My family and I had an amazing holiday at Airlie Beach. Celebrating an anniversary and our daughter's 18th. We all felt relaxed as soon as we arrived. The location is very peaceful. Accomodation with Ocean Views and breakfast included for 4 ppl which I thought was good value. Your room is always air conditioned. We stayed 6 nights and I only booked it 2 weeks before we stayed. Breakfast is a self served buffet, with everything from fresh fruit, cereals,juice,muffins,crossiants,ham or salami,cheese,tomato,yoghurts, wholemeal,mutigrain, white and raisin bread,tea and coffee with all the different milks including soy. All you need except bacon and eggs and expresso which is understandable an extra cost as it does state the breakfast is Continental. It is served between 7am-10pm, but you could start at 6.30am if everything was ready. You can take your breakfast and sit on the grounds, not just limited to the restaurant area. Some crockery is dirty though.
Abel Point Marina is only 2 mins walk from the resort for your day cruises. Your pick up anyway and brought back to your hotel, if you don't wish to walk. I would recommend Cruise Whitsundays from the Able Point over Fantasea for your day cruises. Fantasea cruises are booked in the town which is only 5 mins walk from the resort. We did both. Fantasea cruises leave from Shute Harbour which is about a 11km bus ride to the pier. Staff and food is much better with Cruise Whitsundays and nicer conditioned ferries. Day cruises are expensive but they do include your meals. There is wharf at the resort which the water sports are purchased from.Resort guests and outsiders book here. There is jet skiing, parasailing, tube riding. You must remember it all depends on the weather conditions.
This resort does deserve its 4 stars. It's just a bit tired and they have the old fashion key for your room. The pool is huge and clean and you can swim until 10pm. The beds are comfortable and our room was the nautical theme. Don't expect glamour. Free in house movies if you have the time and cable.
Housekeeping wasn't always done properly, as in our refill of toiletries, pool towels and they forgot to wash our bath. It depended of which person did our room that day. The toiletries are very nice. Any problems with had were solved easily.
Some staff are very nice and some just average. I found the lady who looks after the resort shop quite useless with her information.
The shops, restaurants and nightclubs and pubs and lagoon are great in town.Security is fantastic at night. All our walking was flat.
We would definately come back again to Airlie Beach but would try the rooms with a hammock next time. If coming from Sydney, I would recommend flying to Hamilton Island and then catch the ferry to the mainland. We had to catch 2 planes, which takes to long.
Airlie Beach is a very transit town, so you get to meet people from all over the world here.
Room Tip: Ocean views if your budget is not tight
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC