Gold Coast Travel Forum

I am heading up to the gold Coast to do the themne park things with my family total of 5 (youngest 3, 10 years and 8 years plus 2 adults and we are on a very budget holiday I have looked at the bus shuttle passes for the family for 10 days it will cost $280 and am wondering if it is worth using the public transport it seems so expensive!! Any thoughts??

The Gold Coast is a hard place without a car . Individual buses may be the trick . Theme parks are located north of coast (coomera area)except seaworld which is on the spit at Main Beach. Depending on where you are staying the bus services to the parks is quite good.Ask at your hotel for best spots to catch these buses and you will probibly find they will do the job. Darryl

I think you would do better hiring a car...a tarago or something that would fit you all in as opposed to using public transport. As Darryl said, most of the theme parks, except Sea World are out of town a little way and with a large family, hiring a car would be the best option. Also most of the other places to see like the Gold Coast hinterland and the southern beaches to Byron Bay you'll need to have a car to get there anyway. Have fun on the Gold Coast! Cheers, Ann :o)

I highly recommend a car. If you are flying in rent from airport as the bus from there is expensive. Hiring a car is great as you then can do things in your own time and with little ones that will be important for you to enjoy the holiday. Forget bus:)

Hi there

I also recommend hiring a car. For the same price (even less) then bus shuttle passes you can hire a car for ten days. Check out sites like www.vroomvroomvroom.com.au which compare hertz, avis, budget, europcar and thrifty.

Also try:
www.surfersparadisecarhire.com
www.costlesscarrental.com.au
www.abel.com.au

Best thing about renting a car, you can pick it up from the airport on your arrival, and drop it off on your way home! :)

I think the best way to get around the Coast and to the Theme Parks would be just to use surfside buses (local buses). They are very easy to navigate and come very regularly. The also have buses that go to all the theme parks. You would need to check the Translink web site but as a rough idea you would need a zone 12 or 13 to zone 15/16 and you would be able to travel up and down the coast(including theme parks)Again check th web page but firstly you could get a 2 adult weeklys and 2 child weeklys (7 days unlimited travel in the zones) They would probably be no more expensive than say $30Adult and $15 for kids (3 year old is free!!)Much better than $280.00!!!If you want to go to the Hinterland you may need to hire a car for a day, can'tget there by local buses. The local buses stop all the time up and down the highway almost a hop on and hop off option if you like. Just talk to each driver to check the destination of his busand the bsest way to connect to the next. Have fun

Julie-Anne