Your Weekend Forecast
You know the kind of trip. The one that starts with “we seriously need a weekend away” somewhere deep in the group chat, followed by months of saved TikToks, restaurant reels and “we should actually book this”. Well, consider this your sign. Port Macquarie is made for girls’ weekends that feel equal parts indulgent, effortless and genuinely fun. Think long lunches overlooking the water, morning walks with ocean swims and coffee, sunset cocktails, spa sessions, boutique stays and beautiful food spots. Insta worthy? You bet.
The best part? It’s easy. No overcomplicated itinerary needed.
Here’s how to do a girls’ weekend in Port Mac properly.
Start Slow at Lighthouse Beach
The vibe for the weekend should be established immediately: nobody rushing anywhere.
Breakfast at COAST Beach Café at Lighthouse Beach is the perfect place to ease into holiday mode. Ocean views, salty air, great coffee and long brunches that somehow turn into a second coffee before anyone even realises.
Other local breakfast favourites include Little Shack near Town Green for waterfront coffees and slower mornings by the Hastings River, while Bandwagon Café has become a go-to for excellent coffee, big brunch energy and mornings that are usually buzzing with locals.
After brekky, take a stroll along Lighthouse Beach or part of the Coastal Walk. You’ll wonder why you didn’t book this sooner.
And if somebody in the group insists on bringing the dog, Lighthouse Beach also has one of the region’s best off-leash stretches for sandy walks and ocean swims together and COAST Beach Café at Lighthouse Beach is pooch friendly!
Long lunches at Bago Winery & Maze
A girls’ weekend in Port Macquarie pretty much requires at least one winery afternoon.
Bago Maze & Wine is the perfect excuse to leave the coast for a few hours and settle into the countryside with wine tastings, grazing boards and vineyard views. The giant hedge maze adds a bit of chaos and competition to the afternoon too, which somehow always makes things more fun after a couple of wines.
If nobody wants to nominate a designated driver, Indulgence Tours takes care of the planning for you with curated food, wine and distillery tours across the region, making it ridiculously easy to settle into the day properly.
Honestly, don’t plan too much afterwards. These afternoons tend to stretch out.
Book the dinner reservation properly
Port Macquarie quietly has a seriously good food scene, especially when it comes to long dinners with a bottle of wine and “one more cocktail” energy.
The Stunned Mullet is renowned and a local favourite for elevated dining with beautifully prepared seafood and a refined coastal feel, while award-winning Whalebone Wharf delivers waterfront views that ooze coastal luxe.
For something a little more casual, Little Shack is ideal for sunset cocktails and share plates right by the water, while The Beach House is one of the best places to sit back with a drink and watch Port Mac drift by around golden hour.
And when dinner rolls into drinks? Florence Jones is one of the best places in town to settle in for wine, cocktails and those slower catch-ups that somehow stretch late into the evening.
This is very much a “book ahead” situation for weekends.
Spa days, massages and slow afternoons
Not every girls’ trip needs to be packed wall-to-wall with activities.
One of the best things about Port Macquarie is how easy it is to slow the pace down. A bit of ‘me time’ with your besties is always encouraged. Think massages, facials, spa packages and afternoons spent doing absolutely nothing except treating yourselves or maybe recovering from the night before.
The region has plenty of wellness experiences to build an afternoon around, from organic spa treatments to indulgent facials and wellness treatments at Enrich Skin. Many accommodation providers also offer in-room massage experiences too, which means you barely need to leave your robe all afternoon.
Balance it out with something active
Girls’ weekends don’t always need to revolve entirely around long lunches and cocktails. Sometimes it’s just as fun to throw in something active between the wine tastings and beachside dinners too.
Port Mac has quietly built a strong wellness and movement scene, especially around the coastline. Start the morning with beachfront yoga at Town Beach Sunrise Yoga, where locals roll out the mats beside the ocean before grabbing coffee afterwards.
For something a little more high-energy, Firebird Hot Yoga has become a local favourite for hot yoga, pilates and strength-based classes, while local run clubs and the Coastal Walk make it easy to get moving outdoors without it ever really feeling like exercise.
And for the brave, Port Macquarie’s Ice Bath Group meets at Flynn's Beach for sunrise cold plunges by the ocean. Slightly confronting? Definitely. But also the kind of thing that somehow becomes the story everyone talks about afterwards.
For something a little more guided, Madly Calm also offers private Oasis Ritual experiences combining breathwork, magnesium baths, steam sauna sessions and cold plunges, perfect for groups wanting to properly reset together between cocktails and coastal walks.
It’s all part of the Port Mac lifestyle really. A little movement, a little wellness, ocean air and plenty of reasons to feel refreshed before heading home.
Where to lay your head
If your group feels like escaping town altogether, Hilltop Farm Stay in Comboyne is made for slow hinterland weekends with friends. Set on a working avocado farm overlooking rolling green hills, the stay leans fully into the slower side of the region, with wide-open space, fresh country air and mornings that begin with mist drifting across the paddocks. It’s the kind of place that feels perfectly suited to wine, cheese boards, long chats and properly switching off for a few days together. A good girls’ weekend needs a decent basecamp.
Whether it’s a coastal apartment with ocean views, a boutique stay close to the restaurants and bars, or a luxury retreat hidden away in the hinterland, Port Macquarie has plenty of accommodation that feels like part of the experience itself.
Sails Port Macquarie is a classic option for groups wanting to stay close to the action, with waterfront rooms, poolside cocktails and enough space to settle in properly between dinners, beach walks and nights out.
For something a little more private, The Anchorage offers luxury apartment-style accommodation right on the Hastings River, making it ideal for sunset drinks on the balcony, slow catch-ups and weekends where nobody’s really in a rush to leave the room.
And then there’s Camp Jordans, which leans into a more quirky, outdoorsy style of stay. Think glamping-style accommodation, campfires, nature and a slightly more adventurous weekend away.
A weekend that finally made it out of the group chat. Camera roll full, storage warnings ignored, and enough content for the kind of Instagram post that quietly causes a little FOMO back home. After a few days of long lunches, coastal walks, shared laughs and probably one too many lemonades, you’ll head home refreshed, reconnected and already talking about doing it all again.
At least when the next “where should we go?” message lands in the group chat, you’ll already have the answer.