This town has finally realised its potential as the perfect beach getaway

Common wisdom says galleries and museums are the mark of a fully formed destination. I believe it’s coffee. At least this is the conclusion I reach over a latte at Cici’s Continental Deli, a hole-in-the-wall cafe a stone’s throw from Mooloolaba Beach.

It’s a cave-like refuge from all that Sunshine Coast sunshine (though of course there’s outdoor seating), with clever mid-century styling that makes it feel decades older than 2025 when it opened. The coffee is excellent, the sandwiches generous and the attitude distinctly Sunshine Coast: friendly, relaxed and chatty.

The last time I was here, more than a decade ago, finding decent coffee required local knowledge. Friends who lived there pointed me in the right direction. This time I simply stumble across it.

If not fully formed in the way top destinations are, Mooloolaba, I think, is at least growing up. Could it be the new Noosa, the aspirational jewel in the Sunshine Coast crown? Queensland coastal destinations have never needed museums for holiday crowds to think of them as the perfect getaway. What they need is sun, sand, surf and lifestyle.

Despite having all that, Mooloolaba has had the reputation for being a bit, well, daggy. Locals and regular holidaymakers have liked it that way.

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But there’s change in the air and on the ground, and it’s the kind that can turn daggy to de rigueur.

Of course, with its ’80s architecture along the main drag, a population of retirees who favour trackie dacks over palazzo pants, and a cohort of triathlete types who prefer Lycra to linen, Mooloolaba is a fair way from today’s Noosa, where high-end shopping, celebrity chefs and luxury holidays are part of the brand.

But if we’re talking about the Noosa people remember fondly – the one a Facebook group is devoted to under the moniker “I remember Noosa before it was cool” – then Mooloolaba is surely a contender.

It’s a leap to declare all this on the back of finding a great cafe. In fact, it’s almost contradictory. Good coffee can be a gateway drug to parking problems and other conditions that make a place insufferable.

But for now, Mooloolaba is having a moment, balancing lived character with contemporary sophistication – and that’s in no small part due to the new Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel, the first full-service internationally branded new-build hotel on the Sunshine Coast in four decades.

With a young, enthusiastic staff, there’s a real sense of place at the Avani. It’s a $50 million landmark development that runs to the seaside-holiday playbook perfectly. It’s got beachy tones in a relaxed decor that pops with decorative accents and an airy sense of space. Rooms have balconies, many of which have big ocean views and beds oriented for a sunrise wake-up.

The story of the site on which it sits is emblematic of the town’s change. Just a block back from the beach, hence premium real estate, it was previously an expansive council-owned ground-level carpark.