Sydney · Moderate · There and back

Bundeena to Wedding Cake Rock and Marley Beach

From the Bundeena ferry to Royal National Park's Coast Track, past Wedding Cake Rock to Marley Beach and back the same way.

Distance
11.5 km (7.1 mi)
Ascent
260 m
Time
About 3 h 30 min
High point
64 m
Grade
Moderate

Line © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), checked by Global Adventurer.

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Bundeena to Wedding Cake Rock and Marley Beach
Philip Terry Graham · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The walk

From the ferry wharf at Bundeena, walk up through the village to the end of Beachcomber Avenue, where the Coast Track begins. The track heads south over low coastal heath close to the cliff tops, with views down to Little Marley. About an hour from the village it reaches Wedding Cake Rock, a block of white sandstone on the cliff edge, seen from behind its fence. Carry on along the cliffs and down to the north end of Marley Beach, then return the same way.

It is 11.5 km there and back with 260 m of ascent; allow about 3½ hours. The grade is Moderate: a rough, sandy and rocky track, steep in places, with almost no shade.

The sandstone of Wedding Cake Rock is unstable and can collapse, and a permanent fence keeps people off it: stay behind the fence and back from every cliff edge. There are no lifeguards at Marley Beach and the surf can be rough. Take plenty of water, sun protection and food.

Ferries cross Port Hacking to Bundeena from Cronulla, at the end of a Sydney train line. Walkers arriving on foot pay no park entry fee; drivers pay $12 a day.

Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap paths (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with figures worked out from it. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.

Good to know

  • Royal National Park, declared in 1879, is often called the second national park in the world after Yellowstone
  • Wedding Cake Rock is a block of white sandstone on the cliff edge; iron leaching out of it has left the rock soft and liable to collapse
  • The Coast Track runs 27 km along the park's sea cliffs from Bundeena to Otford
  • Bundeena is reached by ferry across Port Hacking from Cronulla, at the end of a Sydney train line

Getting there

Start: Bundeena ferry wharf. -34.08272, 151.15067

Directions to the start

Google Maps Apple Maps

Places to stay nearby

Rooms in and around Cronulla: Booking.com → Expedia → Hotels.com →

Affiliate links: if you book, Global Adventurer earns a small commission at no cost to you.

Paths change, and the weather decides the day. The line and figures come from OpenStreetMap and our own checks; take a map, check the forecast, and turn back if it isn't right.