A black people mover on a palm-lined beachfront road at dusk

Main Beach airport transfers

$125 from Gold Coast Airport, $245 from Brisbane — per vehicle, fixed, tolls and GST in. Sea World, the Spit, Tedder Avenue and the marinas all sit inside the same fare.

Get your fixed price
From OOL$125Sedan, about 30 minutes
From BNE$245Sedan, 60–75 minutes
Group of 14$305Sprinter from OOL
Sea WorldIncludedSame zone, same fare

The fare, every vehicle

Main Beach ↔ both airports — one way, AUD, GST and tolls included
VehiclePassengersBagsGold Coast AirportBrisbane Airport
Sedan1–32 large$125$245
SUV1–44$135$260
People mover1–76$140$270
Luxury sedan1–32 large$150$280
Luxury minivan1–66$155$290
Sprinter 10-seaterup to 1011$225$400
Sprinter 14-seaterup to 1415$305$485

Surfers Paradise, Southport and Nerang are priced the same from Gold Coast Airport. Main Beach is the point where the two airports converge — roughly half an hour from one, an hour and a bit from the other. Larger parties: our 18-seat Sprinter is quoted per job — ask on the charter page.

Sea World, and why that matters here

Sea World sits on the Spit at Main Beach, not up the motorway at Oxenford or Coomera like the other big Gold Coast theme parks. It is inside the Main Beach fare zone, so a transfer to the park or to the Sea World resort is the same $125 from Gold Coast Airport as anywhere else in the suburb.

That also means the arithmetic flips depending on your airport. Sea World is cheaper from Gold Coast Airport ($125 against $245); Movie World and Dreamworld are cheaper from Brisbane. If you are building a park-heavy trip, the theme park page sets all three out side by side.

The marinas and the Spit

Main Beach is where the Gold Coast keeps its boats — Marina Mirage, Mariner's Cove and the Southport Yacht Club all sit along Seaworld Drive. Crew changes and charter guests are steady work for us, and the practical notes are the same each time: the Spit is a single road in and out, it backs up badly on event weekends, and a Sprinter takes fourteen with fifteen bags on one fare, which suits a boat party better than four separate cars.

Tedder Avenue itself is short, busy and tightly parked. Give us the building or restaurant name rather than just the street.

Landing: how the pick-up works

At Gold Coast Airport your chauffeur waits inside the arrivals hall with a name board, and you have their name and mobile number before pick-up, so you are not searching for a stranger in a car park. The flight is tracked, so an early or late landing moves the pick-up with it, and 30 minutes of waiting after touchdown is included. The drive north to Main Beach is about half an hour; on a Friday evening, allow closer to an hour.

From Brisbane Airport it is the same arrangement with more time built in: 60 minutes of free waiting on international arrivals, where immigration and baggage on a full long-haul flight routinely run past the hour. The Gateway toll is already inside the $245, so the fare you booked is the fare you pay, and the 60 to 75 minutes down the M1 is the only number left to think about.

Leaving: the run back to the airport

For a departure we work the pick-up time back from your airline's check-in cut-off, not just from the drive. For Brisbane that usually means leaving Main Beach earlier than people expect, because the hour and a bit is the drive alone and the M1 is where a quiet morning goes wrong. For Gold Coast Airport, leave more room on a Friday afternoon or on an event weekend, when the Spit's single road in and out is the slow part of the trip.

Give us the building name and unit rather than just the street — Main Beach Parade is a row of towers. Book both legs together as a return on this website and both are 10% off. The fare is the same at 4 am as at midday, with no night loading, no public-holiday rate and no surge.

Cruise passengers: Main Beach is not where Brisbane's ships dock. The Brisbane International Cruise Terminal is at Pinkenba, near Brisbane Airport — a different run at a different fare. See cruise transfers.

Questions

Is Sea World the same fare as the rest of Main Beach?

Yes — $125 in a sedan from Gold Coast Airport, whether you are going to the park, the resort, the marinas or an apartment on Main Beach Parade.

How long from Gold Coast Airport?

About 30 minutes in normal traffic, a little longer than Surfers Paradise because you carry on north past Southport. Allow closer to an hour in Friday-evening traffic.

Can you take a group from a boat at Marina Mirage?

Yes. Up to 14 in one Sprinter with 15 bags on a single fare. For a group staying with the vehicle across a day, hourly charter is usually better value — see charters.

Do you carry golf bags?

Free where they fit, and in a minivan or Sprinter they will. Four sets plus luggage in a sedan will not — add the $30 trailer and tell us at booking.

How much waiting time is included?

At Gold Coast Airport, 30 minutes after your flight lands. At Brisbane Airport, 60 minutes for international arrivals and 30 for domestic. The flight is tracked, so a delay does not use it up.

Is a return trip cheaper?

Yes. Book both legs together as a return on this website and both are 10% off — Main Beach to the airport and back, or the other way round.

Nearby suburbs

Also worth a look

Main Beach, $125 from the airport

Fixed per vehicle at any hour, flight tracked, met inside arrivals with a name board.

Book a Main Beach transfer Or call +61 481 437 772 — 24 hours, 7 days.