The Northern Rivers is a region on the Far North Coast of New South Wales and is known for its beaches, rivers and natural wonders. The Northern Rivers refers to seven different shires, from Tweed Heads and Murwillumbah, out to Kyogle and Casino, down to coastal fishing villages including Yamba, Iluka and Evans Head. Within these boundaries Lismore and Nimbin shire will whisk you away to an alternate and quirky lifestyle, Bangalow & Byron Bay shire which is well known for being Australia’s easternmost point and Lennox Head, Ballina & Alstonville will provide your laid back coastal towns that are the perfectly positioned in the middle of it all.
Major towns of the Northern Rivers are Ballina, Byron Bay, Casino, Grafton, Kyogle, Lismore & Tweed Heads. These towns are surrounded and made up of a diverse range of villages and unique towns just waiting to be explored as you travel between the coast and the hinterland. These towns include Alstonville, Bangalow, Bogangar, Brunswick Heads, Drake, Evans Head, Gelncoe, Iluka, Kingscliff and Lennox Head. Maclean, Mullumbimby, Murwillumbah, New Brighton, Nimbin, Nymboida, Ocean Shores, Pottsville, Suffolk Park, Whiporie and Yamba.
With Ballina as a base, all these major towns are within a 1 hour drive with Grafton being 2 hours south.
The Far North Coast boasts such a diverse range of towns and villages to explore and Ballina is the perfect place to base yourself and spend a few days, weeks or even longer to explore the region.
If you need a day of relax and rejuveniation, a spot of retail therapy, prefer a country drive or interested in visiting local art galleries - the Northern Rivers Region have all that covered and more!
All within an hours drive from Ballina, our regional Visitor Centres are the best places to contact for their local knowledge and tips. Click here for a Northern Rivers Map. (This link will go off into a Northern Rivers microsite (to get back to discovering everything about Ballina just click the link at the top).