Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel is pumping fresh momentum into the Sunshine Coast’s hospitality scene.
So long, beige beach stays devoid of personality. The Sunshine Coast has just scored its most exciting address in almost four decades.
Meet Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel , a slice of modernist coastal calm set to welcome guests from 11 May 2026. Twelve stories high and 180 rooms strong, the hotel is the first full-service internationally branded hotel to open in the region in nearly 40 years. It falls under Minor Hotels’ global expansion vision, which aims to operate 850 properties worldwide by the end of 2027.
Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel offers design-forward flair.
Set just 100 metres from the sand – where gentle surf meets a happening esplanade – the property lands smack in the heart of Mooloolaba’s evolving foreshore precinct, currently undergoing major parkland and public space upgrades. The Sunshine Coast Airport (15 minutes by car) and major attractions such as Australia Zoo also lie within easy reach.
This isn’t nostalgia-core beach accommodation with rattan leftovers and surf posters curling at the edges. The Avani brand is known for its social atmosphere and design-forward flair, and the new Mooloolaba outpost is no exception. Rooms are light-bathed and spacious, ranging from 27 to 45 square metres, with interconnecting options ticking boxes for families and groups. The design language is considered yet relaxed, splashing spaces with travertine, timber and a warm peachy palette.
Freestanding tubs and travertine sinks feature in the bathrooms.
Sunset hour is where Avani truly turns heads. A rooftop pool perched on level 12 promises immaculate views of Mooloolaba Beach, Point Cartwright and the Glass House Mountains. Sully’s Rooftop has open-air dining and a bar to match, offering a modern Australian menu that leans into seasonal produce and seafood that celebrates the Sunshine Coast’s fishermen, growers and artisan producers. It’s the kind of place you’ll end up lingering long into the night.
An energetic lobby adds to the appeal.
Downstairs, the street-level lobby bar is set to be a lively social space where guests can sip morning lattes or converse over evening tipples. It’s intended to start and end your day on a high-note, welcoming you back after taking a refreshing ocean dip or hunting down the best restaurants on the Sunshine Coast.
Tapping into the ever-growing Aussie wellness scene, which spans bathhouses in Sydney to authentic Scandi saunas, the hotel’s AvaniSpa offers results-oriented treatments. Fitness is part of the vision, too, with AvaniFit providing a high-performance fitness studio and in-room wellbeing programming for guests keen to get their daily movement in.
Sip evening cocktails at the lobby bar.
Scott Wright, General Manager of Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel says the hotel’s launch marks a significant moment for the fast-growing region.
“We are counting down the days to welcoming our very first guests through the doors. After four decades without a new full-service internationally branded hotel in the region, this opening feels genuinely historic."
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Families and groups can opt for spacious, adjoining rooms.
Arriving at a key inflection point for the Sunshine Coast – where food, outdoor adventure and world-class beaches already draw visitors in droves – this Avani signals a new era. It’s stylish without being precious, energetic without trying too hard, and ready to put Mooloolaba on the shortlist for your next Aussie retreat.
Eleanor Edström is Australian Traveller’s Associate Editor. Previously a staff writer at Signature Luxury Travel & Style and Vacations & Travel magazines, she's a curious wordsmith with a penchant for conservation, adventure, the arts and design. She discovered her knack for storytelling much earlier, however – penning mermaid sagas in glitter ink at age seven. Proof that her spelling has since improved, she holds an honours degree in English and philosophy, and a French diploma from the University of Sydney. Off duty, you’ll find her pirouetting between Pilates and ballet classes, or testing her friends’ patience with increasingly obscure vocabulary.
Under wide-open outback skies, discover a fossicking gem that’s managed to slip under the radar.
While the name Clermont may feel new to even the most intrepid traveller, its gilded history stretches back centuries. You’ll find it just off the highway, humming quietly under the hazy veil of Queensland’s outback sun. It’s here, hemmed in by mountains and perched atop soil heavy with the earth’s treasures, that one of Australia’s most accessible outback adventures awaits.
Thanks to deposits of gold, copper and gemstones – souvenirs left by exploding supernovas and the heave of tectonic plates – Clermont became a centre point of Queensland’s Gold Rush. And now? Australia’s fossicking capital is yours to discover.
