Shelly Beach, Manly 

Shelly Beach – Manly’s Family Beach

Shelly Beach is one of my top family friendly beaches in Sydney. Kids can swim or play along the rocks, adults can swim out in the clear blue water, lie on the beach or have a coffee on the grass.

Where is Shelly Beach

Address 

There is no defined address for Shelly Beach.

I would just put the name into my GPS and see if it comes up.

If that doesn’t work try Bower Street, Manly. When on Bower Street, keep going to the end until you reach the parking lot.

 

Parking

With the parking it’s one of those ticketed systems where you put your number plate into the machine and it spits out a ticket for you to put on your dashboard.

 

Where is Shelly Beach, Manly Sydney

 

Why is Shelly Beach so great?

The water at Shelly Beach is amazing – it’s clear and it’s warm.

 

The water is generally translucent and a brilliant blue.

 

On weekend mornings, the water is packed with people snorkeling and diving. On perfect summer days you have to get there early in order to get a parking and just a spot on the beach.

 

Shelly Beach - one of our favourite beaches in Manly, Sydney

 

One of the great things about Shelly Beach is that it is western facing beach. Consequently, it is nicely sheltered from major winds and rips.This does however make it very very hot on a warm day as there is little to no wind or sea breeze.

 

The water also seems warmer than elsewhere but that could be my imagination.

 

The water is so calm that people often take inflatable tubes and lilos out onto the water, I’ve even see huge blow up swans and flamingos out on the water.

Shelly Beach Facilities

 

There are toilets just off the beach, a great Restuarant which has take away coffee, grassy patches for picnics, lots of shade and BBQ facilities.

 

You can take a pram down and leave it on the grass, it’s all pram friendly, if you’re happy to take your eye off it.

 

Shelly Beach to Manly Walk

If you’re feeling up to it, the walk from Shelly Beach to Manly is stunning.

 

The walk is pram friendly and good for scooters and bikes  too.

 

We have often done the walk in the early Summer evenings by parking at Manly and walking to Shelly to have a quick dip.

 

Shelly Beach - one of our favourite beaches in Manly, Sydney

The downside

There are two downsides to Shelly Beach. a) The parking and b) the hill.

 

This is a very very popular beach and the parking is limited.

 

It is a walk down a very steep hill to the beach. It’s even steeper when you’re walking back up 🙂 or when you’re pushing a pram up the hill.

 

 

Top tips for visiting Shelly Beach:

  1. Go early.
  2. Pack light. The hill is a big climb.
  3. Take an umbrella or tent because it gets super hot.
  4. Take some change or a credit card to get ice creams from the kiosk.
  5. Make sure everyone is wearing shoes. The sand gets very hot and very prickly because of all the shells.

 

Just make sure that you avoid Shelly Beach for at least three days after it rains.

 

We absolutely love Shelly Beach and rank it as one of the best beaches in Sydney for tourists and locals alike.