Go retro at the Mysa Motel in Palm Beach.
When you think of the Gold Coast,you’re probably picturing modern high-rises beside the beach,right? But the southern Gold Coast has become a hub for some of Australia’s best retro-style motels. It started in 2018 with The Pink Hotel,in Coolangatta,a remodelled 1950s motel painted in garish cotton-candy pink,with a beachfront roof-top,individually-styled rooms and a secret piano bar disguised as a janitor’s closet. Just around the corner in Bilinga,Tessa’s On The Beach was a 1960s motel that got an overhaul. Occupying prime beachfront position,it has a magnesium pool and faux lawn where musicians play facing the waves. Two streets over,La Costa Motel recreates the 1960s beach shack while two suburbs north,the Mysa Motel with its Palm Springs-style styling and kidney-shaped pool was fashioned from a 1960s motel.
It has the best positioned surf clubs in Australia
Want a cheap beer,with a decent-priced meal,with a multi-million-dollar view? There is a surf club built right on the beach in almost every beach-side suburb on the Gold Coast,occupying the most exclusive real estate on the coast. Starting south at Coolangatta the trend continues for over 50 kilometres to Southport Surf Club. Some like Currumbin are built so close that at high tide on a big sea,the carpark isn’t safe for parking. Other surf clubs,like Nobby Beach Surf Club,are the only beachfront restaurant in one of the Gold Coast’s most desirable beachside suburbs. Proceeds go towards to volunteer lifeguards who patrol the beaches.
Its best bars are hidden
The Scottish Price.
The Gold Coast used to be full of big sports bars selling XXXX beer with plenty of TVs for the footie,and the horse races. No more,now its best bars are hard to find. Taking the cue from Melbourne’s secret laneway bars,you’ll have to know where to go to truly embrace the Gold Coast nightlife. Bars like Lockwood,hidden behind a big red door in Burleigh Heads,require you text to enter. Palm Beach’s Suga has no sign,but serves over 60 varieties of rum. Veladora in Broadbeach requires you solve a riddle to get there,while many others like Scottish Prince,The Cambus Wallace and Naami are tucked away with no signage,beside takeaway joints.