Where to stay in Darwin

By Jennifer Pinkerton

Darwin accommodation tend to fall into three categories: breezy spaces with access to swimming pools, historic homes and brand name hotels with water views. Most of these options are clustered around the city centre, though the suburb of Parap – a five-minute drive north – boasts a handful of retro hotels and apartments, and Mindil Beach (also five minutes from the city centre) provides resort-style accommodation at the huge Mindil Beach Casino & Resort. If you're getting around on foot, book a city stay. If you're driving, consider basing yourself a little further out to access the excellent food and crafts markets in various suburbs.

Vibe Hotel Darwin Waterfront

Where: 7 Kitchener Drive, Darwin

A V-shaped swathe of restaurants, cafés and bars occupies Darwin's Waterfront Precinct, a 10-minute walk from Smith Street Mall in the city centre. Here, you'll find grassy park space, a natural lagoon, a simulated wave pool and the Vibe Hotel Darwin Waterfront. The hotel offers great value and clean and compact rooms that are youthfully decorated in shades of white and teal. On the waterfront side, these provide views over Stokes Hill Wharf, where you can peer into the waters below to see tropical marine life such as angel fish. The Vibe has a shaded hotel pool and an upbeat downstairs eatery, Curve Café and Bar, which looks out onto lawns and serves up an inviting breakfast buffet.

Darwin Waterfront Luxury Suites

Where: 19 Kitchener Drive, Darwin

These luxury apartments – also in the Waterfront Precinct – provide a stay that's hard to fault. They're decorated with white furniture and contemporary art. Choose from a one or two-bedroom unit with views of ships trailing the harbour, balconies to catch the saltwater breeze, modern and stylish living rooms and fully equipped kitchens. Fifteen of the 17 apartments available sit above Wharf One, which hosts modern Australian, Greek and Mexican restaurants. 

Mindil Beach Casino Resort

Where: Gilruth Avenue, Darwin

Arguably the ritziest stay in town, with a prime position next to Mindil Beach Sunset Markets, Mindil Beach Casino Resort lets you swim out from the deck of a superior suite to a man-made lagoon. The casino complex has a choice of several restaurants serving everything from Asian fusion to contemporary Italian, and rooms featuring indulgent stone-clad bathrooms with twin showers and egg-shaped baths. The lagoon has a swim-up bar and is fringed by a sandy cove, lined with deckchairs.

Elsey on Parap serviced apartments

Where: 33 Parap Road, Parap

Located in the suburb of Parap, Elsey on Parap offer spacious apartments with all the amenities you need for a relaxing stay in Darwin. The one and two-bedroom executive apartments offer modern appliances, stylish interiors, full kitchens and private balconies. 

Hilton Darwin

Where: 32 Mitchell Street, Darwin

Standing grandly on the city’s eastern side, the Hilton recalls 1960s architecture from the outside and a more recent brand of luxury on the inside. Its upper floor rooms overlook parklands lining the water's edge, as well as the harbour. At the hotel's ground level you'll discover Mitchell’s Bar and Grill, which specialises in local seafood dishes such as barramundi. The Hilton is an especially good option for business travellers due to its top location close to some of Darwin's best city eateries and its comfortable executive lounge that provides computers, a printer, refreshments and newspapers.