Where to eat + drink in Byron Bay

Lawson Street, Byron Bay · Daily until late

Post-pub institution. 200m from Main Beach, vegan falafel option, Polaroid-walls aesthetic. The Byron 3am ritual.

Bay Kebabs is the Byron post-pub ritual. Open late, 200m from Main Beach, walls covered in customer Polaroids going back years. The vegan falafel wrap is not just an afterthought. $12-18 for a full meal that absorbs four pints. The line at midnight on a Saturday tells you everything.

Byron Bay · 24 hours

Open 24 hours. Pies, sandwiches, end-of-night staple.

Byron Bay Hotbread Kitchen is the only 24-hour bakery in town — pies, sandwiches, the savoury end-of-night staple if Bay Kebabs has a queue. Cheap, fast, open whenever you need it.

Bay Lane, Byron Bay · Daily lunch + dinner

Hand-cut chips, fresh fish, all under $20. Cheap, fast, surprisingly good.

Fishmongers does the proper fish-and-chips Byron version — fresh local fish, hand-cut chips, sit on the steps outside or take it to the beach. Under $20. The locals' cheap-eat for seafood.

2 Marvell Street, Byron Bay · Daily 6:30am–3pm

Long-standing local + visitor favourite. Bayleaf Greens bowl, banana hemp bread, top coffee.

Bayleaf is where the locals actually go for breakfast. Greens bowl is the signature. The banana hemp bread sells out by 11am. Coffee is among the best in town. Smaller than Top Shop, less Insta, better food.

Byron Bay · Daily

Café + general store hybrid. Decent breakfast, plus you can grab pantry items on the way out.

Byron Bay General Store is the café-plus-pantry hybrid — solid breakfast, decent coffee, and you walk out with sourdough and granola for the hostel kitchen. Less Insta, more useful.

21-25 Fletcher Street, Byron Bay · Daily 7am–3pm

Vegan/health café. Acai bowls, smoothie bowls, the Insta original.

Combi is the Insta-famous vegan/health café — bamboo-clad, hot-pink coffee counter, acai bowls that cost twice what they should but look right on camera. Founded in Byron, now a small chain. If you're here for the aesthetic, this is the spot. If you're here for value, Bayleaf or Folk are better.

Skinners Shoot Road, Byron Bay · Daily 7am–3pm

Garden café tacked onto a caravan park. Tree-stump seating, railway-sleeper veggie patch. Vegetarian-friendly.

Folk sits in the garden of a caravan park on Skinners Shoot Road — tree-stump seating, sleepers-built-into-veggie-patch aesthetic, mostly vegetarian/vegan menu. Slightly out of town (10 min walk) but worth it. The atmosphere does a lot of the work; food is solid not spectacular.

Byron Bay · Daily 7am–3pm

Raw vegan cakes, crepes. Sells out by afternoon — get there before 1pm.

Naked Treaties does raw vegan cakes and crepes that genuinely taste like dessert, not health food. The cake counter sells out by 2pm most days. Worth the price if vegan is your default; if not, still worth one visit.

Byron Street, Byron Bay · Daily 7am–3pm

Wraps + salads + smoothies. Fast, cheap, the "actually feed me without ceremony" lunch spot.

Punch & Daisy is the no-fuss lunch — wraps, salads, smoothies, all under $15. When Combi feels too much and Bayleaf has a queue, this is the answer. Quick service, good for grabbing-and-walking-to-the-beach.

65 Carlyle Street, Byron Bay · Daily 6:30am–4pm

Ex-1950s milk bar turned café. Picnic-on-the-lawn culture, arty crowd, brunch must-do.

Top Shop is the original Byron lawn-picnic café — kiosk window, takeaway burgers and acai bowls, then everyone eats on the grass out front. The arty crowd morning ritual. Not the cheapest brunch but iconic enough that you go once.

Byron Bay · Wed–Sun dinner + late

Late-night Asian. Dumplings + bao + bao + cocktails. Where the post-Mez crowd lands when not at Bay Kebabs.