Getting there
Take a drive through Queensland’s Mackay Isaac region. (Image: Sean Scott/ TEQ)
You’ll find Clermont in Queensland’s Mackay Isaac region. To get here, it’s an easy three-hour drive over sealed roads from Mackay. Or, if you’re heading from the Sapphire Fields of Emerald, the drive will carve out just over an hour from your day.
Whether you’re road-tripping through outback Queensland or just tracing your way through all that Australia has to offer, Clermont is remote but easily accessible.
Best accommodation in Clermont
Camp by Theresa Creek Dam. (Image: Riptide Creative/ TEQ)
All accommodation comes with a generous helping of country hospitality here. The choice is yours between modern hotels, parking up the camper or pitching a tent.
Theresa Creek Dam lies just outside town. Begin each day with crisp country air and bright outback sunrises. Spend the night under the sparkling country stars and your days out on the dam fishing or kayaking. Even if you aren’t camping, be sure to save space in your itinerary for an afternoon on the red dirt shore.
One does not visit Clermont without trying their hand at fossicking. There are strict rules when it comes to fossicking, so stick to areas dedicated for general permission and make sure you obtain your license beforehand. Try your luck at McMasters , Four Mile , Town Desert, McDonald Flat and Flat Diggings . To increase your odds, sign on for a tour with the expert team at Golden Prospecting . They’ll give you access to exclusive plots and expert advice along the way.
Once you’ve tried your luck on the gold fields, head to the Clermont Township and Historical Museum . Each exhibit works like an archaeologist’s brush to dust away the layers of Clermont’s history. Like the steam engine that painstakingly relocated the entire town inch by inch to higher ground after it was decimated by flooding in 1916. See the tools that helped build the Blair Athol mine, historic fire engines, shearing sheds and all sorts of relics that make up Clermont’s story.
The historic Copperfield Chimney offers a change of pace. Legend has it that fossickers found a solid wall of copper here, over three metres high, kick-starting Queensland’s first-ever copper mine.
See Clermont from above with Bush Heli Services. (Image: Riptide Creative/ TEQ)
For hiking, nearby Dysart is the best place to access Peak Range National Park. Here, mountainous horizons stretch across the outback as if plucked from another world. Set off for a scenic drive along the Peak Downs Highway for access to countless geological wonders. Like the slanting rockface of Wolfang Peak. Summit it, and you’ll find yourself looking out across a scene surely conjured up by Banjo Paterson. Dry scrub dancing in the warm breeze, grazing cattle, eucalypts and the gentle creak of windmills. Don’t miss visiting Gemini Peaks, either, for one of the park’s best vistas, and a blanket of wild flowers after rain.
Then, take to the skies with a scenic helicopter tour with Bush Heli-Services . Shift your perspective and cruise above all the sights from your trip. Spots like Lords Table Mountain and Campbell’s Peak are best viewed from the skies.
Before you head home, be sure to explore the neighbouring townships. Spend a lazy afternoon in the shade of Nebo Hotel’s wrap-around verandahs . The hotel’s 1900s dance hall has since been replaced with one of the area’s biggest rodeo arenas, so consider timing your trip to line up with a boot scootin’ rodeo. Or, stop by a ghost town. Mount Britton was once a thriving town during the 1880s Gold Rush. It’s been totally abandoned and now lies untouched, a perfect relic of the Gold Rush.
Best restaurants and cafes in Clermont
Stop into the Commercial Hotel Clermont.
Days spent fossicking, bushwalking and cramming on history call for excellent coffee and hearty country meals. Luckily, Clermont delivers in spades.
Lotta Lattes Cafe is beloved by locals for a reason. Start your days here for the best caffeine fix in town and an impeccable brunch menu.
For a real country meal, an icy cold beer and that famed country hospitality, head straight to the town’s iconic hotel: the Commercial Hotel (known endearingly to locals as ‘The Commie’). It’s been a staple in Clermont since 1877. The hotel even survived the flood of 1916 when it was sawn in two and moved to higher ground.
Naturally, time spent in the outback must include calling into the local bakery. For delicious pies and a tantalising array of sweet treats, make Bluemac Bakehouse your go-to while in town.
