Gold Coast Pro accommodation — two surf events, one base, from $125
- Burleigh Gold Coast Motel
- May 5
- 8 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
Most people planning this trip only know about one event. Snapper Rocks hosts the Championship Tour stop in May, and it's the one that fills Coolangatta. But there's a second one, it's free, it's in February, and it runs at Burleigh Heads — now the last stop on the tram line, a few minutes south of our corner.
Book once, and you can do both. Gold Coast Pro accommodation gets expensive the closer you get to Snapper, and Coolangatta books out early — so we're 15km north of it, from $125 a night, with Burleigh Beach 200m down Sixth Avenue.
Coffee before the comp — Coolangatta cafes, 15 minutes from our motel Snapper Rocks event atmosphere — WSL Gold Coast Pro Sunset at Kirra Beach — 15 minutes from Burleigh Gold Coast Motel
Snapper Rocks is locked in through 2028
You don't need to wonder whether the Championship Tour is coming back. The World Surf League, Experience Gold Coast and Tourism and Events Queensland signed Snapper Rocks onto the CT schedule from 2025 through 2028, so 2027 and 2028 are already secured. Only the dates are pending.
Going by the last two seasons, the window lands in the first half of May and the full CT calendar is published in the months before the season opens. When the 2027 dates drop, they'll go straight into our
Watch the official event page for the announcement.
The Gold Coast Open — pro surfing at Burleigh, in February
This is the one worth knowing about, because it happens at the break at the end of our street.
The Gold Coast Open was upgraded to a WSL Qualifying Series 4000 event in 2026, its first year at that rating after previous editions ran as a QS 1000. That upgrade made it one of the biggest stops on the Australia/Oceania regional tour, and it pulled a field of more than 175 surfers across five days at Burleigh Heads in February.
It's free to watch, and there's a proper event village on the sand: sunrise yoga and pilates, women's group surfing sessions with Sirens Surf Club, food trucks, a skate ramp with professional demos and clinics, a pop-up beach bar, and live music through the afternoons. The finals are broadcast live on the weekend.
Third-party listings have the 2027 event pencilled for February at Burleigh Heads Beach, but Surfing Queensland hasn't confirmed dates yet. Watch surfingqueensland.com.au for the announcement.
One piece of history worth knowing while you're standing on that headland: the Gold Coast Open descends from the Stubbies Surf Classic, first run at Burleigh in 1977. Peter Drouyn invented the man-on-man heat format there, and every professional and grassroots surf contest in the world now uses it.
Kirra Beach at sunrise — the Superbank at its finest Snapper Rocks — world-class right-hand point break, 15 minutes from our motel Kirra Beach — on the way to Snapper from our mote
The locals worth watching
If you're coming for the surfing rather than the names on the poster, these are the ones to keep an eye on.
Liam O'Brien — Burleigh's own. Three straight seasons on the Championship Tour before dropping off in 2025, and he's been pushing to requalify since. His semifinal against Ethan Ewing at Snapper in 2026 was the loudest heat of the event. He surfed the Gold Coast Open at his home break too.
Tom Whitpaine — Burleigh Boardriders. Knocked out the defending Gold Coast Open champion Morgan Cibilic in the early rounds in February 2026. Club-level surfer, national-level result.
Dane Henry and Isla Huppatz — both crowned WSL World Junior Champions for 2025, and both went on to win the 2026 Gold Coast Open at Burleigh. Huppatz took the women's final over Milla Coco Brown. If either makes the Challenger Series cut, you saw them here first.
Myra Brown — Snapper Rocks Surfriders, and one of the standouts of the Under 12 Girls division at the 21st Billabong Occy's Grom Comp in July 2026. Eight junior champions were crowned at Snapper that week. That contest is where most of the names above started.
And then there's Stephanie Gilmore, who is not exactly up and coming. She won her seventh Gold Coast Pro title at Snapper in 2026 at 38, twenty-one years after taking her first CT win there as a 17-year-old wildcard. She also pulled on a Qualifying Series jersey at Burleigh in February for the first time in seven years.
