# Local guides and stories.

Guides to Main Beach and planning notes for your stay at Contessa.

### Groundwater 2026: a free Broadbeach festival, a quiet Main Beach base

Groundwater Country Music Festival returns to Broadbeach on 16 to 18 October 2026. Free, sprawling across more than a dozen stages. Two acres of garden between you and the rest of the Gold Coast remains the right answer.

[Read more](/experience/blog/groundwater-2026/index.md)

### Winter on the Gold Coast from Main Beach

June through August is the Gold Coast's quiet season, and the one Contessa is built for. A large indoor heated pool, an indoor spa and sauna, dry winter light, whales offshore, and the largest events on the Coast calendar.

[Read more](/experience/blog/winter-main-beach/index.md)

### Gold Coast 500 2026: a balcony that looks down on the track

The Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 runs 23 to 25 October 2026. The southern hairpin of the street circuit sweeps past the end of our street – which means a wraparound balcony with a working view of race day.

[Read more](/experience/blog/gold-coast-500/index.md)

### Pacific Airshow Gold Coast 2026 from Main Beach

The Pacific Airshow returns to Surfers Paradise on 14 to 16 August 2026 after the 2025 cancellation. The display flies over the ocean, one tram stop south. Here's how to plan the weekend without sleeping above the crowd.

[Read more](/experience/blog/pacific-airshow-2026/index.md)

### Whale watching from Main Beach, June to November

Humpbacks pass the Gold Coast from late May to early November, often close enough to see spouts from the sand. Here's the season month by month, the shore vantages, and the two boats that leave from the Main Beach side of the Broadwater.

[Read more](/experience/blog/whale-watching-main-beach/index.md)

### Running the Gold Coast Marathon from Main Beach

The ASICS Gold Coast Marathon runs 4 and 5 July 2026. The course passes the front of Main Beach twice. Here's why a quiet residential apartment is the right call for runners and the people travelling with them.

[Read more](/experience/blog/gold-coast-marathon/index.md)

### Six beaches within an hour of Main Beach

Two waters at the front door – the Pacific across the road, the river at the back. The rest of the coast sits inside an hour. Here's where locals actually go.

[Read more](/experience/blog/main-beach-beaches/index.md)

### Five places to eat on Tedder Avenue, a five-minute walk away

From the back gate it's a five-minute walk to the heart of Tedder. Here are the five spots we send guests to, in the order of the day you'd actually work through them.

[Read more](/experience/blog/tedder-avenue-dining/index.md)