Sydney, Darwin and Cairns Hotels
 

Can anyone tell me anything about The Sydney Boulevard Hotel, Darwin Central Hotel and/or Cairns Colonial Club Resort? I am trying to book my honeymoon for early October and these were suggested by a travel agent. We would be staying in each for 4 nights

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Hi,
Could I suggest that you consider the Northern beaches for the cairns part of your honeymoon, places like Palm Cove and Port Douglas are like paradise. Whilst Cairns has all the shops; it is also very busy and has no beach.
Good luck with the planning and wedding.

Muck

Hi Muck,
If you're set on staying in Cairns (I recommend Port Douglas over Cairns), you can do a lot better than Colonial Club. It's old, inconvenient (you need to take a shuttle to go anywhere and the shuttle only runs til around 7pm) large and impersonal. Can you tell I didn't like it when I stayed there last year?

Il Palazzo, also in Cairns, was nicer. I got a a 1BR apartment/flat for the same price as Colonial Club.

Cairns, though located near the GBR, has no beach. Port Cove and Port Douglas are about the same distance from the reef but are nice...just something to consider :-)

Debbie

Thank you, I was considering Port Douglas and after reading both of your posts, will definitely stay there. Will look further into places in PD.

Hi MK,
I think you will be pleased you made that decision.
Palm Cove is about 20mins by bus from Cairns and Port Douglas is another 25 mins or so from P/Cove.
If its total relaxation you want with peace and quiet,(nudge nudge wink wink say no more...honeymoon) Palm Cove is great, we stayed at the oasis and it was lovely, there are plenty of other gorgeous places to stay right on the beach. PDouglas is a bit bigger with more shops and restaurants and also more places to stay but just as beautiful.
And both are good for access to the GBR.
Have fun planning

Muck

We stayed in Palm Cove and loved it! Highly recommended for a honeymoon! The Courtyard Marriott Resort there was fine, although there are other higher-end places to stay. Restaurants on the beach were excellent. Cairns was much too crowded touristy for us, although it's the best jumping off point for the Reef. On that note, we spent three days and 2 nights on a dive boat 60 miles from shore. The one-day trips to the reef are totally inadequate to get an experience of this magical place. Whether you dive or just snorkel, consider at least one night offshore. Also recommed the train to Kuranda and the Skyrail back. We also took a 4-wheel drive trip at night into the rainforest, which was a total waste of time. The drought made the rainforest dry, there were no night creatures worth seeing. We expected crocs, but we were in the mountains and saw a couple tree animals and that was it.

I also think you can do a lot better than the Boulevard Hotel in Sydney. It is located mid-way between Kings Cross and the CBD - in an area undergoing construction work on a new under city tunnel, and is a very dated hotel.
If you do a search at the top of this page on Sydney Hotels you will find many excellent recommendations - particularly those situated around the The Rocks/Circular Quay/Harbour area, which I am sure you will enjoy a lot more, particularly for your honeymoon.