Whether it’s a grand staircase to make an entrance or a colour scheme that makes you swoon, there’s something about a beautiful hotel that puts the icing on the cake of a honeymoon. For many of us, the hotel is the destination. It whisks us away into a post-wedding fairytale that keeps the outside world at bay. Here are 7 hotels that over-index on style and make glamour an art form in “Golden Slumbers: Luxe & Elegant Hotels For Your Honeymoon”…
Image: Hotel Chadstone Melbourne
Hotel Chadstone Melbourne MGallery by Sofitel
I’m still sighing over the blush pink design notes at this swish hotel perched on the edge of Melbourne’s super swish Chadstone – The Fashion Capital shopping precinct. Art deco gold arches await as you enter the lobby, dramatic hanging towers of glassware are suspended above the bar in Pastore Restaurant, and the Holism Retreat spa is a study in desert chic that’s pure bliss. And the plush velvet bedheads in your room are just perfection.
Image: Hotel Chadstone Melbourne
There’s never been a time or location when this international hotel brand has held back. Walls, floors and even ceilings are ubiquitously curved, especially in the WET Deck, where the hotel’s dramatic indoor pool resides alongside floor to ceiling windows. At a W hotel, it just works. In Curious, the underground hotel bar, you’ve stepped into a New York bolt hole where the drinks are top-notch and the banquet seating is cosy.
Images: W Melbourne
The Langham Sydney’s marble white entrance oozes old-world glamour and is beloved by brides far and wide. A little slice of Paris on Kent Street, the interiors are elegant to a tee, with domed ceilings in the suites, teal armchairs and wood panelling in the Observatory Bar and white Calcutta marble in the Kitchen on Kent private dining room. The piece de resistance is often considered the underground pool, where stone columns and a ceiling decorated like the night sky always take me straight to ancient Europe.
Images: The Langham, Sydney
Park Suite by Coco Republic at Pullman Sydney Hyde Park
The paint is practically still fresh on this very special collaboration between Australian interior royalty Coco Republic and this stately Sydney hotel. Think soft greys, touches of gold, hues of Australian natives and a serious dose of five star Sydney skyline views. You’ll have plenty of space to spread out, with living, dining and bedroom all decked out for your stay.
Images: Pullman Sydney, Hyde Park
Absolute experts at understated luxury, The Ritz-Carlton’s Perth hotel puts the best of Australia on show. The lobby’s cathedral ceilings give plenty of space for Kimberly sandstone to steal the show – ripples of colour pass through the walls, leading up to 286 floating glass pendants forming a dramatic chandelier that is an ode to the majestic KarijiniGorge in the Pilbara. Suites have dove grey velvet chaise lounges calling to be perched upon in the late afternoon sun and deep soaking tubs. Tear yourself away if you can for a dip in the rooftop infinity pool and a dainty Songbird cocktail from the Songbird bar – sipped from a glass bird. Songbird Sundays are a new feature, where you’ll tuck into share plates of local produce and bubbles as the afternoon rolls on.
Images: The Ritz Carlton
Step back in time and far, far away from Adelaide when you walk through the blue doors of the brand-new Sofitel Adelaide. That beautiful sense of French joie de vivre Sofitel hotels are so famous for old meets new design. Vintage-inspired stencil wallpaper and marble busts sit alongside low line International Style armchairs in the Club Millésime lounge. Delicate bespoke blue glass Art Nouveau chandeliers float above a dreamy indoor pool, whilst wall panelling in rooms add a touch of 19th France to your evening.
Images: Sofitel Adelaide
Brisbane has never looked so good since this stunner arrived on the scene. Not for those who like a laid back colour scheme, W Brisbane is a riot of colours, prints, textures and lighting and it works. With another signature W hotels WET area, the pool is decked out in enough stripes to make a zebra camouflage, and while Living Room Bar is a little Willy Wonka meets Mad Hatter and a lot of fun. They’ve got a unique high tea to match their unique aesthetic – you can paint your own panna cotta!
Images: W Brisbane
About Lisa Perkovic: Lisa has spent the past decade travelling the world writing for Australia’s leading newspapers, magazines, and blogs about all things travel. Her own honeymoon was her pièce de résistance – an epic journey to the Maldives and South Africa. Now she loves nothing more than sharing destinations and tips to help other newlyweds work out how to have the honeymoon of their dreams.
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