Our (Updated) Guide To Byron Bay

Time to book in some more annual leave?

It’s the town where it’s still shorts weather, shoes are optional and the water is still summer-warm. Byron Bay is the escape plan of choice for many – so much so that there’s a joke running around the traps that it’s now known as North North Bondi.

Sure, you’ve been there. You’ve watched the morning go by with a coffee from the van at the base of Raes On Wategos, you’ve spent days surfing the long, peeling waves of The Pass, you’ve included in a Virgin Mary or five at Balcony Bar.

@the_bower_byron_bay

Stay … Looking for a little luxury? The Bower Byron Bay is the address to pop into your maps. And yes, save it there. A palm-filled compound on Bangalow Road close to town, here you can choose to stay in the main house, one of their suites, their barn (true story) or their cottage. There’s bikes to borrow during daylight hours for you and your mini me, linen sheets you won’t want to escape and for when there’s no surf? There’s their heated, natural mineral pool. Gentler on the skin and gentler on the environment. Truly an oasis.

@supernaturalcellars

Chow down … at Supernatural Cellars. Billed as ‘natural wines and salty seas side snacks’, and with 50 (and counting) wines sourced from around the globe, at Supernatural Cellars, it feels like anything goes. Eat with your hands! Drink from ceramic bowls! Throw your serviettes on the floor! (no, really, it’s a sign of appreciation of a good time – a tradition borrowed from the seaside town of San Sebastian.) To try: the oysters with finger lime, the charred Padron pepper (caution: hot), and the crispy whiting with seaweed sesame salt, chimichurri, lemon … the Chalaca Peruvian-style mussels … Hell, try it all. Our tip? If you spot a drop from Georgia on that menu, get involved. It’s next level.

@bayleafcafe

Grab your takeaway from … Bayleaf. Making the absolute most of Northern Rivers’ finest local and seasonal produce, Bayleaf is the joint on Marvell Street (right near Fletcher) has been around since ’06 so it’s not (technically) new, but it’s had a facelift of late. It’s bigger and there’s a whole lot more room for those bacon and egg rolls we keep coming back for. Our tip is to takeaway and hit the beach straight away.

Keen? Lucky it's T-shirt weather…