Six of the best stays in Queensland’s favourite playground
It’s Queensland’s favourite playground and there’s a hotel or resort here to suit every kind of traveller, from five-star-plus seaside hotels to retro-hip retreats located within the Gold Coast’s most popular precincts.
JW MARRIOTT RESORT & SPA
The lobby of the JW Marriott Gold Coast Resort & Spa.Credit: Justin Nicholas
JW Marriott Resort & Spa’s first Australian property is the result of a stunning $35 million redevelopment of the Surfers Paradise Marriott. The property’s eye-catching lobby features a turning marble staircase and Raffles Hotel-style slow-turning rattan fans. But the tropical lagoon with fine white sand beaches and waterfalls is its show-stopper, where a silver Airstream serves lunch beside the water. There’s a market garden outside with produce used at the resort’s multiple dining places, including seafood market experience eatery, Citrique. Activities such as stand-up paddle boarding and jet-skiing are available on a canal behind the resort.
THE LANGHAM GOLD COAST
The Langham Gold Coast - the first Langham to open in Queensland.
The Gold Coast’s first genuine five-star-plus hotel, The Langham Gold Coast is only a few streets from Surfers Paradise but feels cocooned in its own private sandy world. Built 30 metres from the beach, every room looks out either across the ocean or up to the Coast’s stunning green hinterland. There’s a 20-metre pool with lagoon-style sandy beaches and transplanted palm trees, while ground-floor restaurant, Akoya, will make you feel like you’re dining among the sand dunes beside the surf. Step things up with a visit to upscale Cantonese restaurant, T’Ang Court, a sibling to Hong Kong’s famous three-Michelin starred T’Ang Court.
SHERATON GRAND MIRAGE RESORT
The Sheraton Grand Mirage is built right on the beachfront, but with a beach of its own.
The only way you can get closer to the ocean is by chartering a boat – the Sheraton Grand Mirage is the Gold Coast’s only five-star absolute beachfront resort (you’re literally just a few steps from the sand). Set on the Gold Coast Spit beside the Gold Coast Seaway, you’re within walking distance of fine dining restaurants and bars built beside luxury marinas, which offer a variety of boat tours. That’s if you can leave the property: the Sheraton Grand Mirage is set in six hectares of lagoons and gardens beside the beach with its own bars and restaurants.
QT GOLD COAST
QT Gold Coast relives the past in the middle of Surfers Paradise.
For a slick hotel within Surfers Paradise, QT Gold Coast manages to make guests feel like they’ve slipped back in time 50 years or so. There’s an old VW Kombi by the front door, 1950s-era wooden malibu surfboards and old vintage cruiser bikes available, as well as home-made lemonade served in bottles for guests on arrival. There’s a bit of everything here, with the hip Sting Ray lounge to hang out, a swim-up bar at an outdoor pool, one of the region’s best Japanese restaurants and a market-place style restaurant. Rooms stick to the retro vibe but with modern touches, offering either ocean, mountain or canal views.
THE DORSETT
Balcony view at The Dorsett.
Located within the uber-trendy Star Gold Coast casino complex, The Dorsett feels like a seaside oasis, but with all the amenities and style of an inner-city hotel. You’re only 700 metres from beautiful Kurrawa Beach, but you also have direct access to some of the region’s best bars and restaurants, like Nineteen At The Star and Kiyomi. While you’re at it, don’t go past the indulgent Isoletto Pool Club, where you’ll be waited on as you lounge by a pool with stunning views over Broadbeach. The Dorsett is the first branch of the Hong Kong-based Dorsett brand to open in Australia.
INTERCONTINENTAL SANCTUARY COVE
The Intercontinental Sanctuary Cove Resort and its half hectare lagoon.
Located on the northern end of the Gold Coast at Hope Island, 30 minutes north of Surfers Paradise, guests are surrounded by super-yachts at the marina next door, but there’s a country hideaway quality to being here, with kangaroos outside your room and a stunning plantation-style restaurant and bar on-site. Spend days without leaving, thanks to the three world-class championship golf courses and an enormous man-made lagoon fringed by its own sandy beach. You’re right next door to the speciality stores, bars and restaurants of Sanctuary Cove Marina Village where the Gold Coast’s boating community spend their days.
All of the featured hotels and resorts can be booked, including as packages, via My Queensland, see myqldholiday.com.au
Craig Tansley was a guest of Destination Gold Coast.
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