Camping on Whitehaven Beach.

The cheapest way to stay on White Haven Beach.

Scamper island camping.

We spent three days camping on Whitehaven beach and it was not even really close to enough, one or two more nights would have been perfect but it was still an amazing experience. Having a beach that has been rated in the top ten beaches in the world on countless lists all to yourself for sunset and sunrise is a pretty incredible experience especially considering how unbelievably crowded it is during the day. All to yourself kind of means with a handful of other campers, in our case I think it was 6 or 8 other people, but everyone kind of finds their own spot and its chill.

We checked out a few day trips to Whitehaven Beach and Whitsunday island camping and most of them started at about $150 AUD and up and most were for only a few hours on the sand then another stop at the lookout point and then home before sunset. If that is all you are after then that’s fine but we actually wanted to spend some time on the beach, walk, swim, see the sunrise and fall and actually spend the night.

Getting to Whitehaven Beach

After some asking around we found a company called Scamper(you can check their current rates out here), which will take you out in the morning and drop you off at Whitehaven or any of the other islands in the area if you would prefer one of them instead. They will then pick you up on the day you choose at around lunchtime also.

They picked us up at around 9 am from the airport ferry dock. We were a little worried about the boat ride but the sea was mostly flat and the ride itself only takes about 45 minutes. Sometimes with one or two other stops if people have decided to stay on another island.

We already had all our own camping gear so we were good to go. Although you can rock up completely clueless with no gear and they will give you everything you need. I think prices started at about $40 per night for the first night then $20 per night after that but double check with them. They also provide water for the duration of your stay. Which you need because the days are hot and there is no water out there at all. Except for the ocean, don’t try and drink the ocean.

You do however have to provide all your own food, duh, which is fine really, exactly the same as any other camping trip. The other thing you need to do is pay for your camping spot. There are only 36 available so I would suggest booking a little in advance. We didn’t, but it was the middle of winter so there were not so many people around. You can book it online here or over the counter probably anywhere you can book tours in Airlie. It is $7 per night per person so that is nothing really.

So we woke up here every morning for 3 days with almost no one else around which I have to say was pretty special really. We were the first ones on the beach two out of the three days.

The campsites are actually just a little off the beach and most day trippers would only see one or two at best. We happened to be lucky enough to get the prime real estate right on the tree line.

We filled our days walking to the end of the beach and back, swimming, snorkeling, and reading. Despite the fact, it was the middle of winter the water was still so warm and neither of us had any kind of problem with stingers.

One thing you will probably notice almost instantly is some real Aussie wildlife. If you are not from Australia this may be potentially scary. But one of the first things we saw while setting up our campsite was a massive goanna. It is like a really really big scaley lizard with huge claws. Super cool and prehistoric.

Camping Whitehaven beach

It is on everyone’s visit list when they come to Australia for a reason and this was by far the cheapest way to experience Whitehaven Beach. For the cost of one person, it was $155 for the boat plus $7 per night for the camping pass. After food for a few days, the total cost was about $200 for 3 nights. Which is almost nothing for an experience like that and I would gladly do it again in a heartbeat!

If you want to get a little fancy and take a plane over to the island then you can take a plane to the island which is probably a super cool experience. We try to limit our flying just due to environmental factors but if that is not a concern of yours then you should go for it.

There are a few different options for this also you can find almost all info and pricing here

At no extra cost to you, some of the links in this article are affiliate links and by using them Sara and I receive a small commission. This goes towards helping us continue to explore and write articles like this. 😁

THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE YOU GO CAMPING AT WHITEHAVEN BEACH

I covered some of this earlier but here is a revised quick version

You need to bring all of your water
You need to bring all of your food
Do no use your food to feed the animals, I know it is tempting but it is an overall bad practice as they become dependant on humans and make sure they can not get to it at night.
There are only pit toilets and no water.
I’d probably bring toilet paper as well.
You must take out all of your trash with you, we took a bunch off the beach as well.
Bring a hoody as it can get a little chilly at night.