Noosa bike hire, self guided rides and mountain bike coaching, from a local team that rides these trails every day.
Spread across the Noosa Hinterland and the country beyond it, the Noosa Trail Network is one of the largest and most varied recreational riding systems in Australia, with hundreds of kilometres of linked trails, forestry roads, management tracks and quiet back lanes.
Built for journeys, not laps. Most mountain bike parks are designed around short loops and built features. This network is designed around getting somewhere. Trails thread between forests, ridgelines, farmland, creeks and country towns like Cooran, Pomona, Kin Kin and Boreen Point, so the scenery keeps changing all day rather than repeating every twenty minutes.
Riding inside a Biosphere Reserve. The whole network sits within the Noosa Biosphere Reserve. You will roll through old forest, working farmland, volcanic country and genuinely remote pockets of bush, a mix very few riding destinations can offer in a single day.
A different kind of mountain biking. If your picture of mountain biking is jumps and rock gardens, this will feel unfamiliar. The reward here is distance, discovery and landscape rather than features.
Riding the network
The size cuts both ways. The scale of the network is its best feature and its biggest practical problem. It starts close to Noosa, but ride out and back from the coast and a large slice of the day disappears on access trails, or on shuttling cars around afterwards.
Point to point solves it. The fix is to start inland and ride home. Get dropped deep in the hinterland with a route loaded on a GPS, and every kilometre after that is the good stuff, pointing back towards the coast.
Where you start matters. Beginning at Pomona or Kin Kin puts the best descents, the biggest views and the most scenic country in front of you instead of behind you.
This is where our sister company comes in. Bike On looks after bikes, coaching and the easier coastal rides. The hinterland point-to-point adventures (transfers, downloadable GPS route maps and the local knowledge that makes them work) are run by By Earth and Ocean, our sister company within the Element Outdoors Group. Same team, bigger day out.
Point to point
Finding the best of the hinterland. Whether you want one big day or a multi-day journey, By Earth and Ocean runs the rider transfers and logistics that open up the far side of the network, including the parts most visitors never reach.
Pick your style of day. Go your own way on a self-guided mountain bike adventure, ride with a guide on the Noosa Biosphere Trails e-Mountain Bike Tour, or string several days together on a guided multi-day journey.
Something different? A custom transfer, a route suggestion, or a group with mixed abilities: get in touch and we will put the day together.
Closer to town, Bike On’s own Noosa ride guides cover the easier coastal and river routes, including the Wooroi Wetlands ride and the climb to Mt Tinbeerwah.
One-way shuttle with By Earth and Ocean
You could ride out of Noosa to reach the trails, but a good part of your day would go on suburban streets getting there and back. Our sister company, By Earth and Ocean, runs one-way shuttles instead. They drive you and your bike straight into the middle of the hinterland, so almost all of your time on the bike is spent in forest, farmland and country towns. Every ride finishes back at our Noosaville shop.
Start in the best of it
The shuttle drops you deep in the hinterland, so the kilometres you ride are the scenic ones, pointed back toward the coast.
One car, no retrieval run
Doing these routes yourself means juggling two vehicles and an extra hour at the end of the day fetching the second one. Park once, for free, at our shop, and when the ride is done, just relax.
Leaves at 9am
We load you, your bike and your gear and drive you out to the start. Hiring a bike from us? It’s ready at the shop when you arrive.
GPS maps included
Downloadable GPS route maps come with the shuttle. Load them on your own GPS unit, or use the Ride with GPS app on your phone for spoken turn by turn directions.
Phone mounts
Mountain bike routes need a securely fixed device, such as a bike computer or a phone on a Quad Lock mount. On gravel we can lend you a free universal phone holder, but some routes get rough, so we recommend a more secure mount. Quad Lock mounts are $5 per booking if your phone has a compatible case. No secure setup? Hire one of our phones with a Quad Lock mount for $40 (most groups only need one).
Finish with a drink
Ride back into our shop, where your car is waiting. Grab a 2-for-1 drinks voucher and head to Land & Sea Brewery for a locally brewed beer, a locally distilled gin or vodka and a burger. Trading hours vary, so check before you ride.
Two of Noosa’s volcanic landmarks joined by one ride: start under Mt Cooroora and ride out past Mt Tinbeerwah, finishing back at our Noosaville shop, with forest, farmland and hinterland trail in between. The gentlest of the point-to-point routes, and the best place to start.
What to expect
Of the five routes here, this is the most achievable. It still asks for confidence on loose and uneven surfaces, but the climbing is modest and the gradients are kinder than anything else on the list.
Surfaces rotate between gravel road, management vehicle track and forest trail as the route threads through thick bush, rolling country and quiet back blocks. Expect variety underfoot, but nothing sustained or steep enough to catch out a fit recreational rider.
It is a scenery ride first and foremost, with the region’s volcanic peaks appearing and disappearing as the landscape changes. If you have never done a point-to-point day in the hinterland, start here.
A high start, a long day down, and two of the hinterland’s best country towns along the way. Cooran and Pomona bookend a ride through deep forest and open farmland on the way back towards the coast.
What to expect
This is Peak to Peak’s bigger sibling: longer, with more to see and considerably more descending. Starting high means the elevation works in your favour almost from the first kilometre.