What happened at Snapper in 2026
The Bonsoy Gold Coast Pro presented by GWM ran 1–11 May 2026 as the third stop of the Championship Tour, and it was the Superbank's first CT event since 2018. Four straight days of firing conditions.
Stephanie Gilmore won the women's event — her 34th CT victory and seventh at Snapper — beating Erin Brooks, defending champion Bettylou Sakura Johnson, 2024 World Champion Caity Simmers, rookie Nadia Erostarbe, and finally Luana Silva in the final. Silva went to world No. 1 for the first time in her career.
Ethan Ewing took the men's title, becoming the tenth Australian man to win at Snapper alongside Mick Fanning and Joel Parkinson. He posted an 8.33 in the final against Connor O'Leary. Surfing Queensland covered it in full.
Clean, comfortable rooms from $125/night — book early for 2027 Triple room — sleeps 3, from $165/night. Great for surf trip groups Burleigh Gold Coast Motel — 15 minutes from Snapper Rocks, from $125/night
Gold Coast Pro accommodation: why Burleigh works for both events
Most people searching for Gold Coast Pro accommodation end up looking at Coolangatta and Kirra, where rooms run $300 and up during the May event and book out early. We're 15km north of Snapper and about 2km from the Burleigh contest site, which means one booking covers both.
From $125/night, no platform fees and no resort fees when you book direct
Burleigh Heads — the Gold Coast Open site, roughly a 25-minute walk along the Oceanway, or a few minutes south on the tram
Snapper Rocks — 15km south, around 20 minutes by car
Free parking on site, one permit per room, subject to availability
Burleigh Beach 200m down Sixth Avenue, about a two-minute walk. Check the swell before you commit to the drive
Outdoor pool, open all year and free for guests
Paddock Bakery 150m, open from 6am
4.7 stars on Google, and named Best Budget-Friendly Accommodation in Burleigh Heads in the Virgin Australia Where to Stay guide
Getting to the breaks
The transport picture changed in August 2026, when G:link light rail opened south to Burleigh Heads.
The tram — the Christine Avenue stop is on our corner. South to Second Avenue and Burleigh Heads for the Gold Coast Open. North to Broadbeach, Surfers Paradise and Southport.
Bus 765 — also on our corner.
Buses 700 and 777 — at Miami One, about 300m away. The 700 runs south along the Gold Coast Highway toward Currumbin, Coolangatta and Snapper. The 777 goes to Gold Coast Airport.
Fares — 50 cents a journey with a go card or contactless tap on and off.
Park and Ride at Snapper — in 2026 the WSL ran parking at Jarvis Lane for $5 with a free shuttle to the contest site every 30 minutes, 7am to 5pm on competition days only. Expect something similar in 2027.
Kirra, and the wave in between
Between Burleigh and Snapper sits Kirra — another world-class right that feeds into the Superbank when the swell lines up. When Snapper was pumping in 2026, Kirra fired too. Worth a paddle if you've brought a board, worth watching from the headland if you haven't.
Burleigh has its own right-hander off the headland at the southern end of the beach. Not Snapper, but it's a two-minute walk and it's where the Gold Coast Open is decided. More on the breaks in our Gold Coast beaches and surf guide.
Bring the crew — interconnecting rooms sleep 5–6
Surf trips are rarely a solo exercise. Someone has a car, someone has the good boards, and everyone wants the cost split six ways.
The interconnecting option is two rooms with a door between them, which means two separate living areas rather than six people in one. Sleeps five to six from $295 a night. You get two of everything:
Two bathrooms
Two flat-screen TVs
Two bar fridges, two microwaves, two kettles
Two air conditioners, set however each room wants them
A door between the two you can leave open or shut
That last one does more work than it sounds like. Half the crew wants to be in the water for first light and half doesn't. Two couples want to share a booking without sharing a bathroom. Someone snores. With two rooms you just close the door.
