The best new hotels in Australia and New Zealand
The below list forms our annual Hot List edit of the best new hotels in Australia and New Zealand. This selection of hotels is part of the annual Condé Nast Traveller Hot List 2024. This selection of hotels is part of the annual Condé Nast Traveller Hot List 2024. See the other lists below:
- The best new hotels in Asia
- The best new hotels in Central and South America and Caribbean
- The best new hotels in Europe
- The best new hotels in the Middle East and Africa
- The best new hotels in North America and Caribbean
All listings featured in this story are independently selected by our editors. However, when you book something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
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Sun Ranch, Byron Bay, Australia
Byron’s centre of gravity has long been swinging inwards from its shorelines to its greener pastures and charming weatherboard
villages. Already the not-so-secret postcode for eco-entrepreneurs and Hollywood hideouts, the Byron Hinterland has increasingly felt out of bounds to anyone without an invitation to one of its hillside homes, which has made the opening of Sun Ranch inevitable. The hotel is the vision of Jamie Blakey, who launched rock ’n’ roll denim brand One Teaspoon, and her best friend, Julia Ashwood, who grew up in the area and has cofounded some of the buzziest restaurants in this go-slow region. Spread across more than 55 acres of undulating green hills, this groovy ranch is a loud maximalist hee-haw of colour, textile and pattern. There are bright walls in shades from azure to flamingo, swirling terracotta flooring, opulent velvet lounges and sculptural beaded chandeliers. In the coral Cowboy Bar, bottles of tequila and mezcal are infused with chillies for varying levels of spicy kick. In the main “rambler” house, the four bedrooms offer access to a private pool. Outside, where horses roam, families staying in the colourful two-bedroom timber barns have a hoot on electric bicycles, while young couples and mates down by the dam time each other in the wood-fired sauna and ice bath. Up in the distance, overlooking the property, a monolithic slab of concrete has been chiselled into the Pool Club, where sunbaking and lazy laps to a background of funky jazz and tequila are the order of the day. Doubles from about £338. Chloe Sachdev - Courtesy Baillie Lodgeshotel
Southern Ocean Lodge, Kangaroo Island, Australia
$$When the catastrophic “black summer” bushfires of 2020 burnt down Southern Ocean Lodge, many thought it was the end of the story for one of Australia’s greatest luxury lodges. A fixture on Kangaroo Island’s sensational stretch of wild southwest coast, the resort was originally opened in 2008 by husband-and-wife duo James and Hayley Baillie, and it quickly became the soft-landing of choice to explore the “Australian Galápagos.” This story received a much-welcomed plot twist in December 2023, when the resort reopened as a near replica of its former sci-fi self, shaped like a low-flying saucer hovering above the Southern Ocean, with uninterrupted last-stop-before-Antarctica views across the sea. The resort now comprises 25 glass-fronted suites that extend across the limestone cliffs, each with midcentury-modern curves, sunken living rooms, fireplaces, and sliding doors that open to private patios and the fresh Antarctic breeze. On the western edge of the lodge, the four-bedroom Ocean Pavilion suite is a new addition—it sits like an amphitheatre with an infinity pool, a plunge pool/spa, and views across the coastal cliffs. Another tweak is the now north-facing spa, complete with a chill-out lounge, small gym, sauna, three treatment rooms, and hot and cold plunge pools. The reoriented spa turns its back to the sea to give guests a glimpse of the 250 acres of nature reserve surrounding the resort, all while they’re being massaged and scrubbed with the island’s bounty of lavender, eucalyptus, and pure Ligurian honey. From £1,800. Chloe Sachdev
