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To know the Northern Beaches is to love the Northern Beaches.

And now there’s even more love going around, with the Manly and the Peninsula grabbing headlines and scooping awards and titles in recognition of their natural attributes.

The Northern Beaches’ beautiful bookends North Head in Manly and Barrenjoey Headland in Palm Beach have been glorying in the spotlight recently, with the polish put on these already stunning locations, while nearby West Head Lookout in Ku-ring-gai National Park has also gained high praise and a couple for the trophy cabinet.

Come and visit us and bask in the reflected glory.

Manly lookouts take top award

Perched atop North Head in Manly and part of the North Head Walk, new lookouts Burragula and Yiningma have just taken out the highest award for architecture in NSW – the NSW Architecture Medallion – cementing their place as the sparkling jewel in the crown of this locality-blessed national park.

These beautiful steel and sandstone structures, located on the Fairfax Walk section, honour First Nations cultural heritage and identity while providing a glorious place to rejoice in the beauty of this location, teetering over the dramatic cliffs of North Head. Spend time marvelling at the views of the ocean, harbour, South Head and city, and at the right time of year a mass of migrating humpback whales.

Take the bush walk up from Shelly Beach or jump on the bus from Manly Wharf and experience the beauty and drama of this award-winning architectural masterpiece.

Palm Beach celebrates dark and light

Things to do at night
Image courtesy of Destination NSW

Beautiful Palm Beach Headland is not only pristine during the day, it’s pollution free at night – light pollution that is. Seems it’s part of Sydney but not part of Sydney, suffering from none of the city sky glow.

This, combined with the fact it has a low population and is surrounded by national parks and water, means it is dark dark dark after dark, providing the perfect canvas for our astronomical wonders above.

No surprise, then, that it was recently designated an Urban Night Sky Place by global body DarkSky International.

This means the headland’s trophy building, historic Barrenjoey Lighthouse, is now home to the first officially recognised city-based stargazing zone in the Southern Hemisphere.

Star light, star bright … at Barrenjoey Headland it really will be the first – and brightest – star you see each night.

The 199 bus runs regular services between Manly and Palm Beach, or take a scenic car ride up the Peninsula.

West Head lauded for beautiful bush lookout

Image courtesy of Drew Elliot © DCCEEW

Across the water from Barrenjoey Lighthouse stands West Head Lookout in Ku-ring-gai National Park. This stunning vantage point in a bushland setting has offered visitors spectacular views of Broken Bay, Pittwater, Palm Beach and the ocean for almost 60 years.

But like many of us of a certain age, a bit of an upgrade is sometimes needed. It is this work that was recently recognised, scoring the lookout the Award of Excellence for Tourism at the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects’ recent Landscape Architecture Awards.

The design work achieved the outcome of allowing the lookout to retain the integrity of its natural bushland setting while ensuring safety and accessibility for visitors.

The best way to visit West Head Lookout is by car.

While the Northern Beaches is well known for its natural beauty, there’s nothing like an award or two, or another title, to make everyone feel proud and thankful, especially to those experts and passionate people who take the time to put the polish on our natural gems. Congratulations to al