Broken Head Nature Reserve

Kings Beach / Broken Head Nature Reserve

Broken Head Nature Reserve is a 98 hectare reserve beside the Broken Head headland, south of Suffolk Park in the Byron Shire. It protects one of the last intact stands of littoral rainforest in New South Wales, where the rainforest runs down to the beaches, including Kings Beach.

The reserve is on Bundjalung Country and is co-managed by NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and the Arakwal people.

Is Broken Head Nature Reserve open?

NPWS says the reserve is always open, but it may close in poor weather or high fire danger. Check NPWS for current alerts before you go. No works have been approved or scheduled anywhere in the reserve.

Getting to Broken Head

• From Byron Bay: drive south on Broken Head Road. About 2 km south of Suffolk Park, turn left into Broken Head Reserve Road and continue about 3 km to the end, where you'll find the picnic area and Broken Head Beach.
• From Ballina: drive north through Lennox Head on Byron Bay Road for about 12 km, turn right into Broken Head Reserve Road and continue about 3 km to the end.
• Kings Beach: has its own small car park on Seven Mile Beach Road. See directions and parking for Kings Beach.

Parking and fees

Vehicle entry is $4 an hour, paid by card or phone at the pay machines, or in cash or by card at the NPWS office at 22 Tallow Beach Road, Byron Bay. NSW national park passes are accepted. There is accessible parking at the Broken Head picnic area.

Broken Head picnic area

The picnic area at the end of Broken Head Reserve Road has toilets, showers, picnic tables, barbecues, drinking water and a public phone. It sits behind Broken Head Beach, with grass and shade at the rainforest edge. It is the starting point for the Three Sisters walk.

Beaches

• Broken Head Beach is in front of the picnic area, and is used for swimming, surfing and fishing. Check the marine park zoning maps before you fish.
• Kings Beach is a small walk-in beach reached by a steep track with stairs from its own car park.

None of the beaches in the reserve are patrolled, and NPWS warns of strong rip currents. The safest place to swim is a patrolled beach, between the red and yellow flags.

Broken Head walks

Three Sisters walking track

The Three Sisters walking track goes through the rainforest to a lookout over Kings Beach.

• Distance: 1.6 km return
• Time: 30 to 45 minutes
• Grade: 2. No wheelchair access.
• Bring: water, a hat and sunscreen, and binoculars if you want to look for whales or birds

The lookout is a good place to watch for migrating whales between May and November, and for white-bellied sea eagles. The headland has wildflowers in winter and spring.

Kings Beach track

A shorter but steeper track leads from the Kings Beach car park down to the beach. Allow about 15 minutes each way. See our Kings Beach guide.

The Three Sisters

The Three Sisters, previously called Cocked Hat Rocks, are rocky outcrops off the headland and an important Arakwal cultural site. NPWS records that the story behind them tells of a young woman caught in a strong current while swimming here and her sisters who tried to save her, and that it was told to warn children about the dangerous currents. The NPWS page on the reserve has more.

Plants and wildlife

NPWS counts about 240 plant species in the reserve, 12 of them threatened in NSW and six threatened nationally. It protects three endangered plant communities: littoral and lowland rainforest, headland grasses and woodlands. The white lace flower tree, with fluffy white flowers in summer, grows along the entrance road.

Birdwatchers come for the migratory and nomadic birds, including the threatened wompoo fruit-dove. Brush turkeys are common along the tracks, and flying-foxes and microbats feed in the reserve.

Rules

• Pets are not permitted, apart from certified assistance animals.
• The reserve is a no-smoking area.
• Recreational drones need an NPWS permit, applied for at least 10 days ahead.
• The water off Kings Beach is the Broken Head Sanctuary Zone of Cape Byron Marine Park, where fishing and spearfishing are not allowed.
• Mobile reception is limited. NPWS recommends installing the Emergency Plus app before you visit.

About us

Dam Kings Beach is a community group in the Byron Shire. We have proposed a salt containment wall at Kings Beach, which has not been approved. Nothing has changed for visitors to the reserve. Read the proposal.

Visitor information on this page is drawn from NPWS and was last checked on 3 November 2026. Conditions and fees change, so treat NPWS as the current source. NPWS has not reviewed or endorsed this page.