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.

Australia’s hotel scene is booming, with a wave of fresh openings raising the bar on style, location and experience. Think design-led city stays, beachfront retreats made for switching off and destination hotels worth planning an entire trip around.

If you’re looking for somewhere new to stay in 2026, these just-opened and soon-to-open hotels deserve a spot firmly on your radar.

Ardour Milton Park Bowral, NSW

Polo Bar, Ardour Milton Park — Unwind at the elegant Polo Bar.

Salter Brothers Hospitality will unlock access to a piece of Southern Highlands heritage with the much-anticipated reopening of Milton Park in early 2026. The storied estate, relaunched as Ardour Milton Park Bowral after a multimillion-dollar refurbishment, will serve as the flagship property for Ardour Hotels & Estates. The luxury address, built as a grand country residence in 1910, will include The Polo Bar and signature restaurant, Horderns.

Address: 200 Horderns Road, Bowral, NSW

Lon Retreat & Spa, Bellarine Peninsula, Vic

Lon Retreat and Spa — A retreat to reconnect with the slow and simple. (Image: Nikole Ramsay)

Discerning wellness warriors have long had Lon Retreat & Spa on their radar for its mineral pools and dreamy, adults-only suites. But the luxury hideaway, one of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World, recently tapped into a rising interest in contrast therapy with its new immersive thermal environment. The sanctuary, on Victoria’s breathtaking Bellarine Peninsula, features a Finnish sauna, magnesium-rich pool, Swedish soak bucket and communal firepit.

Address: 25 Gill Rd, Point Lonsdale, Vic

Elysium Noosa Resort – MGallery Collection, Qld

Freshly reimagined on Hastings Street, Elysium Noosa Resort – MGallery Collection pairs coastal calm with considered luxury. Formerly Sofitel Noosa Pacific Resort, the new 175-room hotel spans ocean, river and poolside stays – the majority boasting private balconies. As for dining, that is courtesy of Sydney duo Anna and Alessandro Pavoni. Expect Italian trattoria Cibaria Noosa, all-day Bar Capri and light poolside dining on the revived terrace, plus a swim-up bar. The sister property to Manly Pacific is designed for slow, salty coastal stays.

Address: 14-16 Hastings Street, Noosa Parade, Noosa Heads, Qld

The Tiny Mile, Old Bar, NSW

It’s just a tiny mile-long drive up the dirt road past the dinky sign leading to The Tiny Mile . But that’s where the journey to the riverside property begins. The Tiny Mile is a one-bedroom cabin set on a bend of Berady Creek outside Old Bar on NSW’s Mid North Coast. Embrace your country era with a stay at the rustic retreat, which is all rust, ochre, charcoal and autumn tones that complement nature’s palette. Admire the outlook from the sunken outdoor bath or sauna.

Address: 44 Berady La, Old Bar, NSW

Caption by Hyatt Central Sydney, NSW

room at Caption by Hyatt Central Sydney — Caption offers stylish rooms in the heart of Sydney CBD.

The opening of Caption by Hyatt Central Sydney marks the debut of the brand in Australia. The 174-room hotel in the heart of Haymarket includes tech-enabled touches – such as a seamless mobile check-in – and guestrooms designed for flexibility as well as comfort. But ultimately, the hotel is about people and place, culture and community. Worth yapping about is the Talk Shop, a social hub, cafe, bar and workspace designed to foster connection.

Address: 13 Parker St, Haymarket, NSW

Avani Mooloolaba Beach, Qld

Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel Exterior — It’s Sunshine Coast’s first internationally branded, new-build hotel.

Slated to open in April, the 12-storey, 180-key Avani Mooloolaba Beach is only a frisbee throw from Mooloolaba Beach. It’s also the Sunshine Coast’s first internationally branded, new-build hotel to open in nearly four decades. Guests will be able to graze on light bites in the lobby bar; enjoy cocktails up on the rooftop beside the pool while looking out towards the hulking peaks of the Glass House Mountains; and restore balance in the serene AvaniSpa.

Address: Cnr Brisbane Rd &, First Ave, Mooloolaba

Trinity Point, Lake Macquarie, NSW

A new luxury hotel planned for Trinity Point has been given the go-ahead in Lake Macquarie. The sparkling new sustainable $665 million resort at the marina has been designed by Koichi Takada Architects to include 153 rooms and serviced apartments with marina views, two waterfront restaurants, a spa, wellness centre, pool and bars. The coastal resort will be anchored in its surrounds and feature public boardwalks that run like tributaries from the world-class resort and marina.

Address: Trinity Point Dr, Morisset Park, NSW

Novotel Sydney Cabramatta, NSW

Dany Karam at Magma, Novotel Sydney Cabramatta — Dany Karam at Magma restaurant in Novotel Sydney Cabramatta.

