In a country as vast as ours, where distances can be measured in days rather than hours, there’s a particular joy reserved for finding an exceptional inn at the end of the road. The best regional hotels become destinations in themselves – reasons to load up the car, or get on the plane, and transport yourself somewhere special.
See our other 2016 Australian Hotel Guide finalists:
****Boutique Hotel of the Year.
****Best Hotel Service.
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Halcyon House, NSW
Halcyon House, NSW
Brace yourself for the déjà vu. Few corners of this ’60s surfer motel, strikingly reimagined as Australia’s smartest beachside escape, haven’t graced Instagram already. And deservedly so. Eye-catching scenes await wherever the gaze rests: on glimpses of ocean framed by casuarinas, or those clamshells stacked with pineapples, white shelves lined with only blue books and dreamy fabrics. Even bathrooms are worthy of a close-up, with Frette towels, marble and brass details and floor tiles in Halcyon’s signature Caprese blue. Entry-level rooms are compact and lack sea views but are as handsomely detailed as more upscale choices, with antiques and king-size beds. Courtyards front the pool, surrounded by jaunty blue-and-white lounges and duelling soundtracks of cool tunes and crashing waves. Staff, under the suave tutelage of general manager Mauro de Riso (ex-JK Place Capri), go the extra mile.
Halcyon House, 21 Cypress Crescent, Cabarita Beach, NSW, halcyonhouse.com.au
Halcyon House, NSW
Halcyon House, NSW
Brace yourself for the déjà vu. Few corners of this ’60s surfer motel, strikingly reimagined as Australia’s smartest beachside escape, haven’t graced Instagram already. And deservedly so. Eye-catching scenes await wherever the gaze rests: on glimpses of ocean framed by casuarinas, or those clamshells stacked with pineapples, white shelves lined with only blue books and dreamy fabrics. Even bathrooms are worthy of a close-up, with Frette towels, marble and brass details and floor tiles in Halcyon’s signature Caprese blue. Entry-level rooms are compact and lack sea views but are as handsomely detailed as more upscale choices, with antiques and king-size beds. Courtyards front the pool, surrounded by jaunty blue-and-white lounges and duelling soundtracks of cool tunes and crashing waves. Staff, under the suave tutelage of general manager Mauro de Riso (ex-JK Place Capri), go the extra mile.
Halcyon House, 21 Cypress Crescent, Cabarita Beach, NSW, halcyonhouse.com.au
Lake House, Vic
Lake House, Vic
Many come to Lake House for its award-winning restaurant alone, but staying overnight takes the experience to the next level. The luxuriously appointed rooms – waterfront suites, new Lodge studios and suites, and The Retreat with its sunken tub, firepit and private bar – are in a village-like cluster. All are linked by gravel paths that meander through lush landscaping, offering glimpses of the lake, tennis court, kitchen garden and the Salus Spa with its tree-house mineral baths. It’s tempting to hunker down in-room and enjoy the private verandas, upholstered window seats, throw rugs and piles of scatter cushions. But only if you can resist the lure of a lake walk, a picnic (hampers arranged, blankets provided), a session at the cooking school, an aperitivo on the new terrace overlooking the lake, or dinner – included in the tariff – in one of the country’s pioneering regional restaurants.
Lake House, King Street, Daylesford, VIC, lakehouse.com.au
2016 Regional Hotel of the Year: Pumphouse Point, Tas
2016 Regional Hotel of the Year: Pumphouse Point, Tas
Nature is the ultimate luxury at Pumphouse Point. The 18-room hotel has a simple style that embraces and enhances the surrounding World Heritage wilderness – all the better to appreciate the sight of a platypus surfacing outside your window, or the sunset flaring over the lake as you savour a Tasmanian pinot by a log fire. Guestrooms are located in two buildings of a former hydroelectric pump station, but pole position goes to the three-storey Pumphouse jutting into the lake, with 12 guestrooms and sun-drenched lounges. There are design nods throughout to the site’s industrial past, but what prevails is a sense of modern, understated simplicity and warmth, from the welcome by staff to the soups waiting in room fridges at the end of a day’s walk. Open fires warm lounges where guests gather; otherwise the silence is medicinal. At Pumphouse, nature nurtures.
Pumphouse Point, 1 St Clair Road, Lake St Clair, TAS, pumphousepoint.com.au
2016 Regional Hotel of the Year: Pumphouse Point, Tas
2016 Regional Hotel of the Year: Pumphouse Point, Tas
Nature is the ultimate luxury at Pumphouse Point. The 18-room hotel has a simple style that embraces and enhances the surrounding World Heritage wilderness – all the better to appreciate the sight of a platypus surfacing outside your window, or the sunset flaring over the lake as you savour a Tasmanian pinot by a log fire. Guestrooms are located in two buildings of a former hydroelectric pump station, but pole position goes to the three-storey Pumphouse jutting into the lake, with 12 guestrooms and sun-drenched lounges. There are design nods throughout to the site’s industrial past, but what prevails is a sense of modern, understated simplicity and warmth, from the welcome by staff to the soups waiting in room fridges at the end of a day’s walk. Open fires warm lounges where guests gather; otherwise the silence is medicinal. At Pumphouse, nature nurtures.
Pumphouse Point, 1 St Clair Road, Lake St Clair, TAS, pumphousepoint.com.au
