The Basin at Ku-ring-gai: Sydney's hardest weekend booking

The Basin campground at Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park has 114 tent sites. It's accessible only by ferry or a steep walk. Its peak weekends still book out. Easter Saturday 2026 was full when Schnerp started watching The Basin in late March, and a spot came back 22 times in the six days before that night. Ordinary weekends were looser on the same watch: every other Friday and Saturday night in April 2026, including the school-holiday weekend of 10 and 11 April, still had space on the night.

NSW National Parks puts Ku-ring-gai Chase about 26 km from Sydney's city centre, and The Basin sits on the park's Pittwater shore, a short ferry ride from Palm Beach. It's one of the closest bushland-and-beach camping options for most of Sydney. That proximity is exactly why the big weekends go.

For a full breakdown of how NSW's booking system works, see our state-by-state guide to Australian camping bookings.

How to get there

The Basin sits on the western shore of Pittwater, inside Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. There's no vehicle access to the campground.

By ferry: Palm Beach Ferries runs services from Palm Beach Wharf roughly hourly, seven days a week. Single fares since 1 January 2026 are $10.80 adult and $5.40 child, bought on board. The ferry ride is about 20 minutes. The timetable is published on the operator's site, so check the last boat before you plan a late arrival.

On foot: A steep 2.8 km track descends from the West Head Road car park inside the national park. The road is sealed and 2WD accessible. Park entry is $12 per vehicle per day. Important: the West Head Road gate locks at 8:30pm during daylight saving and 6pm the rest of the year. If you drive in and walk down, make sure your car is out before the gate closes.

By water taxi or private boat: The Basin has a wharf. You can arrange a water taxi from several points around Pittwater.

The campground

All 114 sites are unmarked, unpowered tent sites. There are no caravans, no campervans and no vehicles. Sites are unallocated: you pick your spot when you arrive. The campground accommodates up to 350 campers.

Facilities are solid for a walk-in campground: flush toilets, cold showers, free gas and electric BBQs, picnic tables, drinking water, and hand-wash laundry basins. Ice, bait and firewood are sold at the campground twice a day, 9:45 to 10am and 2:45 to 3pm.

No pets allowed.

How bookings work

The Basin is booked through NSW National Parks using its own online booking system. The booking window is rolling: new dates open as the window advances. On 23 September 2026, The Basin's booking calendar opened dates through 23 March 2027, about six months ahead, the same limit I saw at every other NSW Parks campground I checked that day.

NSW Parks' booking terms and FAQ describe no single release day and no ballot. New dates appear as the window advances. The campers who check most often get the best dates. Good weekend dates go fast when they do open. On 21 September 2026, a Schnerp user started watching Sunday 4 October, the Labour Day long weekend in the middle of the spring school holidays. A spot was open, and it was gone about four and a half hours later.

For tips on finding sites during school holidays across all states, see our school holiday campsite guide.

When cancellations happen

NSW National Parks' current refund policy:

• 31+ days before arrival: 75% refund
• 0-30 days before arrival: 50% refund
• Booking fee (2.5%): non-refundable in all cases

A shake-up is proposed but not yet live. NSW has proposed scrapping the booking fee, moving refunds to 80% down to 3 days before arrival, and replacing per-person charges with per-site pricing. As of September 2026 none of that is in force and no start date has been announced, so the rules above are the ones that bind your booking.

Under the current policy, the 31-day mark is where I'd watch hardest. Campers who booked speculatively have every reason to cancel while they can still get 75% back. A second, smaller wave happens when people decide whether a 50% refund is worth releasing their weekend. If the proposed structure lands, expect that pattern to compress: with refunds dropping at the 3-day mark instead of 31, cancellations would bunch much closer to arrival.

NSW Parks documents no waitlist in its booking FAQ or terms. Cancelled sites reappear on the booking portal for whoever happens to be checking. No notification.

Because The Basin has year-round demand (not just seasonal spikes), cancellations also happen year-round. Any given weekend might see a site or two come back. The problem is timing. That Easter Saturday spot kept reappearing for anything from 5 minutes to 18 hours at a time, so you'd need to check constantly.

What to do if it's booked out

Schnerp monitors NSW National Parks bookings for The Basin. You tell us your preferred dates, and we watch for openings. When a campsite becomes available, you get an alert so you can book it before someone else does.

You can set up a Basin availability request in under a minute.

If The Basin doesn't work out, Bonnie Vale in Royal National Park is a drive-in Sydney option with the same NSW booking framework. Depot Beach is farther down the South Coast and uses that system too.

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