Mr & Mrs Smith

Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa

Blue Mountains, Australia

The Blue Mountains’ Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa takes luxury lodging by the scruff of its antipodean neck and transports it to a canyon-sized Jurassic Park of sun-blessed escarpments, creature comforts and sumptuous styling. With access to over 4,000 acres of pristine wilderness, a world-class spa and private villas where in-room swimming pools come as standard, this is one special playground.

Need to know

• Rooms 40 suites.
• Rates Double rooms from $1152.48 (AU$1,181), excluding tax at 10 per cent.
  Prices have been converted from the hotel's local currency (AU$1,181), via XE.com, using today's exchange rate.
• More details Rates include all meals with non-alcoholic drinks and select regional wines and beer, plus two daily on-site nature activities a person. Spa services, premium alcohol, minibar and room service cost extra.
• Facilities Tennis court, spa, sauna, steam room, gym, mountain bikes, DVD/CD library, free WiFi. In rooms: private pool, flatscreen TV, movies on demand, DVD/CD players, preloaded iPod, coffee machine, binoculars.
• Poolside When you're tired of skinny-dipping in your own inside-outside pool, lounge more decorously at the beautifully landscaped outside heated pool at the Lodge.
• Check-out 11am, but flexible subject to availability (try not to leave, ever!). Check-in, 3pm.
• Children Welcome, with bespoke activities available, but Wolgan is more geared to grown-ups. More...
• Eco-friendly Wolgan prides itself on being Australia's first conservation-based luxury resort and is accredited by international group CarboNZero. Pastoral fencing has been removed, 175,000 indigenous trees have been planted and native wildlife re-introduced.
• Also Smoking is allowed on suite balconies and a designated area of the main homestead balcony.

Food and drink at Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa

• Hotel restaurant Flaunting panoramic views, the Wolgan Dining Room is an impressive affair, with cuisine showcasing seasonal, local, organic produce and a regional and international wine list as expansive as the vistas. It takes centrestage in the large, barn-like homestead, with the more relaxed Country Kitchen, a providores-style eatery with communal tables, downstairs. Decor is antipodean country club, with a contemporary twist – high-backed leather banquettes, comfy barrel chairs and cleverly recycled found objects (including wrought-iron washing mangles and a lightshade formed from old Driza-Bone coats). Get a local protein fix – the venison from nearby Mandagery Creek was our favourite.
• Dress code Casual ensembles for dinner, loose linens for the spa and moleskins for riding.
• Top table Tables by either of the central fireplaces and at the window at the bar end of the Dining Room are the most seductive spots. In summer, eating out on the veranda is the way to go.
• Last orders The Country Kitchen doesn't do dinner and closes at 6pm, but the Wolgan Dining Room is open till 10pm.
• Room service 24 hours, offering a range of regional dishes; an AU$12 surcharge a person applies to each order.
• Hotel bar The perfect spot for G&Ts at sundown, the Valley Bar & Terrace Lounge has a stylish, intimate vibe, and spills out onto the veranda, complete with outside fire and leather-hide stockmen’s deckchairs with leg rests.

Also worth knowing

• Weddings This property is suitable for weddings. More...

Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa 2600 Wolgan Valley Road, Blue Mountains, 2790