How to Enjoy a Weekend Getaway in Newcastle: NSW’s Coolest City

From warehouse art exhibitions to the lively hum of Darby Street’s best restaurants and Australia’s prettiest beaches, Newcastle keeps visitors guessing in the best way possible.

Too often swept into the shadows by showy Sydney, Newcastle, the port city underdog, has undergone one of the biggest transformations in Australia over the past ten years. This unassuming coastal haven has emerged as the country's most underrated weekend escape, a place where surf culture collides with a thriving food and bar scene, and industrial spaces have been reborn as world-class art hubs.

The second largest city in New South Wales, and set at the mouth of the beautiful Hunter River, Newcastle is a place that rewards the curious. Scratch beneath the surface and you'll uncover an energetic city buzzing with cool stuff to see and do. Here’s how to spend an excellent long weekend getaway in Newcastle.

Newcastle's coastline isn't just beautiful, it's democratic. Surfers, families, miners, artists, and everyone in between share the waters with an egalitarian spirit that feels increasingly rare in Australia's coastal enclaves.

Newcastle Beach stands as the city's centrepiece, a stretch of golden sand where you’ll also find the famous Art Deco Ocean Baths. A magnificent 1930s construction of pastel cement and beautiful lines, it looks like it was designed by Wes Anderson. As dawn breaks, veteran swimmers perform the same laps they’ve been practicing for decades while young families splash in the shallow, warm rockpools next door.  

Head North and you’ll find Nobbys Beach along the spit, which is watched over by its historic lighthouse. This is where the Hunter River meets the ocean and serves as the entry to what is one of the world's largest coal export ports. Nearby Nobbys beach is enjoyed by families, surfers, ocean swimmers, and beach volleyball enthusiasts. The breakwall walk provides the city's best perspective: industrial ships on one side, surfers carving waves on the other.

Head in the other direction along The Bathers Way coastal walk and it will take you to Merewether Beach. It’s home to some of the most consistent breaks on the coast and plays host to Australia’s biggest surfing competition, Surfest. Merewether Baths, the largest ocean pools in the entire Southern Hemisphere, offer a saltwater sanctuary when the waves get gnarly.  

Locals love: Venture further South for the quieter sands of Redhead Beach and you'll find a vast expanse bordered by dramatic red cliffs that give the place its name. While an old fashioned shark tower stands sentinel, a reminder that you're playing in someone else's domain, the beach has a dog-friendly section and long breaking waves.

Newcastle's impressive food scene has evolved swiftly over the past decade, driven by chefs looking for creative freedom without Sydney's crushing overheads. At the award-winning humbug in the city's west end, the small plate menu changes with obsessive regularity, but the approach remains consistent - showcasing regional produce with minimal interference. The charred octopus with XO sauce might be one of the tastiest plates of food in the region.

Up on King Street, pull back the red curtain at Arno Deli and you’re stepping into a mini-Italy, shelves packed with authentic gourmet treats. Regulars swear by the #15 Porchetta panini (there’s another porchetta sandwich too, but this one's the star), featuring house-made porchetta and ham glazed on-site with a splash of Campari. Everything is tucked neatly between slices of locally baked schiacciata from St Malo. Round it all off with an espresso from The Little Marionette and one of their signature cannoli. The crisp shells arrive direct from Sicily, filled to order with sweet sheep's milk ricotta.

Newly hatted, Bistro Penny marks the debut restaurant from acclaimed Kiwi chef Joel Humphreys, whose impressive CV includes stints at culinary icons St John, Rockpool, Bistro Moncur, and local favourite Scotties. Humphreys champions local produce, marrying it beautifully with traditional French techniques and open-flame grilling. To complement the fare, the wine list thoughtfully showcases top drops from Australia and France.

Locals love: Under gorgeous double-height ceilings and tropical greenery, Light Years on Darby Street (the culinary capital of Newcastle) brings the full force of Vietnamese complexity. This is a shared plate style restaurant that is perfect for communal groups of four to six. Quite a few dishes require personal construction making it fun and interactive too.

Just an hour's drive from Newcastle's coast will get you to the start of the Hunter Valley, Australia's oldest wine region where traditional vineyards grow happily alongside experimental winemakers pushing boundaries. Audrey Wilkinson has one of the most popular cellar doors and a vineyard perched high on a hillside with panoramic views that justify the journey alone. Their semillon provides a masterclass in why this grape thrives in the Hunter's unique conditions.

Scarborough Wine Co., on the other hand, maintains a relaxed approachability without sacrificing seriousness about their craft. The side-by-side chardonnay tasting flight demonstrates how subtle variations in barrel treatment can transform the same fruit into dramatically different expressions.

Head to Brokenwood vineyard and learn how the label has grown from boutique to significant producer without losing its soul. Taste their flagship Graveyard Vineyard Shiraz to understand why the Hunter's medium-bodied, savoury take on this variety deserves the attention it’s been getting. 

Locals love: To get real a sense of the viticulture community, stop by First Creek Wines for an education. This is a winemaking facility that processes fruit for numerous small producers who lack their own equipment and offers insight into the diversity possible within a relatively compact region, from traditional styles to exciting natural wines.

Newcastle's transformation is perhaps most evident in its approach to the arts, repurposing the shells of its industrial past rather than bulldozing them. The Lock-Up, for example, is a former police station and remand centre where miners and protesters once awaited judgment; now houses cutting-edge contemporary art. The cells themselves serve as intimate installation spaces, each with their own haunted acoustics and light patterns.

During the beloved This is Not Art (TiNA) festival, the whole city becomes a laboratory for experimental work that would struggle to find footing in more commercially driven arts scenes. Performance artists reclaim public spaces, writers conduct late night readings in abandoned tunnels, and music spills from all manner of unusual venues. In September the city walls themselves become canvases during the Big Picture Festival, where international and local artists transform building facades with murals that reference both Newcastle's history and possible futures.

Locals love: In spring the New Annual festival sees performances infiltrate unexpected spaces (dance in parking garages, music in abandoned power stations) creating experiences specific to Newcastle.

The airy and bright Mercure Newcastle is a strategically positioned base for exploring the city, it’s within walking distance of the Honeysuckle waterfront on the Hunter River, and Newcastle Interchange, making car-free exploration easy through the city's excellent light rail system.

From the hotel, you're only a 15-minute stroll to Darby Street’s buzzy restaurants, cafes, and boutiques. Guests can also enjoy the private pool, in-house dining at Distrikt Café and Bar, and 24 hour express self-check-in and check-out kiosks.

Newcastle still feels like a secret that more and more visitors are being let in on. Those expecting a miniature Sydney will be surprised to the abundance of things to do in Newcastle. When you visit for your next weekend getaway, you'll find a dynamic city, where gastronomy, excellent wine, arts and culture meet the sea.