Beach Camping in South Australia; 15 great options
Coming from Western Australia, we’re all too familiar with amazing beach camping. I had high expectations of the South Australia Beach Camping, and it has not disappointed in the slightest.
In this post, we cover the best beach camping that we found in South Australia, along with what it costs, whether you need to book, what we thought of it and plenty more.
Perlubie Beach
If you haven’t heard of Perlubie Beach in South Australia, you’ve probably not started researching camps too much! This is one of the most well known beach camps in South Australia, and its absolutely stunning.
You can camp directly on the beach in a 4WD, caravan, camper trailer, tent, swag or however you prefer.
The beach can be very soft, and gets much softer the further you drive along but it’s a beautiful place, with shallow water that the kids love. To this day, Perlubie Beach camp is our kids favourite camp site, and that speaks volumes.
Some recent changes were rolled out that meant for a pricing increase, designated camp sites and a booking system, but it doesn’t take away from the beach being truly incredible.
- Cost: $15 per night per site
- Amenities: Nil. Public toilet at the entry, but not intended for the campers
- Style of camping permitted: 4WD required
- Pet Friendly: Yes
- Fires permitted: Yes, in season
- How to book: Online on the Streaky Bay Council Website
Wittelbee Conservation Park
Just 15 minutes south of Ceduna lies a fantastic, low coast camp site that is pretty good for a night or two.
There’s a number of different places you can camp, with some spots being on the beach, or right nearby. We chose a spot overlooking the cliffs as the wind was howling from one direction.
- Cost: $13.50 per site, per night
- Amenities: Nil
- Style of camping permitted: All types, with 4WD’s having greater access
- Pet Friendly: No
- Fires permitted: No
- How to book: Online, on the Parks SA website
Point Brown
Not far to the south of Ceduna lies Point Brown; a brilliant slice of coastline where you can free camp to your hearts delight.
The point is 2WD accessible, but a 4WD gives you much greater option, and if you want to camp on the beach its your only choice.
We got absolutely hammered by mosquitoes here and left early, but it would have been one of our favourite places to camp if it weren’t for that!
- Cost: Completely free
- Amenities: No amenities
- Style of camping permitted: All types, but 4WD’s are most suitable
- Pet Friendly: Yes
- Fires permitted: Yes, in season
- How to book: No bookings required.
Tractor beach
15 minutes south west of the beautiful Streaky Bay lies Tractor Beach, another popular camp site in the area. We called in for a look, and earmarked it as a place to stay later on. It’s small enough, has great views and would be a fantastic place to spend a few days.
- Cost: $15 per site, per night
- Amenities: Toilets
- Style of camping permitted: All types, with certain sites suitable for different setups
- Pet Friendly: Yes
- Fires permitted: No
- How to book: Online, on the Streaky Bay Council Website
Point Gibbon
There’s a lot of camping around Cowell, with some of it requiring you to pay cash in an envelope. The exception to this, is the new campground at Point Gibbon, which must be booked online, and is a well set up, limestone area with great views.
This is more protected than some of the other camp sites, and we had a really good stay here, after a pretty average start.
- Cost: $10 per site, per night
- Amenities: Flushing toilets, and WiFi!
- Style of camping permitted: All types
- Pet Friendly: Yes
- Fires permitted: No
- How to book: Online, unless you want the sites between Cowell and here, which are cash in envelope at multiple pay stations
Carrow Wells
In terms of favourite South Australian camp sites, Carrow Wells is up there with the best. This is a donation camp, with some of the best coastline you’ll see anywhere, and there’s a couple of places that you can camp very close to the beach.
We had amazing views here, and great weather, which made for a pretty amazing stay.
- Cost: Donation (leave something; don’t be stingy!)
- Amenities: Toilet and rubbish bins
- Style of camping permitted: All types, with 4WD’s having the most freedom
- Pet Friendly: Yes
- Fires permitted: Yes, in season
- How to book: No booking required
Moonlight Bay
Getting closer to Port Lincoln lies another great free camp, right on a beautiful bay. There’s a heap of camp sites here, with a 4WD becoming very valuable in terms of giving you improved choice.
The views from many of the camp sites are great, and we really enjoyed our stay here.
