This hotel is located at Pialba at the northern end of Hervey Bay. The marina and boats for whale watching and Fraser Island are located at the other (southern) end. However, most tours pick-up from all hotels so this is not too much of an issue except that you are one of the first to be picked up and amongst the last to be dropped off at the end. You can simply walk across the street in front of the hotel and across some grass to get to the beach where there are plenty of shells for the kids to collect and the camel rides go past.
Reception was friendly, with a fridge full of cold drinks for sale. They are also able to book tours for you and have a supply of pamphlets and brochures for local attractions and tours.
The room we had was on the second floor with a view across a park. The room itself was quite big although we noticed during out stay that they rooms on the ground level appeared to be somewhat smaller. Our room had a queen bed and a single bed, a table and two chairs, two armchairs, a flat screen TV, a bar fridge, tea and coffee facilities, large bathtub with shower. The hotel had a small, unheated outdoor pool including a spa seat.
A small gripe I had was that I dropped some potato chips on the floor one night and the crumbs were still there two days later. I thought that they would be vacuumed up during the daily service. Also, on the first day our room wasn't serviced at all.
Overall, the hotel seemed OK but I felt it was slightly overpriced for what it offered, as was other accommodation in the area.
Other points
Personally, I did not care for any of the beaches at Hervey Bay as they are on tidal flats, which I do not enjoy walking on and at low tide you have to walk out quite a way and at high tide it still isn’t very deep. Additionally, there are no waves. This would probably be good for people who like their beaches calm and shallow, people with small children or possibly fishermen.
A day trip to Fraser Island is well worth it especially if you get to float down Eli Creek and swim at Lake McKenzie. The rainforest and tall trees are also a sight to behold. The lunch at Eurong Beach Resort was plentiful and better than the previous time I visited there 18 years ago.
Whale watching is another trip you may want to go on. We saw several whales although they were mainly floating, swimming, or diving and coming up for air. No jumping or breaching so not all that exciting. Most of the kids enjoyed themselves just running around the boat. Don’t forget to take sunblock, a hat and a jumper/sweater/jacket even when it is hot on shore. Most people on our boat got extremely cold in the wind out of the sun as they forgot to bring something warm with them.
- Best Western Hervey Bay
- Hervey Bay Best Western
