While the rest of the world gears up for the ski season, sun worshippers are flocking to Australia’s beautiful Gold Coast, where things are heating up.
With only an 8.5 hour flight from Hong Kong to Brisbane and multiple flights per day, it’s little wonder the Gold Coast continues to attract waves of tourists, most of them from China and the Middle East. Competition is tough among the hotels to capture this increasingly demanding and savvy group of customers.
Leader of the (hotel) pack
Opened in 2000 as the world’s first fully fashion branded hotel (Credit/Palazzo Versace)
The Palazzo Versace on Australia’s Gold Coast is a six-star luxury hotel nothing short of magnificent. It features a 63-meter pool with its own sandy beach, surrounded by cabanas, with guests being waited on hand and foot by the Water Salon team. It’s little wonder, then, that it won Traveller Magazine’s Sexiest Hotel Pool award this year. And if the weather does happen to turn bad, you can always retreat to one of the 200 bedrooms and suites. Everything of course speaks ‘Versace’, with the iconic Medusa head adorning all the furnishings and handles. But don’t let that put you off—it is all extremely tastefully designed and decorated.
Get a little bit more active, mate
No licence, no experience, no worries! (Credit/Jet Ski Safaris)
This is Australia, of course, and you are never far from something that can bite you. There are bull sharks swimming around the water canals. But there are also dolphins and you can get up close to them with Jet Ski Safaris. Take a tour with them and see dolphins, turtles, wallabies and wild pigs while riding around the beautiful hidden islands of Surfers Paradise. This extremely professional outfit can train even the most nervous of drivers up in minutes and have you out on the water in no time at all.
And if you fancy more of a drive, you are only 45 minutes from Byron Bay—one of Australia’s most, if not the most, beautiful beaches. People sit on the banks of the beach listening to buskers playing guitars and sipping on froyos, or hit the waves for a surf.
If you are thinking of taking a trip to escape the winter blues, a trip down to the Gold Coast promises something for all the family.
Byron Bay, one of Australia’s most iconic destinations (Credit/Wikimedia Commons)
How to get there
Written By: Max Johnson