Rainbow Bay is the last main beach in Queensland before the New South Wales border. The mostly north facing beach faces slightly towards the west and is protected by Snapper Rocks from eastern swells.
The beach is patrolled with flags to swim between. The beach sand is quite flat so the tide does creep up along it quicker than some steeper beaches – you find you need to move your towel every now and then as the waves start to reach your spot.
There was a rather strong side current when we were there, strong enough to knock you off your feet if you were not careful. This added to the fun had by us at the beach.
The kids had a ball digging holes in the sand and making moats around their sand castles. Sand barriers were also a necessary feature to prevent the incoming tide taking out their creation. They were somewhat successful as the change in tide eventually abandoned the attack, at which point they abandoned the castles they made as well.
Rainbow Bay is a wonderful beach in Coolangatta to base yourself and have a wander around the other locations near it. Snapper Rocks sits beside the beach to the East and a walk up the hill takes you to the Captain Cook Memorial on the New South Wales and Queensland border.
Towards the other direction (west), Greenmount Point has a lookout that looks back over Rainbow Bay. Greenmount Point also separates Rainbow Bay Beach and Greenmount Beach 
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Rainbow Bay was originally known as Sharks Bay. It was requested in 1925 to rename it to Rainbow Bay, believed to be the name originally given in 1828 when it was surveyed by Captain Henry John Rous in the HMS Rainbow.