The suburbs of Sydney continue to advance at full throttle with openings such as the Novotel Sydney Cabramatta, part of the new integrated Cabravale Club Resort in the heart of Sydney’s Little Saigon. Food tourists should get on the front foot and book a staycation at the new hotel in Western Sydney. Guests at the hotel will have the option of a thrilling onsite dining experience at Magma by Dany Karam, a sophisticated open-flame steakhouse. The new Novotel has 140 guestrooms, including seven for those with reduced mobility.

Address: 1 Bartley St, Canley Vale, NSW

ESTE Wategos, Byron Bay, NSW

Want to visit Byron Bay and not stress about parking or paparazzi? The new retreat ESTE Wategos is right in position, tucked away beneath the iconic Byron Bay lighthouse.

Park your luxe pop-top in the garage and dress in your fave full ‘crunchy granola’ (read: hippie) ensemble for a stay at ESTE Wategos, which offers two architecturally designed three-storey residences with rooftop terraces and glass-bottom pools. There are concierge services and space for up to 12 guests when these swanky sanctuaries are booked together.

Address: 11 Brownell Dr, Byron Bay, NSW

1 Hotel Melbourne, Vic

Expect to gulp down lungfuls of fresh air during a stay at 1 Hotel Melbourne , which has incorporated more than 7000 plants into its biophilic design.

The urban sanctuary is anchored by the heritage-listed Goods Shed No. 5, where the original support beams were salvaged for the signature all-day dining restaurant, From Here by Mike, by restaurateur Mike McEnearney. The hotel has 277 guestrooms, two bars, a wellness spa and access to sprawling riverside parklands.

Address: 9 Maritime Place, Docklands, Vic

voco Gosford, Central Coast, NSW

The first new-build hotel to open on the Central Coast in 15 years will share its colour palette with the sky, sand, sea and sunshine. When it opens late 2025, voco Gosford will also showcase one of the brand’s virtues: to inject a bit of local flavour through its bespoke furniture, textiles and custom artworks. The vibrant voco Gosford will include 130 guestrooms as well as six F&B outlets, including a signature restaurant led by Dany Karam. Gosford CBD will also get its groove on courtesy of a swim-up pool bar and the Central Coast’s highest rooftop bar.

Address: 108 Donnison St, Gosford, NSW

Box Hill Esperance, WA

Box Hill Esperance has ushered in a new era of barefoot luxury with the unveiling of two luxe off-grid cabins. The adults-only lodges were crafted with locally sourced materials centred around a fireplace featuring 50-million-year-old fossilised shells. Anywhere in WA with sunshine and coastal views is ideal for a summer holiday. Insert Esperance into the equation and these cabins, a short flight from Perth, make for the ultimate coastal escape.

Address: 804 Merivale Rd, Myrup, WA

Tiny Aahana, Sunshine Coast, Qld

The magic of Tiny Aahana lies in its rainforest surrounds. Just 30 minutes from Noosa Heads, the off-grid cabin by Into The Wild Escapes provides six guests with the chance to decompress after a day spent swanning around Noosa on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Your immaculate itinerary might include a bush walk, shady chic-nic and night around the firepit under a sky pinpricked with stars. The greatest luxury at this eco cabin is having the space to roam on the secluded property.

Address: Noosa Hinterland, Qld

The Roost, Prevelly, WA

two people sitting on sun loungers while watching the sunrise at The Roost, Prevally WA — Sit in quiet contemplation at this hillside haven.

Wind your way around Southwest WA’s voluptuous curves to find The Roost , an architect-designed holiday home three hours from Perth. The stylish three-bedroom retreat affords sweeping ocean views from its cantilevered deck jutting out like an open drawer over its perch in Prevally. The hillside haven is near to world-class wineries, surf breaks and forests. The indoor-outdoor living and sun loungers provide the perfect speed for contemplation.

Address: Prevelly, Margaret River, WA

The country’s rawest places offer some of its most transformative, restorative experiences.

Australia offers sublime opportunities to disappear into the ancient, untouched wilderness, worlds away from modern stress. Wild Bush Luxury offers a collection of experiences that are a portal into the continent’s wildest, most undiscovered landscapes, from wide floodplains to vast savannas, where the only distractions are birdsong, frog calls, curious wallabies and the daily drama of sunset. With a focus on conservation and Indigenous knowledge, these all-inclusive experiences allow guests to slow down and quiet their minds for intimate encounters with the natural world.

1. Bamurru Plains

safari tent at Bamurru Plains wild bush luxury — Let nature take front row.

