The spectacular Burning Palms Beach.

Burning palms is one of the best beaches in Sydney. You might just don’t know about it yet.
Tucked away in the royal national park it’s pretty hard to get to, but mostly secluded due to the effort to get there.
It’s right next to the more famous firgue 8 pool and I’d say because of that it is overshadowed in fame but it shouldn’t be as it’s a awesome place to hike to and plenty of great locations to take some cool pictures of.
The nature of the landscape because of the high cliffs allows you to get various high points both north and South and with the beautiful sand it makes for a great scene.

Getting there
There are a couple of ways to get there.
The fastest one is to get onto Sir Bertram Stevens Drive in the Royal National Park and then immediately turn onto Garawarra Farm Road and park in the the carpark. From the car park it’s around a 20 minute easy walk to the beach.

If you’re looking for more of a challenging hike, head to the Otford Lookout (overlooking the coast) which is a short walk north from Orford train station.

Then follow the signs to the track in the Royal National Park and its about 2 hour hike in to the beach.

Once you’re on that track you’ll hit a fork in the road, take the one going right to the challenging but spectacular hike the Jungle Loop track.

Going down is pretty easy as it’s downhill with a few stairs along the way. But coming up can be brutal so be prepared and wear appropriate shoes and clothing.

On my latest trip I came across a lady in jeans and heals. I’m sure it took her 4 hours to get back to Orford like that. So best to be prepared for the actual terrain not not plans after.

Once you get to Burning Palms Beach if you’re up for it you can get to the Figure 8 pools. It’s just another 20 min walk South along the rocks. Again it can be a be dangerous if you’re fitness is not the best. So follow the advice on the Royal National Park website as a safe bet.