1.2 km · 2 min
Belmont Golf & Bowls
An 18-hole par-72 championship links course with the Pacific Ocean behind the fairways, open to public bookings.
Lake Macquarie · New South Wales
Lake on one side, surf five minutes the other.
Belmont is not a destination so much as an extremely well-placed base. Lake Macquarie — the largest coastal saltwater lagoon in the Southern Hemisphere — is across the road. Newcastle is twenty minutes north, the Hunter Valley an hour west, and the surf is five minutes east.
- The lake
- Across the road4× the size of Sydney Harbour
- Surf
- 5 minBlacksmiths and Nine Mile
- Rail trail
- 5 min15 km, sealed, almost flat
- Newcastle
- 23 minHarbour, beaches, dining
- Hunter Valley
- 1 hr 3 min150+ cellar doors
The shortlist
Seven things worth the drive.
Distances are from our car park, by road, in typical conditions. Four of them have a full guide behind them.
2.4 km · 3 min
Belmont 16s Sailing Club
Seven waterfront eateries and bars, live music every Saturday, open 365 days, right on the lake edge.
Read the guide
4.7 km · 5 min
Fernleigh Track
15 km of sealed former coal railway to Adamstown through wetlands and the Fernleigh Tunnel — the Hunter's most popular shared pathway.
Read the guide
4.7 km · 5 min
Blacksmiths Beach
The region's learn-to-surf beach, running unbroken up Nine Mile Beach to the Swansea Channel.
Read the guide
8.4 km · 9 min
Caves Beach sea caves
Walk into real sea caves at low tide, on a beach patrolled daily 9am–5pm from the spring holidays through to April.
22.2 km · 24 min
Fort Scratchley
A 19th-century coastal fort above Newcastle Harbour with underground tunnels and the best lookout in the city.
62.1 km · 1 hr 3 min
Hunter Valley Wine Country
Australia's oldest wine region — 150+ cellar doors, Semillon and Shiraz — a comfortable day trip and back.
Plan the dayOn the water
The lake is four times the size of Sydney Harbour.
Lake Macquarie is four times the size of Sydney Harbour and it is what the whole area organises itself around. Sailing, kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, fishing off a jetty, or nothing more strenuous than watching the 16-footers come back in at the end of an afternoon.
The netted Belmont Baths and Naru Beach give you flat, safe water for children. Belmont wharf is a two-minute drive. Kayak tours out of Lake Mac book out over summer — worth arranging before you arrive rather than after.
We have fishing facilities on site, because people genuinely do come here to fish.
Beaches
Surf on one side, flat water on the other.
Blacksmiths Beach (4.7 km) is where people learn to surf, and it runs unbroken up Nine Mile Beach toward the Swansea Channel — you can walk for an hour and see almost nobody.
Caves Beach (8.4 km) has genuine sea caves you can walk into at low tide. Check the tide before you go or you will be looking at water. It is patrolled daily 9am–5pm from the spring school holidays through to April.
Redhead Beach (9.7 km) has the heritage shark tower on the sand and a headland walk worth doing.
On two wheels, or on foot
An old coal railway, sealed and almost flat.
The Fernleigh Track is 15 km of sealed former coal railway from the Belmont terminus — five minutes from us — through wetlands and nature reserve and the lit Fernleigh Tunnel, all the way to Adamstown. It is the most popular shared pathway in the Hunter and it is almost completely flat.
Belmont Wetlands State Park is 549 hectares with 4.5 km of beachfront, plus 4WD tracks, mountain biking and horse riding.
Day trips
An hour west, and the sky above the lake.
Newcastle — 23 min
The state's second city. Fort Scratchley, the Bathers Way coastal walk, Merewether and Bar Beach, and a genuinely good food scene.
Hunter Valley — 1 hr 3 min
Australia's oldest wine region. Over 150 cellar doors around Pokolbin. Comfortably a day trip from here, and cheaper to sleep in Belmont than in the vines.
Whale season — Jun to Nov
Humpbacks migrate north then south again along this coast. The headlands at Redhead and Caves Beach are free grandstands; cruises run from Newcastle.
Lake Macquarie Airport — 2 min
Tandem skydiving over the lake, plus scenic helicopter and aerobatic flights. It is 2.3 km from your room.
Book direct
Stay five minutes from all of it.
Book on this site and you get our best available rate with no third-party booking fee. Prefer to talk to someone? Call reception and we will sort it out.