In the remote Top End, just outside Kakadu National Park on the fringes of the spectacular Mary River floodplains, you’ll find Bamurru Plains , a peerless Australian safari camp. After a quick air transfer from Darwin to the camp’s private airstrip, you’ll be whisked away via 4WD to a vivid natural wonderland of shimmering floodplains, red earth, herds of peacefully grazing water buffalo and 236 bird species (Bamurru means magpie goose to the Gagadju people).

Accommodations consist of 10 mesh-walled bungalows and two luxe stilted retreats where guests enjoy panoramic, up-close views that invite them into their rightful place in the landscape (and binoculars to see it even better). Being an off-grid experience designed to help guests disconnect, the only distractions are birdsongs, frog calls, curious wallabies, the occasional crocodile sighting and the daily drama of the spectacular golden sunset.

It’s a place where nature’s vastness rises to the level of the spiritual, and Bamurru’s understated, stylish, largely solar-powered lodgings are designed to minimise human impact and let nature take front row. Guests relax in comfort with plush linens, an open bar, communal tables that allow for spontaneous connections and curated dining experiences from the in-house chef using local ingredients and bush-inspired cooking methods.

Bamurru Plains airboat tour — Zoom across the floodplains. (Image: Adam Gibson)

It’s a restorative backdrop for days spent zooming across the mist-covered floodplains in an airboat, birding with expert guides, taking an open-sided safari drive or river cruise through croc country. Spend time at the Hide, a treehouse-like platform that’s perfect for wildlife spotting.

In fact, nature is so powerful here that Bamurru Plains closes entirely during the peak monsoon season (October to April), when the floodplains reclaim the land and life teems unseen beneath the water. Yet Wild Bush Luxury’s ethos continues year-round through its other experiences around Australia – each designed to immerse travellers in a distinct Australian wilderness at its most alive and untouched.

2. Maria Island Walk

woman on a headland of Maria Island Walk — Maria Island Walk offers sweeping coastal scenes.

Off Tasmania’s rugged east coast, the iconic Maria Island Walk is an intimate four-day journey through one of the country’s most hauntingly beautiful and unpopulated national parks, encompassing pristine beaches, convict-era ruins, and wildlife sightings galore. Accessible only by a small ferry, Maria Island feels like a place reclaimed by nature, which is exactly what it is: a penal settlement later used for farms and industry that finally became a national park in 1972.

These days, the island is known as ‘Tasmania’s Noah’s Ark’ and its only human inhabitants are park rangers. It’s a place where wombats amble through grassy meadows, wallabies graze beside empty beaches, dolphins splash in clear water just offshore and Tasmanian devils – successfully reintroduced in 2012 after near-extinction on the mainland – roam free and healthy.

Each day unfolds in an unhurried rhythm: trails through coastal eucalyptus forests or along white-sand bays, plateaus with sweeping ocean views, quiet coves perfect for swimming. Midway through the journey, you’ll explore Darlington, a remarkably preserved 19th-century convict settlement whose ruins tell stories of human ambition at the edge of the known world.

At night, sleep beneath a canopy of stars in eco-wilderness camps – after relaxing with Tasmanian wine and locally-sourced meals, and swapping stories with your fellow trekkers by candlelight.

3. Arkaba

two people standing next to a 4wd in Arkaba — Explore Arkaba on foot or on four wheels.

For a bush immersion with more of an outback flavour, Arkaba offers a completely different type of experience. A former sheep station and historic homestead in South Australia’s striking Flinders Ranges that has been reimagined as a 63,000-acre private wildlife conservancy. It’s now patrolled mainly by kangaroos and emus.

Small-scale tourism (the homestead has just five ensuite guestrooms) helps support rewilding projects, and guests become an essential part of the conservation journey. Days begin with sunrise hikes through ancient sandstone ridges or guided drives into the ranges to spot yellow-footed rock-wallabies. And end with sundowners on a private ridgetop watching the Elder Range glow vibrant shades of gold, crimson and violet as the air cools and time stands still.

Here, you can join conservation activities like tracking native species or learning about Arkaba’s pioneering feral-animal eradication projects, then unwind with chef-prepared dinners served alfresco on the veranda of the homestead, which is both rustic and refined. The highlight? Following Arkaba Walk, a thriving outback wilderness where emus wander and fields of wildflowers grow.

It’s an unforgettable immersion in Australia’s vast inland beauty, a place where the land’s deep and complicated history – and astounding resilience – leave their quiet imprint long after you return home. In a world where genuine awe is rare, Wild Bush Luxury offers a return to what matters most in the untamed beauty of Australia’s wilderness.

Disconnect from the grind and reconnect with nature when you book with at wildbushluxury.com