AUSTRALIA, PART TWO: HALCYON HOUSE

After three days in Sydney, we flew an hour and twenty minutes to Australia’s Gold Coast for two nights at Halcyon House, a boutique hotel overlooking beautiful Cabarita Beach. I’d been following the hotel on Instagram for a few years and added it to my hotel bucket list for future reference. A belated trip for our one year wedding anniversary was the perfect time to make a reservation!

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Each guest room was designed by Anna Spiro in her unique eclectic style and the room we stayed in on the second floor featured playful polka dot wallpaper, a quirky gallery wall, and a balcony overlooking the pool. I thought my suitcase fit in rather nicely! You can see more of the rooms here (truthfully I’d been hoping to stay in one of several blue and white rooms, but ours was still delightful!) and I think you’ll agree this is not your average beige and boring hotel decor. There were so many special touches throughout the property that made it feel more like a home than a hotel.

design darling halcyon house gallery wall

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It was unseasonably warm during our visit and the hotel pool was too tempting to resist. Add in the striped lounge chairs, the pineapple-bedecked bar, and the fresh berry smoothies and I could have stayed all day!

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The hotel restaurant is called Paper Daisy and is a blue and white paradise filled with Serena and Lily bistro chairs and antique accents. We arrived to lemonade cocktails at the bar and enjoyed breakfast and dinner (twice each!) in the outdoor space next to the pool. The food is fantastic and well worth a visit even if you’re not staying at the hotel!

design darling halcyon house paper daisy

design darling halcyon house paper daisy chairs

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The Gold Coast is known for its gorgeous beaches and I’m happy we made it to a few during our short visit. The hotel sits right on Cabarita Beach which made it easy to catch the sunset each night. We also did a twelve mile bike ride to and from Kingscliff one day and had a late lunch at Burleigh Pavilion overlooking Burleigh Heads. I only wish we’d been able to get down to Byron Bay as we had heard it’s equally picturesque!

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This was such a relaxing part of our trip after the long flight to Australia and the hustle and bustle of Sydney. We didn’t pack our days with a ton of activities and instead spent time biking, swimming, and strolling along the beach. It’s rare for us to do so little while traveling and it was nice to really unwind for a couple days! I do think two or three days is probably the right amount of time to stay here — if we’d had one more day I would have loved to visit Halcyon’s spa and drive down to Byron Bay but after that I think we would have been ready for our next destination. Have any of you stayed at Halcyon House? What did you think? And what’s next on your hotel bucket list? I’d love to hear!

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