Destination guide: Foodie's favourite with beaches, nature ... and decorated beards

For families

Families will feel at home at BIG4 North Star Holiday Resort in Hastings Point, halfway between the coast and the valley. Its waterpark, kids' club and self-contained cabins make it a perfect base for exploring both beach and hinterland.

For couples

Couples come to The Tweed for long lunches, mountain views and salty air. And, after 10 years, Halcyon House at Cabarita Beach remains the region's romantic showpiece - all crisp white linens, ocean breezes and vintage surf-chic interiors. The on-site restaurant, Paper Daisy, celebrates local seafood, macadamias and tropical produce in true Tweed style.

Few regions in Australia can claim such a vivid link between soil and plate. The Tweed's volcanic terrain, heavy rainfall and subtropical climate feed regenerative farms, macadamia groves and cane fields that now power one of the country's most exciting food scenes.

That spirit comes alive each spring during Savour the Tweed (October 22-26, 2025) - a five-day festival of more than 35 events celebrating food, farming and creativity. Expect everything from long-table lunches and storytelling dinners to farm tours, foraging workshops and pop-up collaborations between local chefs and visiting stars. Savour the Tweed 2025 also features Cheese, Clay & Culture, pairing cheesemakers with brewers and ceramicists, Walking Together, a Bundjalung-Indian fusion dinner celebrating native flavours and storytelling, and the Tweed Tasting Trail weaves through markets, farms and distilleries - the best way to experience how creative this little region has become.

But you don't need to wait for the festival to eat well here. Bread Social, with its flaky pastries, hot sourdough and top-notch coffee, has become a symbol of The Tweed's revival - part bakery, part community hub. Then there's Kat Harvey Cheese, the Murwillumbah-based artisan shop where former Kiwi chef Kat Harvey crafts more than 60 varieties. Trained in French fine dining, she brings innovation to local milk, for example, pairing her cheeses with Caldera Brewing's barrel-aged saison. Her famous "toasties" - molten cheese sandwiches - and roast potatoes smothered in cheese draw loyal queues each week. Proud of her dairy roots, Harvey laughs, "I love the smell of cow shit" - pure Tweed charm: honest, local and full of flavour.

Fins at Salt Village remains a regional landmark, with chef Steven Snow's seafood tasting menus championing local sustainability. In Murwillumbah, Bistro Livi serves modern Spanish-inspired plates in a pared-back art deco shopfront - wood-fired prawns, charred octopus and local vegetables treated with fine-dining precision.

New on the scene is Pasta'Bah, a regenerative-farm-turned-pasta-house tucked into Murwillumbah's industrial precinct. The team began by raising cattle and chickens using regenerative methods before floods forced them to rethink their model. The result is a "farm-shop-restaurant" where semolina is milled to order for extraordinary freshness. Visitors can peer through big windows to watch pasta being made - "like theatre," say locals. Everything is plastic-free, "lifesate-free" (no glyphosate), and locally inspired. It's where paddock meets plate - literally.

A few blocks away, Ventura Brewing has put Murwillumbah on the craft map. Friends Shanu and Dom began experimenting with alcoholic kombucha in a garage in 2016 and now run Australia's first craft alcoholic kombucha brewery. Their creations - Mojito with beach mint, mango and lemon Myrtle, and an oaked cola with vanilla, nutmeg and finger lime - bridge the gap between beer and cider. The brewery's relaxed space hosts pizzas, nachos and live music on weekends, with cans to take home.

The Tweed sits inside an ancient volcanic caldera - the second-largest in the world - with Wollumbin/Mount Warning at its centre. The surrounding national parks are UNESCO-listed for their biodiversity, home to subtropical rainforest, waterfalls and walking tracks that reveal just how alive this landscape is. Keep an eye out for dolphins and turtles along the coast, and platypus in the upper river reaches.

The Northern Rivers Rail Trail - the innovative transformation of 132 kilometres of an old train corridor into a scenic and historic path for cyclists and pedestrians - is a great way to sample the region's beautiful landscapes and pop-up food stalls. The Tweed section is 24 kilometres.

At the must-visit Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre in Murwillumbah, Olley's recreated Sydney studio is a chance to get into the space and mind of the wonderfully creative artist.

For more produce-adjacent fun, Tropical Fruit World near Duranbah is one of The Tweed's most-loved family attractions - part working farm, part tasting adventure. More than 500 varieties of exotic and tropical fruits grow across its hills, from jackfruit and rambutan to star fruit and dragonfruit. Visitors can join tractor tours through the orchards, sample just-picked fruit, feed friendly farm animals and take a boat ride through the plantation's waterways. It's a vibrant, hands-on way to taste The Tweed's fertile bounty - especially during harvest months from September to April.

And no trip is complete without a Wednesday morning wander through the Murbah Farmers Market, a 30-year-old local institution. From 7-11am, find delicious food from local farmers and producers - think bread (sourdough pizza bases!), coffee, mushrooms, dips, honey, cheese, veges, Portuguese tarts, nuts (including local pecans and macadamias), kombucha and coffee and spices. Plus cool locals (decorated beards, Rastafarian beanies, bare feet), face-painting, a sustainable return-your-cup policy, interactive sessions such as mini cheesemaking and a groovy community meeting place in the middle.