Cronulla is a beachy surf suburb south of Botany Bay, its long surf beach (Sydney's only one reachable by train) stretching beyond the dunes to the Botany Bay refineries. It can be an edgy place (captured brilliantly in the 1970s cult teen novel Puberty Blues and reinforced by 2005 race riots) but the beach is beautiful, with a pleasant promenade. The beach is divided into a long northern and shorter southern zone by a narrow strip of sand known as the Alley.
In 2008 Cronulla became the second Sydney beach to be declared a National Surfing Reserve. It's one of Sydney's most reliably good beaches for surfing; the southern end of the northern section is usually good for beginners.
