Empire Bay, NSW 2257

We moved our family to EB from Sydney and have not looked back. The kids can ride safely in the streets with friends and go from house to house to play. Just like our childhood was like. Best coffee and deli on the coast. Friendly neighbours and school community. 10 min drive to 4 of the best beaches on the coast. The best part is not many people holiday in EB so we don’t feel over run by tourists every school holidays. Lots of sporting options for the kids close by. Easy commute line for driving to Sydney via kariong or train from woy woy. Easy bus line for transport to schools. Great fishing off the wharf and ferry to davistown/woy woy. Many houses are undergoing renovation and we can see the area will only increase in value with time. It’s really a hidden gem!

Just beautiful!

Moved to Empire Bay from Ashfield into tapered retirement six months ago. The laid back nature here is very different to living with the Inner City set. Found a nice brick thre bedder and pocketed a million dollars. Everyone we have met has had time chat about "God's Country". A good place place to live for someone looking at quality of life over a trophy home to show off. Pleased we chose to move here over over Terrigal, our original thought.

Yes, mosquitos abound and curb and guttering is badly needed. Albeit, the lack of the latter does tend better integrate the homes into the surrounding parkland.

Good shopping facilities are twenty minutes away and the precinct is a step away from the beaches. The trip, to which, is very green.

Suspect the quality of housing will improve over the next ten years and beyond.

Kids ride their bikes on the streets, Amazing place to raise a family. Away from the Hussel and bussel. Only really have residents in the area as its tucked away yet close drive to facilities and beaches. Transport facilities available in area include Bus and Ferries or own transport.
Great schools and a great village atmosphere.
A very safe place to raise a family, quiet roads, peaceful town, parks for the kids.

A peaceful place with a lot of nature and wildlifes. People are friendly. Not far from train station and many beaches. You can still manage to work in the city and enjoy all year round holiday at home.

We moved here a couple of years ago from Bensville, both great places to live. We are very happy here as it has a wonderful "village" atmosphere with friendly caring people. The demographic is gradually changing with quality homes being built but it retains the smalll village look, local tradies and fisho's gather at the wharf in the afternoon to talk and share a beer but they are friendly and don't cause problems. The local schools primary schools are great with 2 options, the public school or the Christian private school. Kids have to bus to secondary schools at Woy Woy or Gosford. We live near the water and don't have to many issues with the mozzies and they are seasonal anyway.
There is a small tail sector where you can buy groceries or a take away meal and an Italian restaurant. Local businesses include a Post Office, Real Estate and Hair Dresser. Great fishing and a clean environment on Brisbane Waters, all 5 minutes from great sea beaches.

Empire Bay is a quiet area ideal for raising a family. it has a handy group of shops by the water, has an excellent primary school and has it's own ferry service. The area is slowly changing- the old fibro shacks are slowly disappering, being totally rebuilt or replaced with new homes. House prices have increased 12% in 2010.

As a kid, Empire Bay was called "The Swamp" and still is many decades later - not only for the fact that you have to drive down what seems like a gully to get there, but also that the shabby narrow blocks flood with rain due to no curb and guttering - so lots and lots of mozzies and smells!!! The renters have got a sniff of how cheap it is to live in the hidden away fibros here, so full of boozy party goers - very noisy and can be unsafe at times!! There are now much nicer, safer more elite Bays and gorgeous Beach-side suburbs elsewhere on the Peninsula to live.

Marty 33... perception is a funny thing. Having grown up in a suburb of Sydney, I find Empire Bay a beautiful place in more ways than one. Its great for kids, has a top quality public school and as for the mozzies, we can accept those for the few months of the year that they are around. The people at the wharf are just old men enjoying each others company and doing a spot of fishing. Marty 33, you must have not experienced worse gangs of people with weapons.
This is a great place.

Well I lived here for 2 years. The suburb is more commonly named VAMPIRE bay. The mosquitoes are so bad from Nov to April every year you cannot go into your own garden or walk the streets where there is lots of bush.
The are many bushpigs in the area and they congregate at the so called "wharf" every arvo to drink their booze out of brown paper bags and discuss their boring lives, or haow many fish they have caught.
It is close to Killcare beach which is a good spot for surf and relax. The suburb itself is a backwater, mozzie filled place, and filled with many renters, or worse, chronic home renovaters who make noise every weekend.
There are better places on the coast!!!!!

I have lived in Empire Bay for 10 years then moved away for 6 and recently returned 2.5 years ago as there is no better place. The people are friendly, the waterfront is a great place to take your dog for a walk or to do exercise.

There is nothing better than waking up every morning to the sound of birds - the wharf is hardly busy so you don't have to wait for ages to put your boat in. It's close enough to shops but far enough away so you don't get traffic - one way in and one way out!

I just love it!

I grew up in 'the Bay'. I have fond memories of swimming on hot afternoons in the bay, and jumping off the ferry wharf. We had a kayak, and also a small tinnie and spent many good times on the water. Quite often we paddled over the channel to Davo Baths in Davistown to see our mates.

Parts of the bay are quite bushy, and there is lots of wildlife and native birds.

Many of the people I have grown up with have remained in the bay, however the suburb is 'being discovered', and property prices are rising here. Some say it has potential to be the next Hardy's Bay. It is only 10 mins to Woy Woy by car to catch trains to City or Newcastle, and is serviced by a ferry service from the bay to Saratoga, Davistown and Woy Woy.

It is only 5 mins drive to Killcare surf beach, where there is great surf and plenty of parking. Not like Terrigal!!

There is a mix of housing styles, from old cottages, 70's brick houses, newer homes where the old ones have been knocked down, to waterfront houses. If you walk along the waterfront, in front of the boat shed, you will see some beautiful "new' houses, which have been designed to look 'old'. So charming, and not vulgar like in so may other waterfont locations.

In addition, the suburb has no more vacant land for development, and there are no ugly blocks of flats blurring the landscape. There is no through traffic either, with only one road in and out.

Beautifal Bay Suburb, Nice place to retire or bring up kids until High School.