Top 10 Places To Visit in 2024 (Travel Year)

What's up guys, my name is Ryan and I recently returned from exploring Down Under and I want to share with you my favorite places, so here is my Australia Top 10. Australia is a massive country home to some of the world's most beautiful and diverse landscapes. From the pristine beaches of Esperance to the tropical island of Lord Howe, Australia is waiting to be experienced. Let's start this video off on Tasmania. Located off of Australia's southeast coast, Tasmania is an island home to some of the country's best nature and wildlife. I spent a few days road tripping Tasmania and I was blown away by the beauty of this place. One of the main reasons I wanted to come here was to visit Cradle Mountain. It's located in the central highlands of Tasmania and the area is part of Cradle Mountain Lake-St. Clair National Park and it's home to some of the most beautiful scenery in Tasmania. What really drew me to the area is the wombats. They're the cutest animals I've ever seen and there was this place called Ronnie Creek where you could go on these raised walkways and we saw at least 20 wombats. I mean it was so peaceful to hear them munch on the grass. We can talk about nature ASMR. Now another incredible place in Tasmania is Cape Hue. Located on the Tasman Peninsula, Cape Hue is home to some of the tallest sea cliffs in the southern hemisphere. You can reach it by a 10km hike, but we decided to take a boat tour out to Cape Hue. It took us about an hour to get there and the views along the way were amazing. Once we reached Cape Hue, I was just amazed by the size of the rocks and sea cliffs and it was such a spectacular area. After, we're going to head to the mainline to visit Western Australia. Before I came to Australia, I thought it would be feasible to road trip across the country in a day or two until I realized it was a 40 hour drive from Sydney. The 4 hour flight is definitely a faster option, but if you want to do a week or two road trip, it would be an incredible drive. Now the capital of Western Australia is Perth, which is the 4th most populous city in the country. What I particularly liked about Western Australia is its coastline. The beaches are home to white sands, crystal clear waters, and kangaroos just chilling on the beaches. The area around Esperance is particularly beautiful. It's home to some of the whitest sand in Australia and the world. I can't believe the beauty of this place. A special thanks to my friend Earthwiz Tom for sharing his footage of Esperance. He makes great videos of Australia and I'll link his channel in the description One of my favorite beaches in Esperance is Twilight Beach. It's located 10 minutes outside the town of Esperance and it has this massive rock just off the coast that is popular for some cliff jumping. Another beautiful place in the area is Cape Legrand. It's a pristine coastline home to these untouched beaches and maybe you'll see some kangaroos roaming around. After, we're going to head into Australia's center to visit the outback. Now when you look at Australia from space, you'll notice that basically all the cities are on the coast, but the interior of the country is an orange desolate landscape with hardly anyone living there and that's the outback. The most iconic landmark in the outback is Uluru or Ayers Rock. It's a massive monolith made up of sandstone. You can reach the area by flying into the nearby town of Eulala or also by making the four-hour drive from Alice Springs. Now Uluru is a sacred site for the indigenous Australians and it's believed to be a resting place for ancient spirits. There's definitely an energy there and it's just bizarre how it sits alone in the desolate outback. Afterwards, we're going to head over to Brisbane. Located on the east coast, Brisbane was founded in 1824 and today it's the third most populous city in Australia and the capital of Queensland. It's a beautiful city built on the Brisbane River and has an average of 260 days of sunshine per year. Just an hour from Brisbane is the Gold Coast which is this incredible city with a huge beach contrasted with skyscrapers. If you want a more natural setting, you can embark to the Glasshouse Mountains. Located about an hour's drive from Brisbane, the Glasshouse Mountains are a group of 13 volcanic peaks. They are some of the most peculiar mountains I've ever seen. The tallest is Mount Birwa with an elevation of 556 meters. If you want to see them from the air, you can take a scenic plane tour to witness these unique mountains. After, we're going to visit Whitehaven Beach. Regularly voted as one of the best beaches in the world, Whitehaven Beach is located on the Whitsunday Island and you can reach it by taking a boat or seaplane. The boat tour is the most affordable option and you can reach Whitehaven by departing from places such as Airlie Beach or Chute Harbor on the mainland. Once you arrive at Whitehaven, you'll be amazed by the surrounding scenery. The sand is made up of silica giving it its white color and when combined with the blue ocean water, it creates this swirly turquoise mix that winds back into the island's inlet and it's just incredible to look at. You can get an elevated view of the area from the hill inlet lookout. I mean this place is on another level. Another incredible destination on the nearby mainland is Cape Hillsborough National Park. Now when I imagine Australia, kangaroos on the beach always come to mind and Cape Hillsborough is one of the best places in the country to see them roaming on the coast. If you want the best chances of seeing them, you can wake up around 5 a.m to witness the kangaroos and wallabies on the beach for sunrise. I mean it's such an incredible setting with the