The route mixes gravel roads, management tracks and forest trails as it drops through thick canopy, opens onto farmland and passes through Cooran and Pomona, both worth a stop.
The opening descent is the highlight and the one part that demands attention. A gentler alternative line is available if you would rather ease into the day, which keeps the whole route within reach of most intermediate riders.
Still a scenery ride rather than a technical one, but a full day of it.
Out into the Kin Kin country, along ridgelines that look down over the Noosa Everglades. Long climbs, longer descents, and views that justify both.
What to expect
Everglades Vistas heads into the quieter, wilder end of the Biosphere. Gravel roads, management tracks and forest trails link long sections of tall timber, working farmland and remote ridgeline, with the internationally significant Noosa Everglades spread out below.
Several long descents break up the climbing, so the day balances effort against reward rather than grinding uphill for hours. Nothing here is technically difficult, but the distance, the elevation and the remoteness make it a ride for people with a few big days already behind them.
If you want the version of the hinterland that most visitors never see, this is it.
Deep into the forest around Woondum National Park, then out across remote hinterland, farmland and ridgeline, including two of the longest descents on the network.
What to expect
This one goes further in than most. The route starts high in the country around Woondum National Park and works its way across dense forest, rolling farms, remote ridgelines and a string of viewpoints taking in the valleys, the volcanic peaks and the Biosphere beyond.
The two big descents are the reason people pick this ride. They are long, fast and flowing rather than technical, but they need a rider who can read a line and control speed on loose natural surfaces.
Distance, elevation and remoteness put it firmly in experienced-rider territory. Come prepared and it is one of the most satisfying days available anywhere in the region.
The biggest day on the network. Drop through Woondum National Park to the Mothar Mountain Rockpools, climb back over the range, then link ridgeline after ridgeline on the way home.
What to expect
Eighty-one kilometres and well over a thousand metres of climbing make this the hardest ride in the collection, and it does not ease you into it.
The opening is a long descent through the forests of Woondum National Park down to the Mothar Mountain Rockpools, which is a genuinely good reason to carry a towel. From there the route climbs back over the range, crosses the farmland around Kin Kin and picks up a series of ridgelines with panoramic views across the Biosphere.
Forest trail, management track, gravel road and quiet rural back road all feature. The difficulty is physical rather than technical: sustained climbs, long descents and a lot of hours in the saddle.
For strong riders with the fitness to match, it is the standout day on the Noosa Trail Network.
Common questions
The named Noosa Biosphere Trails add up to well over 100km. Linked with forestry roads, management tracks and quiet back roads, they give hundreds of kilometres of riding.
Peak to Peak (34.3km) is the most achievable point to point route. If you are newer to off road riding, start closer to town on our Mt Tinbeerwah ride, or book a coaching session.
Rockpools and Ridgelines: 81.2km with 1,356m of climbing. It is physically demanding rather than technical.
A mountain bike. We hire premium hardtails, dual suspension bikes and eMTBs. See our bike hire range.
Transfers out to James McKane Lookout near Cooran, or Pomona, are run by our sister company By Earth and Ocean, with downloadable GPS route maps included.
The shuttle leaves our Noosaville shop at 9am and every ride finishes back at the shop. Book a self guided Noosa Biosphere ride.
These hinterland adventures are run by By Earth and Ocean, our sister company in the Element Outdoors Group. They handle the transfer out, the downloadable GPS route maps, the bike if you need one, and the local knowledge that keeps you on the good stuff. You just ride back to our Noosaville shop.
Prefer to stay closer to town? Bike On covers bike and e-bike hire, easy coastal and river rides and mountain bike coaching in Noosa itself.
Mountain biking here is built around exploration and distance rather than technical trail features. A typical day rolls through forest trail, management track, gravel road, farm access road and the occasional stretch of singletrack.
You will not find drops, jumps or rock gardens on these routes. The challenge comes from somewhere else: the length of the days, the elevation, the loose and uneven surfaces, and conditions that shift with the weather. Being comfortable on gravel, on steeper pitches in both directions, and on natural trail that has not been groomed is what matters.
Some routes suit any confident recreational rider. Others cover long distances through remote country and ask for real fitness and self-sufficiency. Pick the one that matches your legs as well as your skills and the day is far more enjoyable.
Experienced gravel riders do take on parts of the network, but plenty of it is rougher, looser and steeper than a gravel bike enjoys. A mountain bike is the right tool for the routes above.
That said, the wider Noosa Hinterland is some of the best gravel country in Australia: quiet backroads, forestry roads, rolling farmland and volcanic landscapes linking Kin Kin, Pomona, Cooran and Boreen Point. Those point-to-point gravel days, like the mountain bike ones, are By Earth and Ocean adventures with a transfer out to the start.
Gravel routes worth a look:
Discover Noosa with premium bikes built for comfort and adventure. Choose from road bikes, e-bikes, mountain bikes, cruisers, kids’ bikes and more. Hire by the day or longer.
Discover sealed riverside paths, hinterland gravel, quiet country roads, purpose built singletrack and a long stretch of open beach, all on routes locals actually ride.
Fun, inclusive and progressive coaching for all ages and abilities. Learn new skills, ride with friends and take your mountain biking to the next level.