- Cost: Completely free
- Amenities: No amenities
- Style of camping permitted: All types, with 4WD’s having greater access
- Pet Friendly: Yes
- Fires permitted: Yes, in season
- How to book: No bookings taken
Walkers Rocks
Elliston is a truly magic part of the world, and whilst it took a bit to warm up to Walkers Rocks Campground, its in a beautiful location and the beaches here are really nice.
- Cost: $20 per site, per night
- Amenities: Toilet and cold shower
- Style of camping permitted: All types
- Pet Friendly: Yes
- Fires permitted: No
- How to book: Online, on the Elliston Council website
Near Point Labatt
If you want to see a huge colony of seals and Sea Lions, a visit to Point Labatt is worth the drive.
We camped nearby, on the inlet which looked stunning, and was actually decent enough for a dip, but it was hot, had lots of ants and plenty of bees!
- Cost: Completely free
- Amenities: No amenities
- Style of camping permitted: All types
- Pet Friendly: Yes
- Fires permitted: Yes, in season
- How to book: No bookings required
Wauraltee Beach
One of our favourite campgrounds on the Yorke Peninsula was Wauraltee Beach, and when I confirmed that you can camp right on the beach for free, it made it even better.
Do the right thing; leave zero trace, respect the locals and those around you, and hopefully this stunning part of the world will continue to be able to be enjoyed by thousands of people each year.
- Cost: Free on the beach, or $20 per night in the council camping area above the dunes
- Amenities: Toilet for the council site, but nothing on the beach
- Style of camping permitted: All types, with 4WD’s a must for some sites, and all of the beach
- Pet Friendly: Yes
- Fires permitted: Yes, in season
- How to book: No booking required for the beach, but the council camp area needs a permit booked online
Burners Beach
Not far from Point Turton lies Burners Beach; a truly beautiful part of the world.
There’s two camp grounds; the northern section that is much quieter with no amenities, and the southern end that has the toilet, lots of grass and a heap of room for everyone.
- Cost: $20 per night (standard Yorke Peninsula camping fee which is cheaper if you stay longer)
- Amenities: Toilet up one end
- Style of camping permitted: All types
- Pet Friendly: Yes
- Fires permitted: Yes, in season
- How to book: Online on the Yorke Peninsula council website
Swincer Rocks
After doing more coastal camp sites in South Australia than I care to think about, we stumbled across a gem that stood head and shoulders above everything else; Swincer Rocks.
This place is absolutely incredible, and it seems far less well known than everything else, which meant we had the entire place to ourselves.
- Cost: $20 per night (or less if you buy longer stays)
- Amenities: No amenities
- Style of camping permitted: All types
- Pet Friendly: Yes
- Fires permitted: Yes, in season
- How to book: Permit required from the Yorke Peninsula Council website
Rapid Bay
One of the most popular campgrounds in South Australia is Rapid Bay, and whilst we’re not normally ones to enjoy camping in busy places, this place is one of the most scenic, and stunning locations we’ve ever been to.
Yes, we dealt with a heap of people, but still had a truly awesome time, and would certainly go back.
- Cost: $12.50 per adult per night, and $7.50 per child between 5 and 16
- Amenities: Toilets and rubbish bins
- Style of camping permitted: All types
- Pet Friendly: Yes
- Fires permitted: No
- How to book: Ring Wayne or message Reena
The Granites
Not far north of Kingston SE lies a spectacular beach called the Granites. The camping is in a bitumen car park, and whilst its a bit left field for us, we thoroughly enjoyed it.
Initially I didn’t like the campground at all, but once you peak over the dune to the beach, its hard not to be swayed!
- Cost: Completely free
- Amenities: No amenities
- Style of camping permitted: All types
- Pet Friendly: Yes
- Fires permitted: No
- How to book: No bookings required
Southend Tourist Park
Caravan Parks are so not our thing, but on the odd occasion we find ourselves at one, and Southend Tourist Park is an absolute ripper.
We ended up with an unpowered site on top of the dune overlooking the beach, and despite some pretty shoddy weather, we seriously rated this place.
- Cost: $20 for an unpowered site, per night
- Amenities: Normal caravan park amenities, minus extensive amounts of potable water
- Style of camping permitted: All types
- Pet Friendly: Yes
- Fires permitted: No
- How to book: Ring the Caravan Park
