Things to do in Port Lincoln
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Port Lincoln
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Peak summer and Tunarama. Hottest swimming, tuna season, highest prices and the hardest weekend of the year to get a room.
The sweet spot. Warm sea, settled boat weather, Port Lincoln Cup in early March and SALT Festival in April.
Winter. Wettest and windiest, with strong shark activity, whale migration, Whyalla cuttlefish and prime oysters. July is coldest.
Spring. Parks green up, boat weather improves, sea lion trips are pleasantest, and November is the shoulder bargain.
Early summer. Tuna season opens and Christmas camping fills Lincoln National Park, so book park sites and Memory Cove early.
What's on
- Tunarama Festival 15-17 January
Three days honouring the tuna industry with the Blessing of the Fleet, the Tuna Toss, a street parade, gala dinner and fireworks.
- Port Lincoln Cup early March
The Eyre Peninsulas biggest race day at Ravendale Park Racecourse, inside the February to April sweet spot.
- SALT Festival 16-25 April
A ten day Southern Eyre Peninsula arts festival of performances, workshops, feasts and talks across Port Lincoln venues.
Best things to do in Port Lincoln
Calypso Star Charters
The one day great white cage dive to the Neptune Islands, with the largest boat and published shark sighting history.
Rodney Fox Shark Expeditions
A multi day liveaboard at the Neptune Islands with surface and ocean floor cages and expert shark research talks.
Adventure Bay Charters
Snorkel with playful endangered Australian sea lions in shallow clear water on a half day boat trip from the marina.
Lincoln National Park
Granite headlands, sheltered swimming coves and the Stamford Hill panorama over Boston Bay, 15 km south of town.
Experience Coffin Bay
Cruise to working oyster leases, learn to shuck, and eat Coffin Bay oysters minutes out of the water they grew in.
The Fresh Fish Place
A behind the scenes seafood factory tour with tastings, run by the people who process the local fleet catch.
Axel Stenross Maritime Museum
A handmade boatbuilders museum with workshop, slipway and model boats, and the best wet weather hour in town.
Mikkira Station Koala Sanctuary
Walk under manna gums spotting wild koalas at the only wild koala population on the Eyre Peninsula.
Where to stay in Port Lincoln
Foreshore
first trip, walkable all round base
Walk to the main restaurants, pubs, jetty and visitor centre, with Boston Bay directly across the road.
Lincoln Cove Marina
fishing, charters and quiet groups
A calm marina estate five minutes drive from town, ideal for early boats, with only one place to eat and drink.
King Street and Kirton Point
families, value and longer stays
A calmer local foreshore stretch with apartments, motels and the caravan park, walkable to town on the coastal trail.
Think twice about
- Proper Bay industrial and Lincoln Highway fringe
Not unsafe, but noisy with trucks, close to port industry, and with nothing to walk to. Stay on the foreshore, marina or Kirton Point instead.
- Coffin Bay as a main base
A lovely day trip 45 minutes away, but tiny, quiet at night and with limited eating hours. Base in Port Lincoln and visit for oysters and the national park.
Best restaurants in Port Lincoln
The Line & Label Restaurant at Teakle Wines
The regions one destination restaurant, built on its estate garden and whatever local fishers landed that day.
Fumo 28 Oyster Bar and Seafood
A boutique foreshore oyster bar with about eleven oyster preparations, whole whiting, tuna and a famed seafood curry.
Del Giorno's Cafe Restaurant
The big bay facing Italian seafood house open breakfast to dinner, known for its platter for two and seared tuna.
Sarin's Restaurant
The Port Lincoln Hotels restaurant, better than the label promises, with local mussels the dish reviewers name.
Oyster HQ
Waterfront lunch in Coffin Bay overlooking the water the oysters came from, the natural stop on an oyster day trip.
The Rogue & Rascal
The foreshore cafe locals rate for the best coffee since Adelaide, with colourful brunch plates over Boston Bay.
L'Anse French Cafe & Croissanterie
A French bakery cafe for twice baked croissants and mushroom benedict, the best non seafood breakfast in town.
Pizzeria Trieste
Thin blistered pizzas at takeaway prices, the standard cheap group dinner after a beach day.
