Best 50

Latest

The Lucky Hotel

14 September 2026

A Newcastle East heritage pub remade in 2014 with terrazzo, tropical wallpaper and a garden bar — a hotel above a pub, just like the old days, only with better…

The Clairfield

14 September 2026

A humble 80s motel reimagined in 2024 as a 57-room country retreat with a farm-to-table dining room and a wellness wing where the laundry used to be.

Halcyon House

14 September 2026

When Siobhan and Elisha Bickle bought a tired '60s motor inn five minutes from the NSW–QLD border, they kept the bones, the pool, the open-air corridors and the easy seaside…

The Pink Hotel

14 September 2026

A Barbie-pink '60s motel resurrected on the Gold Coast beachfront with hand-painted neon, Scandinavian interiors and a Santeria-flavoured rooftop bar that goes very late, very pink.

The Mysa Motel

14 September 2026

A salmon-pink '60s sanctuary with a kidney pool, fibreglass loungers and original breeze-block. Owners Eliza and Jason rebuilt it room-by-room and run the whole thing on solar.

Motel Molly

14 September 2026

A Mediterranean-pastel rebirth of a '60s beachside motel one street back from Mollymook's crescent. Hand-painted tiles in every room. A breakfast hatch instead of a reception desk.

The Isla

14 September 2026

Palm Springs glam meets South Coast retro: a '70s motor inn reopened in 2024 with hand-painted rooms, Scandinavian edges and a speakeasy-style cantina behind the laundry.

Kyneton Springs

14 September 2026

A pink-neon Palm Springs homage on the Calder Freeway — kidney pool, a roomful of vintage thrift, and accent rooms painted in colours your nan would have called "racy".

River Drive Motel

14 September 2026

Five rooms on the Tarwin River mouth. Eucalyptus tones, cork ceilings, 1970s op-shop dignity, and a host who'll lend you a tinnie if she likes the look of you.

Bayview Motel

14 September 2026

Thirty-seven rooms, a turquoise pool the same colour as Esperance's water, and the kind of BBQ terrace that has hosted the same five families every January since 1974.