Bang Bang is the late-night Asian — dumplings, bao buns, cocktails, runs later than most kitchens. Where the post-Mez crowd goes when they don't want a kebab. Pricier than Bay Kebabs ($20-30 a plate) but actual food.

11 Ewingsdale Road, Ewingsdale · Daily breakfast + lunch

Paddock-to-plate restaurant on a working farm. Splurge tier. Where the balloon flight breakfast lands.

Three Blue Ducks at The Farm is paddock-to-plate at a working farm 5 min west of Byron — the breakfast destination for the hot-air-balloon crowd. $25-40 a plate. Worth doing once if your budget allows. Walk the farm afterwards.

Belongil Beach, Byron Bay · Verify hours

Cocktails + pizza at sunset. Verify operating status before visiting (signals mixed).

Treehouse on Belongil was a sunset cocktails + pizza institution at the Belongil end. Recent search signals are thin — verify it's still trading before you walk over. Wake Up! is right next door if you want a backup spot.

Coopers Shoot Road, Coopers Shoot · Daily lunch + dinner

Country pub up the hill from Byron. Skip the Beachie crowd — drive 10 min for a properly local pub.

Coopers Shoot Hotel is the country pub 10 minutes inland from Byron. Quieter, more local, classic Aussie pub menu. Worth the Uber ride if you're tired of crowds. Live music sometimes weekends.

1 Bay Street, Byron Bay · Daily 11am–late

Iconic beachfront pub. Café by day, family lunch venue, live music + crowds at night. Pricier — the view is what you pay for.

"The Beachie" is Byron's most-photographed pub — beachfront, big lawn area, sunset crowds. Pricier than backpacker spots ($25 mains is standard), live music most nights, family-friendly until about 8pm. The lawn at sunset is the Byron postcard. Skip the food if budget is tight, come for one drink at golden hour.

35 Jonson Street, Byron Bay · Daily — sport, pool, live music weekends

"The Nort" — pub mainstay with pool tables, sport on the screens, live music weekends.

"The Nort" is the standard pub — pool tables, sport, schnitty-and-pint pricing, live music at weekends. Less Insta than the Beachie, less party than Woody's, more reliable than both for a normal evening.

86 Jonson Street, Byron Bay · Daily 11am–midnight, music nightly

Old railway station turned pub. Live music every night, no cover, locals' favourite.

The Rails is the locals' pub — live music every night of the year, no cover charge, an old converted railway building right in the centre of town. Cheaper than the Beachie, more atmosphere than most. The first place locals point tourists to when asked "where's good?" Hostel staff included.

Jonson Street, Byron Bay · Wed–Sat late

Late-night live music and electronic. Smaller, denser, sometimes the best night of the week.

The Mez is the smaller late-night room — live music early, DJs late, electronic-leaning programming. When the booking is good, it's the best night out in Byron. Check the calendar before you go — programming-driven.

Shop 9-10, The Plaza, 90-96 Jonson Street, Byron Bay · Wed–Sun late

Late-night surf-themed bar. 1960s-70s surf culture aesthetic. The de facto Cheeky Monkeys replacement.

Woody's is the late-night surf-shack bar that absorbed the Cheeky Monkeys crowd as that venue transitioned. Vintage surf decor, DJs, dancing, runs late on weekends. Backpacker-friendly pricing. If it's past 11pm and you want to keep going, this is where you end up.

115 Jonson Street, Byron Bay · Verify before visiting

The iconic backpacker bar — directly across from this domain's old hostel. After 24+ years, transitioning to a new operator/format (per Echo NetDaily reports).

Cheeky Monkeys is the OG Byron backpacker bar — beer pong, dance-on-tables, $5 dinners-with-show, the whole catalogue. After 24+ years, the venue is transitioning under new hospitality-group ownership (per Echo NetDaily 2024 reporting). Verify what's actually trading before you walk in. If it's closed when you read this, Woody's Surf Shack is the de facto replacement.