Thread: Accommodation in Darwin

Yes, Darwin is expensive (even for us Territorians ).

I can recommend Darwin Airport Resort, Palms City Resort and a heap of others. Don't stay at Cullen Bay as most of the stuff down there is fairly old and rather ordinary now days (badly needs a clean up). Also the Novotel on the Esplanade is another I avoid.

As it is the Dry season a lot of the accomodation is booked out. Suggest you visit Wotif.com: Hotels, Accommodation, Motels, Serviced Apartments, B&B - Online hotel bookings with instant confirmation which gives last minute deals. Late August might be a bit better as the V8 Super Cars and horse racing events have finished. Not all hotels are on the Wotif site. The Airport Resort is within walking distance to the airport so it is popular with all the night flights.
If you are driving, some of the caravan parks might have vacant cabins, there is one out at Lee Point or the Palms out midway between Darwin and Palmerston, (different place to Palm City Resort which is where the old Hotel Darwin was! (sob)) There is also one a Howard Springs about 25 kms out from Darwin. The Overlander Caravan Park has closed down now, the main 2 are side by side in McMillans road there are others around., PM me if you want their phone numbers.

The other thing is to ring Tourism NT (Darwin: 08 8999 3900 or 13 61 10) and ask about a serviced apartment if you're there for a few weeks.

Also note that car rental is mostly on a 100 or 200 km per day limit before you pay per extra km, not an issue if you have the vehicle for a few weeks. Also if you can use a corporate discount plan it often is better.

The Botanic Gardens serviced apartments were OK last year.
The Golf Links Motel was good, if a bit dated but really close to town.
Buzz Cafe in Cullen Bay is worth checking out, just for the mens dunny!

I forget the name of a place I stayed at, but it was on 64 Cavenagh St. A pretentious moron I spoke to referred to it as being "plebeian" however I found it fine for the one night I was there - it may have even had a four star accreditation.

The staff were very decent considering I arrived at 2.00 am a little tanked, and the outdoor-cafe-thing provided a decent antipokhmelin breakfast the next morning.

I'm assuming you aint staying in Darwin itself and will move around a bit?? if so, hire a campervan and move around, not THAT much to see in Darwin anyway, everything else is south! (think litchfield, kakadu, Katherine, Mataranka etc....)

Originally Posted by EchiDna

... not THAT much to see in Darwin anyway ...

There in lies the difference between Singapore and Gove... for me Darwin is a big place to go shopping

Actually there is a reasonable amount to see in Darwin. Make sure you go to the Fish Feeding at Doctor's Gully. There's also some good exhibits & museums as well as the Territory Wildlife Park (cousin to the one in Alice). That said it won't take you a week and if its scenery you want then Litchfield is the pick of the places to go.

Please excuse my OT post (& my ignorance), but what is a "antipokhmelin breakfast"?