Royal Terranora Country Club

Have dinner by the pool at the resort (protect yourself with aeroguard first!), visit Twin Towns Service Club, drive to Surfers Paradise and the Gold Coast theme parks. Check out the beaches around Tweed Heads and along the Gold Coast.

Quick Tips:

Make sure you get at least a two-bedroom unit. The studio units are on the ground floor away from the main facilities and are small and poorly equipped. The rooms above had doors front and back ensuring some flow of air in the evening. I think they also had proper kitchens.

Best Way To Get Around:

A car is a must. While it may be possible to get transport (taxi, airport shuttle) from the airport, public transport isn't so convenient when you want to go to the beach. The area around the resort didn't seem to offer much for those wanting to take a stroll and in terms of getting to shops, walking was out -- it was too far to get to a reasonable supermarket!

Best Things Nearby:
Gold Coast, Hinterland, the beach at Coolangatta.

Best Things About the Resort:
To stay here, you need to have a car. With a car, there are a lot of places to visit along the Gold Coast and in the Hinterland. Its also an easy resort to get into in the Gold Coast Area. Since first staying there I have noticed that it frequently comes up on exchange searches.

Resort Experience:
The downstairs studio rooms had very limited kitchen facilities, no dishwasher, and little room for cleaning dishes (I’m never totally happy cleaning dishes in the bathroom washbasin!). The room had an air-conditioner, but it struggled to cope and the room was stuffy (the back of the room was dug into the slope of the hill, so there was no through ventilation!). The pool was great, but the island bar never operated. I really wanted to sit on a stool in the water and sip a cocktail!

Royal Terranora is one of those resorts that is easy to get into. It seems to come up regularly when I search for resort availability. If it’s the only way to get to Queensland for the holidays, go for it! Bear in mind, though, that it is a long way to the beach and public transport is limited. There is a golf course adjacent to the resort. We didn't take our clubs and so didn't try it out, but for the keen golfer this resort may offer more than others in the area. I'd try to get something larger than a studio room though, as the facilities were very limited and the rooms were small and tended to be stuffy. The kitchen facilities were also very limited. Other units looked quite reasonable, and if we had been staying in one of those, we may well have had a much rosier view of the resort. There was a golf course adjoining the resort, but sadly we didn't have our clubs. This could be a good resort for the keen golfer in autumn and spring.... but get a 6 bed unit!

The resort had some activities going, including a night out to dinner at a local club and bus to the theme parks. So for a family (staying in a two-bedroom unit), this resort would be good. Getting to the beach though, (and isn't that what Queensland’s Gold Coast is all about?) would be a chore without a car -- possible, but not that convenient.

Tours and theme park tickets could be booked through reception.

• Unit Type: Studio
• Activities: Fair
• Amenities: Fair
• Unit Satisfaction: Poor
• Family Friendliness: Good
• Service: Good

The day we arrived at the resort, we decided that eating in was easiest. The resort has a bistro/barbecue by the pool, with a good selection of seafood and steaks. The location (except for the mosquitoes) was great and the food was excellent. We had a couple of meals here during the week we stayed. However, if we weren't staying at the resort, we would not bother driving up from the coast.

This huge RSL complex had a variety of restaurants and bistros. We went middle-of-the-road (middle price range) and had a very nice meal (traditional roast). The food was enjoyable and we had more than one meal, trying out a couple of the restaurant/bistro options. If you are in the area, the food is tasty, well presented, and also reasonably priced.

Stay away from the pokies -- the meals are cheap for a reason: they make their money elsewhere. Accommodation is also available, and although we didn't try it out, it looked good and was well located.

This is a large market with a variety of goods, mostly crafts and some very good pottery. It's a good place to spend a couple of hours. Though not exactly around the corner from Coolangatta and a considerable distance from Bilambil Heights, it's worth a visit. Drop in on Pacific Fair, Queensland's largest shopping centre, on the way there or on the way home. The food court there is good, but get in early as it is also popular. The market is open every Saturday and Sunday.

This is a sheltered beach in Coolangatta with a very pleasant walk around the point towards Rainbow Bay. We never got far; the surf and the beach were too nice to waste time walking. The showers/changing rooms were clean and we always seemed to be able to get a parking space nearby. The beach was patrolled, but never seemed to get very busy. The point provided some shelter from the wind, helping to make the beach a very pleasant one indeed.

The beach is directly opposite HMI at Calypso (this is one of the resorts on our list of places we'd like to stay!). The beach is very close to Coolangatta airport and this would make HMI Calypso a great place to stay if you did not want to bother hiring a car. Staying at Royal Terranora? If you wanted to go to a beach, this would be the one to pick.