Here's what the whole range works out to per person, per night, at our starting rates:
Family, five sharing — $195 — about $39 each. The cheapest per head we do
Quad, four sharing — $185 — about $46 each
Interconnecting, six sharing — $295 — about $49 each
Interconnecting, five sharing — $295 — $59 each
Triple, three sharing — $165 — $55 each
Double, two sharing — $125 — about $63 each
The family room is the cheapest per head, and it's one room. The interconnecting is two. Ten dollars a head is what a second living area and a second bathroom costs you.
There's a coin laundry on site, which matters more than you'd think after four days of salt. Reception runs 9am to 7:30pm, so if you're chasing light until dusk, call ahead on (07) 5576 3211 and we'll sort the arrival.
Good for the rest of the year, too
The group rooms aren't just a surf-event thing.
February — the Gold Coast Open at Burleigh
May — the Championship Tour stop at Snapper, and Blues on Broadbeach on 13–16 May 2027
May to August — the swell season, when the points are working and the town is quiet
July — the Billabong Occy's Grom Comp at Snapper, when half the country's junior surfers and their families come north
School holidays and long weekends — families and mates' trips, when the family and interconnecting rooms go first
Our rooms
We're a family-run 36-room motel on the Gold Coast Highway in Miami, on the corner of Christine Avenue, between Burleigh Heads and Miami Beach.
Double — sleeps 2 — from $125/night
Triple, ground floor — sleeps 3 — from $165/night. No stairs
Triple, upstairs — sleeps 3 — from $165/night
Quad — sleeps 4 — from $185/night. Good for a board-bag crew
Family — sleeps 5 — from $195/night
Interconnecting — sleeps 5–6 — from $295/night. Two rooms, two living areas, two bathrooms
Every room has a private ensuite, air conditioning, a flat-screen TV with free-to-air channels, microwave, bar fridge, electric kettle, free Wi-Fi, fresh linen and towels, and free toiletries. On site there's the outdoor pool, free parking subject to availability, a coin laundry, and reception from 9am to 7:30pm. Road-facing rooms have double-glazed windows available on request.
Book ahead for 2027
Thirty-six rooms, and surf-event weeks are among the first to go. February and May are both worth locking early — see our guide to why we book out fast.
Call (07) 5576 3211 if you'd rather sort it over the phone.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Gold Coast Pro on again in 2027?
Yes. Snapper Rocks is contracted to the WSL Championship Tour from 2025 through 2028. Dates for the 2027 event haven't been released yet — the last two editions ran in the first half of May.
What's the difference between the Gold Coast Pro and the Gold Coast Open?
The Gold Coast Pro is the Championship Tour event at Snapper Rocks, Coolangatta, held in May. The Gold Coast Open is a Qualifying Series 4000 event held at Burleigh Heads in February. Both are free to watch from the beach.
How far is the motel from Snapper Rocks?
About 15km south, roughly 20 minutes by car. Bus 700 runs south from Miami One, about 300m from us, for 50 cents with a go card.
Can I get to the Burleigh contest without a car?
Yes. The Christine Avenue tram stop is on our corner and runs south to Burleigh Heads. It's also about a 25-minute walk along the Oceanway.
Do you have rooms for a group of surfers?
Yes. The interconnecting option is two rooms with a door between them — two separate living areas and two bathrooms, sleeping five to six from $295 a night. With six sharing that's around $50 a head. Quad rooms sleep four from $185, and family rooms sleep five from $195. Call (07) 5576 3211 if you need more than one room held together.
How far is the motel from the beach?
Burleigh Beach is 200m — about a two-minute walk, straight down Sixth Avenue.
Book Direct — Best Rates
Phone: (07) 5576 3211 Email: info@burleighmotel.com.au Location: 1908–1910 Gold Coast Highway, Miami QLD 4220 (corner of Christine Avenue)
Two contests, one carpark, and a bed 200m from the sand.
