Staying in Sydney with Style (and Beach): QT Bondi

We’ve just returned from our visit to Sydney, where we spent two nights at QT Bondi, an upmarket boutique apartment hotel, just one minute’s walk off Bondi Beach. If your room points towards aptly-named Beach Road, like ours did, then you can spot a glimpse of the beach. All you need to do is stick your head out from the tiny balcony and look hard right down the road.

QT BONDI HAS THE PERFECT LOCATION

On the photo above, with the beach and the famous Icebergs swimming pools in the front, you can see two taller buildings in the back. One on the very left-hand side, then another, tower-like one, slightly further to the right. QT Bondi is located in the building complex directly to the right of the latter one, right next to the beach. The beach-facing part of the building is owned by another company, which was not an issue for us.

GREAT VALUE FOR MONEY

We had booked our room well in advance through a booking website that had had a special offer. Moreover, we had been lucky to get a free upgrade from King to King Deluxe from the hotel (not related to our blog, of which they hadn’t been aware). But even if you pay full price through the hotel’s webpage, double rooms start from as little as AUD 330 (GBP 184) per night.

Considering, that this is one of the best hotel locations, at one of the most sought-after corners, of one of the most expensive cities in the world, this is very decent value for money. We moved from here to a hotel in the Central Business District, in order to be closer to the action. Unexpectedly, we ended up paying a mere AUD 55/GBP 30 per night less. For a two-star that pretended to be a three-star.

QT BONDI WAS DESIGNED BY NIC GRAHAM

The QT chain is part of the Rydges hotel group. QT Hotels and Resorts operate 9 upmarket boutique hotels in Australia and New Zealand. They market themselves as quirky and out of the ordinary. The Bondi hotel has been designed by Australian designer Nic Graham, who has also designed a number of other well-known QT and W Hotels, among others.

BEARD TRIMMING KIT, FLIP-FLOPS, AND ALL

We liked the unusual design ideas, over-the-top colours, and the barefoot beach vibe. Everything feels a tad fancy but still very relaxed. The room contained a fully functioning induction stove, microwave, and dishwasher. Our favourite appliance was a giant washing machine. A true blessing, considering that we had been separated from our own washing machine for ten days at that stage. We didn’t use any of the cooking equipment. There are too many lovely eateries near-by.

It was nice to see a large, well-stocked fridge. As obligatory for any self-respecting hipster hang-out, the snack-box also contained some other items such as a beard trimming kit, a water-resistant smart phone pouch, sexy stuff, etc. Reasonably priced and rather amusing. From the wall, two beach net bags, with flip-flops inside, were dangling.

LUXURIOUS BATHROOM

The bathroom really impressed us. Nicely designed, spacious, with a shower and a separate bath tub. The media package included brand-new releases on demand and a library of older movies, besides your regular cable TV. Personally, Ellie and I found the bed a bit soft. That said, it seems, from our experience, that most Australians like their beds that way. So fair enough.

EXCELLENT RESTAURANTS, TAKE-AWAYS, AND SHOPS NEXT-DOOR

Finally, it comes in extremely handy, that everything you could need, is less than five minutes’ walk away. For example: a very large supermarket, a bottle shop, one of the best restaurants in Bondi (The Pacific Club, apparently, even though we haven’t dined there yet). There are also two very cool ‘healthy fast food’ places inside the building. I thoroughly enjoyed my brisket steak sandwich at one of them. Ms B liked her take-away sashimi.

SUMMARY

We will most certainly book ourselves into QT Bondi again for a few days during our visit next year. 5 out of 5 in our book.

Looking for more hotel and restaurant reviews? Check out my review of The Sheep in Sheep Street, my review of Beso, London, Il-Horza, Malta, or Gruvelageret, Spitsbergen.

For travel and adventure, feel welcome to eyeball my posts about the Bondi to Coogee coastal walk, the camel safari and desert camp in Morocco, rock-climbing near Porto, the jetlev experience, and the ride with a powerboat.