rising sun and the kangaroos feeding on the After we're going to head back to the ocean to visit probably one of the most famous places in Australia, the Great Barrier Reef. It's located in the northeastern coast of Australia and it's the biggest reef system in the world stretching over 2,300 kilometers. It can be seen from space and is the world's largest structure made by living organisms. It's easy to see why it's one of the seven natural wonders of the world. It's home to over 10% of all the ocean's fish species and there's also plenty of whales and sharks. I mean it would be a dream to scuba dive here one day. A potential city to access the Great Barrier Reef from is Cairns. It's located near some of the most prime coral reefs and islands of the Great Barrier Reef and you can reach it by taking a 40 minute boat ride from Cairns. Afterwards we're going to head up north to visit the Daintree Rainforest. Located about a three hours drive from Cairns, the Daintree Rainforest is a combination of massive mountains, pristine beaches, and possibly the oldest rainforest in the world which began over 110 million years ago. The rainforest is home to animals such as the southern cassowary and I particularly like the area around Cape Tribulation. I mean it's just so scenic with mountains covered in lush vegetation. It's definitely one of my favorite places in Australia when it comes to natural beauty. After we're going to head back to Australia's cities to visit Sydney. Located on the southeast coast, Sydney was founded back in 1788 as a British penal colony and today it's the most populous city in Australia of around 5 million people. It's home to the world famous Opera House which was opened in 1973. I really like the beaches around Sydney. One of the most famous ones is Bondi Beach. It's located just 20 minutes outside of Sydney and it's a massive beach and has some really cool pools alongside the ocean. Just down the coast is also Bronte Beach. It's smaller than Bondi Beach but has its own charm and there's this really cool public pool called Bronte Baths that you can get in if you don't want to swim in the ocean. A beautiful place outside of Sydney is the Blue Mountains. They are located about an hour and a half's drive from Sydney and it's this incredible mountain range that has a famous distinct color due to a combination of eucalyptus oil droplets from the forest combining with water vapor and dust creating a blue hue. A great lookout point in the mountains is from the Three Sisters. It's only a short walk to the lookout and you get an amazing view of the rock pinnacles and the mountains in the background. After we're going to head to Melbourne. Located in the state of Victoria about a nine hours drive from Sydney. Melbourne is the second most populous city in Australia and was ranked the world's most livable city seven years in a row. There's a lot to do around Melbourne such as taking a drive through the scenic Blacksburg Forest. One of the most famous places in the area is the Twelve Apostles. Located about a three hours drive from Melbourne, the Twelve Apostles is a set of lonesome sea stacks. There was originally eight of them but one collapsed in 2005 due to the constant erosion of waves and wind. While you're there you can morrow out the stacks from the boardwalk and many viewpoints. For our final destination we're going to visit Lord Howe Island. Located in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, you can reach Lord Howe Island by taking a two-hour flight from Sydney. The island is just insanely beautiful. It's called the Hawaii of Australia and after visiting it I understand why. There can only be 400 tourists on the island at a time and another interesting fact about Lord Howe is that it's the largest island ever to eradicate all its rats which in turn has allowed the birds and wildlife to flourish here. One of the main reasons I wanted to go to Lord Howe Island was to visit Ball's Pyramid. It's the tallest sea stack in the world with a height of 572 meters. It's one of the wildest rock formations I've ever seen as it sits alone in the desolate ocean. Now to get to Ball's Pyramid it was about an hour boat ride from Lord Howe Island. We went to this tour company called Reef and Beyond Eco Tours and it was an adventure getting there. We boated around the entire sea stack and I was just baffled by the scale of this place. I felt like Jack Sparrow discovering a treacherous island. We were going to snorkel in the water but the sea was too rough so it wasn't possible. After exploring Ball's Pyramid, we headed back to Lord Howe Island and got some incredible views on the way. While we were on Lord Howe, we had bikes to get around and we did some great hikes. One of my favorites was Malabar Kims. There were some incredible views of the sea cliffs and then we walked on the ridge line to Kim's Lookout and we were able to get an amazing view of the full island. I mean this place is paradise. Another one of my favorite things that we did on the island was snorkeling. Lord Howe is home to the southernmost coral reef in the world so there's tons of great snorkeling spots. We went to Ned's Beach and had a great time swimming in the warm clear waters. We saw plenty of fish and a few sea turtles. Now for sunset, I love going down to Lagoon Beach to watch the sun light up the mountains of Lord Howe. Places don't get more perfect than this island. Well that is it for my Australia top 10. I'm barely scratching the surface. I mean there's so much to see in this incredible country so I'll be back for part two. Let me know where your favorite place is in Australia in the comments below. You can find me on Instagram and TikTok at shirley.films. It's Ryan and we will see you later!