AustraliaIsland

King Island

1,093 km² of land in the Great Australian Bight.

Currie

Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.

In numbers

1,093km²

Area

222km

Coastline

162m

Highest point

1,570

People

18°C

Warmest sea

February

83km

To the mainland

When to go to King Island

Best to visit from January to March.

The sea is warmest in February (18 °C) and coolest in September (13 °C). The water never reaches 21 °C: bring a wetsuit.

17°17°15°

Jan8

18°18°16°

Feb8

17°18°15°

Mar10

16°16°14°

Apr13

15°15°13°

May16

15°14°12°

Jun18

14°13°12°

Jul21

13°13°11°

Aug20

13°13°11°

Sep17

13°14°12°

Oct13

14°15°12°

Nov11

15°16°14°

Dec9

Sea temperature (the water level) Air: night low to afternoon high Wet days Best months

Averages 1991–2020. Sea: NOAA OISST, the water within 35 km of the coast. Air, rain and sun: NASA POWER. Best months weigh warm afternoons (23–30 °C), sea of 24 °C or more and few wet days.

Island between mainland Australia and Tasmania

King Island is an island in Australia. It covers 1,093 km², with 222 km of coastline. Its highest point rises to 162 m. About 1,570 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 83 km away.

Getting there

King Island Airport (KNS)airport on the island, with scheduled flightsCar hire at BWT airport (Burnie)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
83 km from the mainlanddistance to the nearest continental coast
From January to Marchbest months to go (from 30 years of averages)

Plan the trip

Ferries, stays and things to do

Car hire at BWT airport (Burnie)Discover CarsSee

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

On the island

What you find on King Island.

74beachesNine Mile Beach, Porky Beach, Yellow Rock Beach and 71 more
15viewpointsBritish Admiral Beach, Seal Rocks Lookout, Bell Hill Lookout and 12 more
3lighthousesCape Wickham Light, Currie Lighthouse
6named peaksGentle Annie, Mary Hill, Wickham Hill and 3 more
2waymarked walking routesCape Wickham to Victoria Cove, Grassy Township to Sandblow Point
19hotels, guesthouses and apartments
9restaurants, cafés and bars

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, inside the island's outline. A low number may only mean nobody has mapped it yet.

Cross-checked with our atlases

King Island in our other atlases

Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside King Island, each with its own numbers.

15beaches and covesCoastya
10mountainsPeakyas
2lakesLakeyas

Largest lake
0.44km²
Big Lake
according to Lakeyas
Warmest lake
20.9°C
Lake Martha Lavinia
surface water, warmest month · according to Lakeyas
Beach with the warmest sea
17.8°C
Lavinia Beach
sea in the warmest month · according to Coastya

15 beaches

on Coastya, the beach atlas

Big Beach17.6°C
Colliers Beach17.3°C
Broken Arm Beach17.3°C
Ettrick Beach17.6°C
British Admiral Beach17.6°C
Little Porky Beach17.6°C
Sandfly Beach17.6°C
Whalebone Beach17.6°C

7 more on CoastyaOpen Coastya ↗

10 mountains

on Peakyas, the mountain atlas

Mount Stanley
Dromedary Hill
Bold Head
Bell Hill
Mary Hill
Huxley Hill
Haystack Hill
Sea Elephant Hill

2 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

2 lakes

on Lakeyas, the lake atlas

Big Lake0.44km²
Lake Martha Lavinia0.29km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

The shape of the land.

On average the island stands 53 m above the sea. 100 % of it is below 200 m.

56 %0–50 m
44 %50–200 m

Share of the island's area in each altitude band, from the Copernicus DEM (30 m, read at 30–240 m on large islands).

Size, for real

Next to islands you may know.

King Island1,093 km²

Tenerife2,038 km²

Long Island3,529 km²

50 km

All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).

Towns on the island

Currie659 people

Month by month

The weather on the island.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Afternoon high (°C)	17	18	18	16	15	14	13	13	13	14	15	16
Night low (°C)	15	16	15	14	13	12	12	11	11	12	12	14
Sea (°C)	17	18	17	16	15	15	14	13	13	13	14	15
Rain (mm)	47	44	56	69	86	105	122	123	94	74	66	59
Wet days	8	8	10	13	16	18	21	20	17	13	11	9
Sun h/day	9.2	8.2	6.9	5.4	4.0	3.3	3.5	4.7	6.2	7.7	8.2	9.1
Wind (km/h)	26	27	26	26	29	30	32	33	31	28	27	28

Averages 1991–2020 for the ~55 km NASA POWER cell over the island; the sea from NOAA OISST.

Recent years

Warmer and cooler years at sea.

Each month's sea temperature compared with its 1991–2020 average, in degrees.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2020	−0.4	−0.3	−0.4	−0.5	−0.7	−0.4	−0.1	−0.2	−0.2	−0.3	+0.3	±0.0
2021	±0.0	−0.3	−0.3	+0.1	+0.3	+0.4	+0.3	+0.4	+0.3	+0.1	−0.2	+0.2
2022	+0.8	+1.1	+1.4	+1.6	+0.8	+0.1	−0.1	±0.0	±0.0	+0.4	+0.2	−0.2
2023	+0.5	+0.4	+0.1	+0.2	+0.6	+0.9	+0.9	+1.0	+1.0	+0.9	+0.6	+0.8
2024	+0.8	+1.0	+1.1	+1.4	+0.9	+0.2	−0.2	+0.5	+0.8	+1.0	+0.9	+0.9
2025	+1.1	+1.1	+1.4	+1.7	+1.5	+1.1	+0.8	+0.9	+0.6	+0.3	−0.2	−0.3

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

Photos

Seen by visitors.

Currie Harbour Lighthouse, King Island, Tasmania — Pavlostomas · CC BY-SA 4.0

Jagged rocks march out into Bass Strait, Naracoopa, King Island, 2009. Peter Neaum. - panoramio — Peter Neaum · CC BY 3.0

Lavinia Nature Reserve, King Island, a panorama near the mouth of Sea Elephant River. Peter Neaum. - panoramio — Peter Neaum · CC BY 3.0

Nearby

More islands nearby.

Phillip Island

Australia102 km²29 m188 km away

Tasmania

Australia65,022 km²1,617 m331 km away

Flinders Island

Australia1,339 km²756 m352 km away

About these numbers

Names, area, population	Wikidata (Q794502) · CC0
Outline	© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Sea temperature	NOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020
Climate	NASA POWER · 1991–2020
Relief, 3D model	Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails	© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Towns	GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Images	EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfalls	Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST; HydroLAKES (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0, LakeTEMP (Korver et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beaches

Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit

lakes

Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit

mountains

Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit

waterfalls Cascadyas

Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit

islands

Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.You are here

rivers

Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit

canyons

Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit