Mount Coolum: Summit, Boardwalk and Wildlife

Mount Coolum offers a range of nature experiences: a challenging hike to the summit, an elevated boardwalk through bushland, and opportunities to learn about the wildlife of the national park. This variety is useful when planning your holiday: you can consider whether exercise on the Summit Track, a walk through Foreshore Bushland, or wildlife watching will shape your stay.

A Summit Hike with Clear Requirements

The Mount Coolum Summit Track is a 1.6-kilometre return hike and is graded 4. It is suitable only for fit hikers. Allow about 1½ hours for the full walk. The distance, difficulty rating and estimated time give you specific points of reference to help you assess whether this hike fits your planned activities. For safety reasons, hike in Mount Coolum National Park only during daylight hours.

The summit of the Mount Coolum Summit Track is 208 metres above sea level. If you enjoy tackling a climb while travelling, you’ll find a clearly described hike here, with a manageable return distance but an expressly challenging rating. When planning for a group, it’s worth considering everyone’s fitness and the approximate duration together, rather than judging the walk by its distance alone.

Boardwalk and Coastal Pathway

The Mount Coolum Boardwalk offers a different kind of walk. The elevated boardwalk passes through the Marcoola-Yaroomba Foreshore Bushland Conservation Reserve, from Breezeway Street to a seasonally patrolled beach. This provides a nature experience on a boardwalk alongside the summit hike. You can choose between the walks according to your interests, without treating the two activities as a single route.

The Mount Coolum Boardwalk also provides access to the Coastal Pathway. This connects Marcoola Esplanade with Tanah Street East. If you’re interested in routes and coastal landscapes, these names can help orient you when planning your trip. The boardwalk, its access to the Coastal Pathway, and the pathway’s connection between the two named streets are the features described here.

Scenery and Wildlife in the National Park

The cliffs in Mount Coolum National Park provide a safe habitat for a pair of nesting Peregrine Falcons. This makes the cliffs noteworthy as a habitat, too. These are distinct from the animals visitors may see in the national park, which include echidnas, Northern Brown Bandicoots and Grey-Headed Flying-Foxes. If you’d like to include wildlife watching in your holiday, these specific species give you something to look out for; however, sightings of any individual animals are not guaranteed.

You can also enjoy a view of Mount Coolum from the lookout in Mount Gul'um Park. From there, you can see Mount Coolum in the distance. This lookout offers a different perspective from the summit hike: here, Mount Coolum is a visible feature in the landscape, not the summit you reach on the Summit Track. This distinction can be helpful when choosing activities if you prefer to take in the scenery from a lookout.

Information for Your Stay

Next to the car park at the foot of Mount Coolum is a public toilet block. It includes one unisex toilet for people with disability (PWD) and three unisex cubicles for ambulant users.

When choosing a holiday rental in Mount Coolum, you can start by deciding which experiences matter most for your trip: the challenging summit hike, the boardwalk and Coastal Pathway, or wildlife and landscape watching. If you’re travelling with family, take the stated hiking requirements into account when planning together. This will help you choose a place to stay that suits the activities you actually want to do.

Discover More Destinations

Other destinations on this portal include Cottonvale, Ingham, Surfers Paradise, Rainbow Beach, Lagoon Pocket, Cairns, Clear Island Waters and Brookfield.

For the main travel overview: Queensland.