Bowen, Queensland > Reviews > A boring town in Queensland...

Author's product rating:   

Value for Money	Average
Shopping	Average
Nightlife	Poor
Ease of getting around	Average
Family Friendly	Poor

Advantages:	near the coast, nice weather
Disadvantages:	not alot in the town

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Bowen is a town located on the eastern coast of Queensland in Australia. I visited the town while I was travelling down the easter side of Australia and used it as a base for visiting the Whitsunday's and it was near other places like Townsville, Mackay, Airlie Beach and Shute harbour. There is also The Giant Mango situated on the edge of Bowen because there is a type of mango called Bowen Mango.
Although, i personally among everyone else i know who has been to Bowen has come to the same conclusion as i did, apart from the nice beaches and a few shops, there's nothing to do in actual Bowen. However, it's in a good location to be used as a base though as it is near so many of the places you would want to visit.
On the other hand, the beaches are a big attraction, there are eight beaches in total, which are Kings Beach, Queens Beach, Horseshoe Bay, Murrays Bay, Grey Bay, Rose Bay and the Front Beach, Coral Bay and the Front Beach.
My favourite beaches were Horsehoe Bay and Rose Bay, but they all had their individual features.

Front beach - This is the beach I visited the least, but it has parklands, BBQ's and playground, it's close to the town and marine, there's accomodation nearby and some spectacular views.

Horseshoe Bay - This is one of my favourites because this is where I did some snorkelling and where i saw a flat fish close up in the water and a few fish. It's a very good beach for snorkelling. The other facilities include a cafe and restaurant, punlic toilets, a lookout which you have to walk up a fairly difficult path that winds upwards which is difficult to walk up. Once you get up there however, the views it provides are very scenic and good photo opportunities, well worth walking up that awkward path.

Grays Bay - This is another fantastic beach for snorkelling, and you can do fishing, watersports, and there's a resort and Caravan accomodation available.

Kings Beach - This has some other features including kite boarding, windsurfing, kite flying, bird watching and horse riding. The beach also provides views for Gloucestor Island.

Murrays Bay - This is a good beach for diving in particular as it has great diving areas. To get to the beach from the small parking area you have to walk down a path then there are lots of rocks, to the left is a nice scene of the main part of the beach, to the right is the edge part of the beach where there is a nice view available. Moving around the beach can be quite difficult as the routes to the different parts of beach are not very easy, large uneven, slippery rocks. However, it is possible if you take your time.

Queens Beach - This beach has great accomodation options, public toilets, kids playground, skateboarding and a stinger net. Out of all the Bowen beaches i think this is probably the most unattractive, there's not much to look at but the stinger net is the only one available in the area.

Rose Bay - You can view the Whitsunday's waterways and like the others in Bowen, great for diving and snorkelling, also has resort accomodation

It also has some shops, they aren't the best selection of shops but there are two supermarkets, there are also some really good takeaway burger places that do the nicest burgers. Apart from that, you would have to go to a bigger town to find more selection of shops, for example, Airlie Beach and Townsville or Mackay would be good for shops. The transport is not that great in Bowen either, and you would definately need a car because the attractions are in towns or places that are not walking distance but for Australia they are nearby. For example if you want to see Port Douglas, Townsville and Mackay, Bowen is in a central place to see those but it will still require some travelling because towns in that part of Australia tend to be spread out I noticed.

Bowen is located in the dry tropics and rarely gets rain, it has a very hot climate all year. It never really drops below 20 degrees there apart from at night in July when the temperatures can drop to the mid teens.

Although, i enjoyed my stay whilst in Bowen only give the town itself threes stars out of five because there wasn't alot to do in actual Bowen, however, it is a town that is developing it's tourism at the moment so i reckon in the coming years it would have alot more to offer so i would go back there in a few years, also well reccomended for fans of the coast.