character and is a good match for Thornalley’s.The Mooloolah River has an extensive canal network and cruising on it, we pass mansions, including one owned by the Irwins with their research boat parked out the front.Most of our admiration is for the remaining little 1960s and ’70s holiday shacks. The juxtaposition makes me reflect on what we lose to the same progress I admire. The losses to Thornalley’s people, however, are on a far greater scale and on a much longer timeline. He doesn’t dwell on it. Instead, as we munch on a morning tea, he points out birds and land forms, tells stories of the water, and as our cruise nears its end, he treats us to a didgeridoo performance.Paddling out with Saltwater Eco Tours.On a sunset cruise with Set Sail Cruises, it’s all about simply admiring the coast from both the river and the ocean. We crank up a yacht-rock playlist, pop the bubbly, and enjoy the wind in our hair and spray on our faces.In Mooloolaba there are whale watching cruises, snorkelling and diving cruises, turtle activities, canoeing, paddleboarding and kayaking adventures, and so much more. The fact it’s so jam-packed with activities is what makes it fundamentally different to Noosa, a local tells me. “Noosa’s about being seen, we’re about doing.”At Sea Life Sunshine Coast it’s hard to argue. It’s a favourite with families but behind the penguins, seals and underwater tunnel is one of the region’s most important marine rescue operations, rehabilitating injured turtles before returning them to the ocean. It’s a reminder that, for all its growing sophistication, Mooloolaba remains closely connected to the marine environment that built it.You can admire the coast from both the river and the ocean on a boat trip with Set Sail Cruises. Then there’s the Lycra brigade. The Mooloolaba Triathlon is Australia’s second-largest triathlon event. Held annually in mid-March, the festival attracts about 9000 competitors across elite and amateur categories, with the ocean swims, sprint and cycling standard Olympic distances.For those looking to recover from all that, even wellness has become part of the town’s evolution. Once upon a time, a surf followed by fish and chips probably qualified as self-care here, and it probably still does to many. Today, visitors can alternate beach walks with infrared saunas, ice baths, massage treatments and spa rituals. Tank Bathhouse has helped introduce communal bathing culture to the Sunshine Coast, while Sauna & Ice Studio caters to the growing enthusiasm for hot-and-cold therapy.The Avani has also introduced a terrific spa to the equation. Not only are the treatments top tier, but the hotel, which runs the spa itself, has priced products competitively (rather than at the enormous mark-ups many hotel spas favour), making it a lovely retail experience as well as a healing one.Amid the touristy restaurants with touts out the front, the ice-cream vendors and dark entryways to the plethora of short-term apartment accommodation that is the lifeblood of Mooloolaba stays, the esplanade is home to some terrific boutiques.The Wharf Mooloolaba has gelato, sushi, tacos, a bakery and plenty of atmosphere.A standout is Zambezee, where international women’s fashion brands hang next to quality local designers. Avenue J deals in exquisitely curated antique jewellery and some lovely objets d’art. Even the pharmacy has some great finds in the form of Queensland-made cosmetics, candles and hair accessories.It’s not Noosa-level retail therapy, but that pharmacy is perhaps one of the best illustrations of the Mooloolaba change: it’s locally focused with a side of sophistication, rather than sophistication first, local second.Sure, there is increasing style here: better coffee, better restaurants and better places to stay. There will be more thoughtful public spaces. But it feels like the natural evolution of a beach town that is realising its potential, while still maintaining its own unique character. And in that, there’s no need for it to be “the new” anywhere, other than the destination it is.THE DETAILSFLYJetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all fly to Maroochydore from Sydney and Melbourne. Jetstar flies from Adelaide as well.STAYThe Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel is at 10 Brisbane Road, Mooloolaba. From $349 a night. See avanihotels.comCRUISESaltwater Eco Tours, The Wharf, Mooloolaba. Set Sail Cruises, The Wharf Mooloolaba. See saltwaterecotours.com.au; setsailcruises.com.auJulietta Jameson is a freelance travel writer who would rather be in Rome, but her hometown Melbourne is a happy compromise.Connect via email.From our partners