Sealers Cove campsite booking guide

Sealers Cove is a long golden beach with clear water, sheltered from the prevailing winds, and the camping area sits just back from it with plenty of shade. Facilities are simple:

• Toilets in the campground.
• Water from the creek. It's untreated, so filter or treat everything you drink, and don't count on supply.
• No fires. Fires aren't permitted anywhere in Wilsons Promontory National Park at any time, and on Total Fire Ban days camp stoves aren't allowed either. Pack food you can eat cold.
• No dogs, bikes or generators.
• No camping on the beach. You camp in the camping area, which you reach by crossing Sealers Creek.

That creek crossing is the bit to plan around. Parks Victoria recommends crossing at low tide, so check the tide times for your arrival day. Our Southern Circuit packing list covers the rest of what to carry.

1. Open the overnight hiking booking page. Sealers Cove is booked on Parks Victoria's Wilsons Prom overnight hiking page, not the Tidal River campground booking. You can also call 13 19 63.
2. Book a place for every person. Overnight hikes are booked per head rather than per campsite, which is how Parks Victoria keeps the toilets and water up to the number of people using them.
3. Book every night of your trip. One or two nights at Sealers Cove, plus each other camp you'll use. Each camp has the same two-consecutive-night limit, and the group limit is 12.
4. Carry your booking. Overnight hikers need their booking with them at all times; a printout or a copy on your phone is fine. Leave your itinerary with an emergency contact too.

What it costs. When we checked the booking system in November 2026, Sealers Cove was $8.10 per adult, per night, in Australian dollars. That's the Victorian Government's half-price camping rate, which was reintroduced from 1 July 2025 for two years.

Cancelling and changing. Cancel 30 days or more before your first night and you get a full refund, 8 to 29 days out you get half back, and inside 8 days there's no refund. Camping bookings can instead be moved to another date or campground, subject to availability, right up to your check-in time, but a changed booking can't then be refunded.

Parks Victoria releases camping bookings four times a year, each release covering dates roughly 6 to 9 months ahead. Releases open at 10am. On busy release days there's a "Lobby" before 10am, and at 10am everyone in it is moved into the waiting-room queue in random order, so arriving early earns you nothing.

Right now, bookings are open for stays up to 28 February 2027. The next period, 1 March to 30 June 2027, hasn't had a release date published yet. Parks Victoria announces releases through its newsletter and social channels, and lists them on its bookings release schedule.

If you missed the release, you're not waiting for anything. Every date in the current window is on sale, and what's left plus whatever comes back through cancellations is what you're competing for.

There's no road to Sealers Cove. Every way in is on foot, and there are three common ones:

• Out and back from Telegraph Saddle. The Sealers Cove walk starts at the Telegraph Saddle car park and runs about 10 km one way through rainforest and ferny gullies, around 3 hours. It's graded 4, with some steep sections, and the climb back out takes longer than the walk in.
• As a day walk. The same walk is a big but doable day trip. The booking is for camping, so a day walk to the beach and back doesn't need one. There are toilets just before the beach, and you'll need to carry your own water.
• As part of the Southern Circuit. The classic three-day loop from Telegraph Saddle spends one night at Sealers Cove and one at Little Waterloo Bay. Refuge Cove, about 6.4 km further along the coast, is the other common pairing.

On busy days (summer, autumn and spring school holidays, weekends from Melbourne Cup to Easter, and Anzac long weekend) Telegraph Saddle car park is closed to private cars from 9am to 6pm, and a free shuttle bus runs up from Tidal River and the overnight hikers car park. Before you go, check the Parks Victoria site for changed conditions, because phone reception on the Southern Circuit is unreliable once you're walking.

When Sealers Cove shows as full, it usually means one night is gone, not the whole Prom. Parks Victoria doesn't run a waitlist: a cancelled place becomes available online straight away, to whoever happens to be looking. With the refund dropping to 50% inside 30 days and to nothing inside 8, people who aren't sure have every reason to cancel before those cut-offs, and their spots come back quietly.

That's where Spotbagger helps. Spotbagger watches the Wilsons Prom Southern Circuit as complete two-night loops, and every loop it watches includes a night at Sealers Cove: Sealers Cove then Little Waterloo Bay or Refuge Cove, or either of those then Sealers Cove. We check the Parks Victoria booking system often and alert you the moment a whole loop opens up for your party on your dates. You book it yourself on the Parks Victoria site. (We don't watch a lone Sealers Cove night on its own, so if you only want the out-and-back overnight, keep an eye on the booking page yourself.)

If your dates won't budge, try the other tricks: start midweek, walk the loop in the other direction, or swap your second night to Refuge Cove. Our guide to what to do when the Southern Circuit is booked out has the full playbook.

Do you need to book Sealers Cove campsite?

Yes, to camp. Parks Victoria requires an advance booking for every night at Sealers Cove, and you need to carry it with you. Walking in for the day doesn't need a campsite booking.

How much does it cost to camp at Sealers Cove?

When we checked in November 2026 it was $8.10 per adult, per night, at the current half-price camping rate. It's charged per person, so a group of four pays four fees for each night.

How far ahead can you book Sealers Cove?

Parks Victoria releases bookings four times a year, about 6 to 9 months ahead. At the moment you can book stays up to 28 February 2027; the date for releasing March to June 2027 hasn't been announced yet.

How long is the walk to Sealers Cove?

About 10 km one way from the Telegraph Saddle car park, around 3 hours, with a creek crossing at the end that's best done at low tide.

Can you stay more than two nights at Sealers Cove?

No. Each hike-in camping area at the Prom has a limit of two consecutive nights, so a longer trip moves on to another camp such as Refuge Cove or Little Waterloo Bay.