The famous Whitehaven Beach with its white silica sand rests just a mere 20-minute boat ride from Hamilton Island. This place is so stunning the BBC voted it the number one beach to include in your bucket list. Note that you can get there only by booking a tour with a company, for instance Cruise Withsundays, which organises trips to Whitehaven Beach almost daily.

For nature lovers, Christmas Island National Park provides fantastic opportunities to observe unique plants and animals in their natural habitats. The park covers about two thirds of the island. As an isolated oceanic island, distant from other land masses, Christmas Island is home to a high proportion of endemic species. Several are endangered. The park protects significant ecosystems including much of the island's uniquely structured rainforests and two wetlands of international importance, the Dales and Hosnie's Springs. In and around the national park you will find a host of native sea and forest birds, unique marine life and land crabs — including tens of millions of red crabs, famous throughout the world for their spectacular annual breeding migration.

The wildlife park on Hamilton Island gives you the opportunity to get up close and personal with a large collection of native animals including koalas, kangaroos, crocodiles, wombats and frill-necked lizards.