Let’s address the elephant in the room right away: no, you cannot just purchase a last-minute flight to Lord Howe Island and stay at some sundrenched beach shack without the world finding out about it. In fact, even the trendy boutique stay, Bowker Beach House—fully booked until 2026. That’s right; 2026!
Welcome to Lord Howe Island! You know, the place that does not need flashy advertisements or influencers to generate attention. Quite the opposite of what mainstream tourism has being doing for decades. It’s working.
No people. No noise. No over-tourism nightmare.
Instead of expanding and trying to accommodate even more bookings, Lord Howe Island keeps it manageable and limited. Four hundred guests at a time. Why? Simply because it puts nature first. Dean Hiscox, who runs Lord Howe Environmental Tours, really summed it up well when he said: “The rules show we are serious about nature leading the way.”
Not just talk. Approximately 85% of the island remains native forest and roughly 70% remains as a Permanent Park Preserve, from which they will never allow any building, land clearing or the conversion of rainforest to resorts.
Seems too good to be true?
It’s not. This small dot of green, sitting 598 km off Australia’s east coast, has silent rainforest walks, pristine white beaches, and brightly-coloured reef waters that haven’t been Instagrammed to death. The island’s population is also only about 400. So when you go for a walk in the jungle, most likely the only sound to break the silence will be the call of a rare bird, not someone’s smartphone notifications.
Lisa Makiiti, a sixth-generation local, and the heart of Bowker Beach House, said it best:
“What isn’t here is what makes this place so unique.”
Brilliantly true. No shopping streets. No chain hotels. No rush. No nightclubs. It’s not bigger. It’s not louder. It doesn’t have more bling. It’s better, because it’s not.
Definitely UNESCO-worthy.
In 1982, the island was named a World Heritage site. And not just because it’s beautiful. There are different types and some endemic species—species that exist nowhere else on earth. That is reason enough to keep this site sacred.
Restricting the amount of visitors to the exact available beds may sound restrictive. But, it works. The intent is not to restrict visitors; the goal is to protect it. The outcome, a raw connection between the land, locals, and guests, both for a little while—for the few people that get to go and the community that is there.
Can you go?
Yes, if you plan well in advance and don’t mind spending time and money dearly. Flight times are limited and accommodation is ‘surcharged’. However, perhaps this is part of the magic! Getting there is kind of like earning it.
And no, don’t expect luxury. The only luxury on this island is time, silence, and air that hasn’t been processed or filtered thousands of times before it gets to your lungs.
Lord Howe Island demonstrates that less is more. Fewer tourists. Fewer buildings. More forest. More reef. More soul.
If the rest of the world embraced this mindset in even part, maybe we could save a few more paradises from the tourism machine.
So, if you ever visit Lord Howe… know, it’s not a vacation, it’s a privilege…