Outdoor things to do in Port Lincoln
Whalers Way
A private permit only coastal drive past blowholes, sea caves and the cliffs of Cape Carnot, 30 minutes from town.
Memory Cove
A white sand wilderness cove capped at 15 vehicles a day by 4WD track and gate key, so the only footprints are yours.
Coffin Bay National Park
Dune fields, emus and the long near empty sweep of Almonta Beach, best paired with an oyster tour the same day.
Port Lincoln Golf Club
An 18 hole par 72 pine lined championship course 6 km from town, a good country test rather than a resort course.
Port Lincoln Town Jetty
Free jetty fishing for squid, garfish and whiting on the foreshore, the cheap end of the towns fishing obsession.
Fishery Bay
The locals surf and summer swim beach, a sweeping white bay with turquoise water 35 km south of town.
Boston Bay Wines
Small vineyard tastings above Boston Bay with seafood and cheese platters and the sea as the backdrop.
Teakle Wines
The estate cellar door behind Line and Label, where a tasting before a long lunch is the regions most polished half day.
Best hotels in Port Lincoln
Port Lincoln Hotel
The towns flagship hotel, with ocean view suites, spa baths, a pool and Sarins Restaurant over Boston Bay.
Marina Hotel
Waterfront suites and apartments over the marina with a deck restaurant, the quiet base for boat based trips.
Tasman Beachside Apartments
Self contained beachfront apartments with balconies, the mid range sweet spot for stays of three nights or more.
Limani Port Lincoln
Modern self contained foreshore apartments, a sound alternative when the Port Lincoln Hotel is full or at peak price.
Navigators Motel
A clean, honest budget motel a short walk from the foreshore, so you can save the money for a shark dive.
Kirton Point Caravan Park
Cabins and sites on the point with beach access and the foreshore trail into town, the cheapest sleep with a view.
Is Port Lincoln expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | A$140 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | A$260 a person |
| Splurge | A$600 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Calypso Star Charters: weeks ahead
- Rodney Fox Shark Expeditions: months ahead
- Adventure Bay Charters: weeks ahead
- Experience Coffin Bay: weeks ahead
- The Fresh Fish Place: a few days ahead
- Whalers Way: a few days ahead
- Memory Cove: weeks ahead
- Port Lincoln Golf Club: a few days ahead
- Book shark diving weeks to months ahead and early in your stay so weather delays can roll to a later day.
- Memory Cove is capped at 15 vehicles a day, Tunarama fills the towns rooms, and Line and Label is small, so book all three early.
- Book sea lion swims and Coffin Bay oyster tours with the shark trip in school holidays and January.
Is Port Lincoln safe?
- The ocean is the hazard, not the town. Surf beaches are unpatrolled with rips, cliffs at Whalers Way have limited fencing, and snakes use warm park tracks.
- Take seasickness medication before the Neptune Islands crossing, even if you are normally fine on boats.
- Emergency number is 000. Mobile coverage fades at Whalers Way, Memory Cove and in parts of both national parks.
Port Lincoln travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- A one day shark trip is wildlife watching with a long ocean crossing, not a guarantee. No operator can promise sharks.
- Town oysters are good, but oysters shucked on the lease at Coffin Bay are a different product. Do the tour before ordering a dozen in town.
- The Makybe Diva and Tuna Poler statues are five minute photo stops, not sights to build a morning around.
- Do not take a low 2WD to Whalers Way after rain or without the permit and key sorted. Go prepared or go guided.
Getting around Port Lincoln: public transport and more
- You need a car. Port Lincoln is a 50 minute flight from Adelaide or a seven to eight hour drive, and the parks, Whalers Way and Coffin Bay all require wheels.
- Make the Port Lincoln Visitor Information Centre your first stop for parks passes, the Whalers Way permit and key, and the capped Memory Cove pass.
- Walk the Parnkalla Trail between the foreshore, Kirton Point and the marina side to burn off a seafood platter.
Who Port Lincoln suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Port Lincoln your trip
Swearby drafts the days from places people swear by. Swap any stop, then invite the crew by text, even friends without the app. Vote on dates, track costs as you go, and everyone gets one number at the end.
Get Swearby on the App Store