5 of Australia’s brightest lighthouse stays

Editor Editor
hero media
Want to take a sleep back in time and play lighthouse keeper for the weekend?

Here are five Australian lighthouses which have seen the light, offering comfortable cottages and quirky accommodation:

1. Montague Island, NSW South Coast

Montague Island Lighthouse, off Narooma, NSW.
Montague Island Lighthouse, off Narooma, NSW.

Two lighthouse keeper’s cottages on Montague Island (NSW South Coast ) have reopened to guests. With a penguin colony (of around 12,000), visitors can tour the island on a day trip (eurobodalla.com.au ), explore on a night tour, or sleep overnight in one of the refurbished cottages. A two-night package with transfers, tours, plus the five-bedroom head keeper’s cottage is $3600 (sleeps up to 12).

2. Cape Byron, Byron Bay

Lighthouse Keeper's Cottage, Cape Byron SCA
Lighthouse Keepe,rs Cottage, Cape Byron, NSW.

Overlooking Cape Byron, each of these two three-bedroom keeper’s cottages has a kitchen, laundry and period furniture, with the added privilege of rising with the sun at Australia’s most easterly point. The Byron Bay Lighthouse . from $697 per night.

3. Sugarloaf Point, Seal Rocks, NSW

Sugarloaf Point, Seal Rocks, NSW.
Sugarloaf Point, Seal Rocks, NSW.

Relax in one of three cottages at this secluded Seal Rocks lighthouse, which boasts beach views from the master bedrooms. From $450 per night during whale season (May–September).

Need tips, more detail or itinerary ideas tailored to you? Ask AT.

AI Prompt

4. Cape Otway, Great Ocean Road

Cape Otway Lightstation, Great Ocean Road, Victoria.
Cape Otway Lightstation, Great Ocean Road, Victoria.

The Southern Ocean can be volatile, but Australia’s oldest lighthouse has guided sailors safely to shore since 1848. The Cape Otway Lightstation  sleeps up to 16 in four renovated bedrooms and has a beautiful old-style wood stove and open fire place. From $450 per night.

5. Cape Borda, Kangaroo Island

Cape Borda lighthouse, Kangaroo Island.
Cape Borda lighthouse, Kangaroo Island.

Located at the south-west tip of Kangaroo Island, Cape Borda lighthouse getaway offers a more secluded option for travellers in a three-bedroom lodge, a self-contained cabin, and a quaint single-room stone cabin. From $219 per night.

 

Editor

Editor

View profile and articles
Baillie Lodges enters new global era as ‘Beckons’
Australia

Australian luxury lodge pioneer Baillie Lodges enters new global era as ‘Beckons’

The homegrown hospitality group behind Southern Ocean Lodge and Longitude 131° is expanding internationally under a new name.

Read more
Landscape shot of Maria Island Walk in Tasmania
Australia

The best last-minute Easter getaways you can still book

From luxury lodges and coastal resorts to outback adventures and cruise deals, these Easter getaways prove there’s still time to escape.

Read more
a spacious apartment with marina view at Trinity Point, Lake Macquarie NSW 
Australia

Australia’s newest hotels worth planning a trip for

Check into Australia’s most exciting new hotel openings, from buzzy city stays to dreamy coastal escapes.

Read more
park hyatt sydney exterior
Australia

7 luxe Aussie hotels made the 2026 Forbes Travel Guide Star Awards for the first time

Australian luxury hotels have been ranked as some of the best in the world.

Read more
hero media

Victoria’s surprising new outdoor adventure hotspot

    Craig Tansley Craig Tansley
    Continue
    A town charmingly paused in time has become a hot mountain biking destination. 

    There’s a forest reserve full of eucalyptus and pines surrounding town – when you combine all the greenery with a main street of grand old buildings still standing from the Victorian Gold Rush, Creswick looks more period movie set than a 21st-century town.  

    old gold bank Victoria
    Grand buildings from the Victorian gold rush. (Image: Visit Victoria)

    This entire region of Victoria – the Central Goldfields – is as pretty-as-a-picture, but there’s something extra-special about Creswick. I used to live 30 minutes north; I’d drive in some evenings to cruise its main street at dusk, and pretend I was travelling back in time. 

    It was sleepy back then, but that’s changed. Where I used to walk through its forest, now I’m hurtling down the state’s best new mountain bike trails. There’s a 60-kilometre network of mountain bike trails – dubbed Djuwang Baring – which make Creswick the state’s hottest new mountain biking destination.  

    Meet Victoria’s new mountain biking capital 

    Creswick bike trail
    This historic town has become a mountain biking hotspot.

    Victoria has a habit of turning quiet country towns into mountain biking hotspots. I was there in the mid-2000s when the tiny Otways village of Forrest embarked on an ambitious plan to save itself (after the death of its timber cutting industry) courtesy of some of the world’s best mountain bike trails. A screaming success it proved to be, and soon mountain bike trails began popping up all over Victoria. 

    I’m no expert, so I like that a lot of Creswick’s trails are as scenic as they are challenging. I prefer intermediate trails, such as Down Martuk, with its flowing berms and a view round every corner. Everyone from outright beginners to experts can be happy here. There’s trails that take me down technical rock sections with plenty of bumps. But there’s enough on offer to appeal to day-trippers, as much as hard-core mountain-bikers. 

    I love that the trails empty onto that grand old main street. There’s bars still standing from the Gold Rush of the 1850s I can refuel at. Like the award-winning Farmers Arms, not to be confused with the pub sharing its name in Daylesford. It’s stood since 1857. And The American Creswick built two years later, or Odessa Wine Bar, part of Leaver’s Hotel in an 1856-built former gold exchange bank.  

    The Woodlands
    The Woodlands is set on a large bushland property. (Image: Vanessa Smith Photography)

    Creswick is also full of great cafes and restaurants, many of them set in the same old buildings that have stood for 170 years. So whether you’re here for the rush of the trails or the calm of town life, Creswick provides. 

    A traveller’s checklist 

    Staying there 

    1970s log cabin
    Inside the Woodlands, a chic 1970s log cabin. (Image: Vanessa Smith Photography)

    RACV Goldfields Resort is a contemporary stay with a restaurant, swimming pool and golf course. The Woodlands in nearby Lal Lal comprises a chic log cabin set on a 16-hectare property abundant in native wildlife. 

    Eating there 

    Le Peche Gourmand
    Le Peche Gourmand makes for the perfect pitstop for carb and sugar-loading.

    The menu at Odessa at Leaver’s Hotel includes some Thai-inspired fare. Fuel up for your ride on baguettes and pastries from French patisserie Le Peche Gourmand . The Farmers Arms has been a much-loved local institution since 1857. 

    Playing there 

    Miss NorthcottsGarden
    Miss Northcotts Garden is a charming garden store with tea room. (Image: Visit Victoria)

    Creswick State Forest has a variety of hiking trails, including a section of the 210-kilometre-long Goldfields Track. Miss Northcotts Garden is a quaint garden store with tea room.