The northern coast of NSW is more touristically oriented than the southern coast. Starting from Byron Bay in the north, the easternmost point of Australia (shown above its famous lighthouse), a series of small beach towns leads south to the heavily settled area around Newcastle and Sydney. In between the beach towns there are several very beautiful coastal National Parks, like Hat Head or Myall Lakes.

In the hinterland of the coast lie two of the most beautiful areas in NSW, the Tweed River Valley and the New England Tablelands, which both deserve (and got!) their own subsections.