Short answer: December and January are peak season on the East Coast. Christmas, New Year and the summer school holidays make it the busiest stretch of the year, and in the tropical north it is the wet season: hot, humid, stormy, with cyclone risk and stinger suits on every snorkel. Our semi-guided trips cost their peak price for a December or January start: the 21-day Sydney to Cairns is $3,559 against $3,099 in February. Book the K’gari 4WD trip and the Whitsundays boat before anything else.
Prices are per person in AUD and update from our live listings.
What a December or January start costs
Semi-guided trips are priced by the month you start, not the months you travel through. The same trip costs:
| Trip | Start in Dec or Jan (peak) | Start in Feb, Mar, May, Jun, Aug or Oct | Start in Apr, Sep or Nov |
|---|---|---|---|
| K’gari + Whitsundays Combo, 7 days | $1,499 | $1,499 | $1,499 |
| 14-Day, Brisbane to Cairns | $2,829 | $2,599 | $2,699 |
| 17-Day, Sydney to Cairns | $3,339 | $2,999 | $3,139 |
| The Classic 21 Days, Sydney to Cairns | $3,559 | $3,099 | $3,289 |
| 28-Day, Sydney to Cairns | $4,589 | $4,329 | $4,589 |
| 33-Day East Coast Classic | $5,559 | $4,909 | $5,139 |
The combo has one price all year.
Two things follow from pricing by start month:
- A late-November start is priced at high season, not peak. Start the 28-day in the last week of November and you spend most of December on the coast at the November price.
- February is standard again. A start on 31 January is peak; a start on 1 February is not.
Guided group tours can be priced per departure date, so check the date you want on the tour page calendar rather than the “from” price. On a DIY trip the bus pass is the easy part; the hostels and tours are what fill up.
What books out first
The trips that sell out are the ones with fixed departure days and a set number of seats, berths or 4WDs. Beds in the big hostel towns are deep and easy to rebook; these aren’t:
- Multi-day K’gari 4WD trips. Limited vehicles per departure, and the January school holidays are the busiest window on the island. Compare them on K’gari tours by price.
- Whitsundays overnight boats. A boat has a fixed number of berths and sails on set days. See Whitsundays sailing trips by price.
- Surf camps with a fixed intake. The 3-day Spot X camp on the 28 and 33-day trips has limited beds.
- Bus legs. In December to February book coach legs a few days ahead rather than the night before.
On the semi-guided trips the tour page calendar only offers start dates where every fixed-departure leg (K’gari, the boat, the reef day, the surf camp) has seats, checked live. If a date is open there, those legs are bookable for it.
Weather in December and January
| December | January | |
|---|---|---|
| Tropical north (Whitsundays, Cairns) | Wet season, hot and humid | Hottest and wettest month, cyclone risk |
| Stingers | Stinger suits on | Stinger suits on |
| Crowds | Christmas and New Year, the busiest time of year | School holidays run to late January |
Boats and reef trips occasionally cancel for weather in the wet. Leave a spare day before your flight home. Reef and sailing boats supply stinger suits; you wear one for every snorkel. The month-by-month picture is in the best time to visit the East Coast.
The upside: warm water, green islands and long days. The trips still run. What the wet season means on the water is in the Whitsundays in summer and the Great Barrier Reef in summer.
Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve
The two fixed points of the season need their own planning. Christmas Day is the one day the coast mostly closes: big shops shut, transport runs holiday timetables and many tours skip 25 December. Christmas on the East Coast covers what is open and where travellers spend the day. For 31 December, Sydney’s harbour fireworks, Byron Bay’s alcohol-free Soul Street and the free foreshore fireworks in Airlie Beach and Cairns are compared in New Year’s Eve on the East Coast, with how to count a Travel Mates start date to land where you want on the night.
Is it worth going in December or January?
Yes, if your dates are fixed by a Christmas break or a working-holiday start. Book the multi-day trips first, accept the peak price and build in a weather day.
If your dates can move, two cheaper windows sit either side:
- November: high-season price, quieter, hot and humid, stinger suits on.
- February and March: standard price, still the wet season, far fewer travellers after the school holidays end.
At four weeks, the 28-day costs $4,329 for a February start ($4,589 for November) against $4,589 in peak. What a full month costs every way, including DIY, is in how much 4 weeks on the East Coast costs.
FAQs
How much more does the East Coast cost in December and January?
On the semi-guided trips, the peak price applies to any start date in December or January. The 21-day Sydney to Cairns is $3,559 in peak against $3,099 in standard months; the 33-day is $5,559 against $4,909. The K’gari + Whitsundays Combo is $1,499 all year.
Is the price set by the month I start or the months I travel?
The month you start. A trip that starts in late November and runs through December is priced at the November (high season) rate.
What sells out first over Christmas?
Multi-day K’gari 4WD trips and Whitsundays overnight boats, because each departure has a fixed number of vehicles or berths. Book those before hostels or bus legs.
Is December a bad time for the Great Barrier Reef?
No, but it is wet season and stinger season. Boats supply stinger suits, the water is warm, and trips occasionally cancel for weather, so keep a spare day.
When do Travel Mates trips start in December and January?
The 28-day starts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and the 33-day every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, year-round. The other semi-guided trips have no fixed start day. The tour page calendar shows which dates have seats on every guided leg.
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