Misery Beach

Misery Beach is a small, seclud­ed and pret­ty beach, 21 kilo­metres south of Albany in the Torndirrup Nation­al Park.

It's a quiet, little known beach, with bright white sands, turquo­ise waters, and dramatic granite out­crops. Facing north, it is relatively shelter­ed and suit­able for sun bath­ing, swim­ming, snorkel­ing and fish­ing.

In 2022, Misery Beach was voted "Best Beach in Australia" by Tour­ism Australia, the senti­ment being that visitors are look­ing for some­­thing beauti­ful, seclud­ed and worth a little ex­plor­ing to find, and that many of the country's most popular beaches have become over­crowd­ed, over­us­ed and losing their natur­al charm.

Misery Beach is similar in feel to Little Beach, another highly rated local beach near Peace­ful Bay.

Historic­ally, Misery Beach was named for the offal that would wash ashore from the nearby whal­ing stat­ion, stain­ing the sands with blood and gore. Since the station's clos­ure in 1978, the beach has natur­ally renew­ed into the dazzl­ing gem it is today.

The whal­ing stat­ion itself is now a poplar museum, com­plete with whale chaser boat, whale skeletons, inter­act­ive dis­plays, guid­ed tours and a cafe.

Misery Beach is locat­ed 20 kilo­metres South of Albany in the Torndirrup Nation­al Park, close to Albany's Historic Whal­ing Stat­ion, Salmon Holes Beach and Bald Head, and nearby Gap and Natur­al Bridge.

Acc­ess­ible by 2 wheel drive, a small cark park leads to trail and steps down to the beach itself. There are no toi­lets or drink­ing water. Dogs and camp­ing are not per­mitt­ed.

Article updated 06/04/2022