A free two-night stay was provided for TPG on Sunday so we could browse the hotel and its amenities on site. The opinions expressed below are entirely the opinions of the author and are not subject to scrutiny by the hotel or any external entity.
Hamilton Island is one of Australia’s main destinations to enter the Great Barrier Reef, no stranger to incredible hotels and resorts, from towering reef landscape hotels to the super cool George Clooney and Julia Roberts approved pure adult resorts. But what you need is something chic Family friendly Just by the water.
Enter: Sunday, a stylish 59-room boutique hotel with spacious, comfortable rooms; balcony and terrace looking at the awesome views; a less, laid-back luxury; and a restaurant that is so simple and beautiful that every meal blindfolds me.
This was my first look at the two nights I stayed on Sunday and made our list The most anticipated hotel opening in 2025.
First impression
Your Sunday stay starts with arriving at the lovely Hamilton Island Airport (HTI), where friendly staff (you will recognize on the trip) are waiting to collect your luggage and transport it directly to your room. A quick trip from the airport can help you get the bearings on the island, where there are few cars and golf carts.
From the chic outdoor lobby, you can feel the small property, located on the north side of Catseye Beach and facing the magnificent, lush landscape of the pass peaks. Dating back to the 1980s, the building was once the original hotel on the island, but has been completely renovated with soft tones that reflect the natural surroundings such as the sea and nearby reefs. With its open air feel (typical Queensland style) and an almost retro vibe, the place feels young, fresh and totally relaxed.
Room
On the open-air corridor, I entered a large bright room with most neutral palettes that saved some of the pops of colors in a corner, and a colorful, beautiful simple print that depicts the stories of the Aboriginal Australians and depicts the stories of the island with Hungarian artist Tiarna Herczeg.
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Tanner Saunders/The Points Guy
The King’s Bed is placed in the middle of the room and looks out to the large balcony, which enjoys the water and the lush green landscape in the distance. Large mobile TVs tucked into the walls on the side of the room, providing streaming services as well as a variety of on-demand TVs and movies.
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Tanner Saunders/The Points Guy
Behind the bed, retractable walls separate the bathroom and multi-purpose closets and storage space. Inside stands in suitcases, drawers and wardrobe with clothes hangers and standard hotel amenities such as iron, stands on huge benches, and fun stuff like yoga mats and beach towels.
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Tanner Saunders/The Points Guy
A separate soaking bathtub takes center stage in the bathroom, sitting opposite a single wash basin with a lighted mirror and bathrobe. Rainfall showers provide great water pressure – but the close proximity of the toilet to the shower area may not be everyone’s tea.
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Tanner Saunders/The Points Guy
I’m also very grateful for a small kitchen space in the room, which has a handy coffee machine, a teapot, a range of snacks and drinks for adults and kids (read: Kids in the Heart), and even a hidden microwave.
Like the rest of the hotel, the space is tempting, comfortable and laid back. The finishes and details add a luxurious touch, but without the top, I immediately felt at home in the room and was sad to leave it.
Sunday meal
At Hamilton Island Resort, visitors can enjoy a range of restaurants, from Coca-Cola’s Southeast Asian bites to seafood shops, Italian restaurants, and even barbecue dinner cruises. But nothing like the Catseye Pool Club is a new career for Sunday’s acclaimed chef (and partner in life) Josh and Julie Niland, a Sydney duo. St. Peter.
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Tanner Saunders/The Points Guy
Catseye Pool Club It is an open-air space overlooking Catseye Bay and the hotel pool for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Here, Nilands will do its best: provide the best, freshest ingredients, but in a shared, really fun way to eat, which is a good reminder of the importance of good food and good companies, at least for me. Every meal I enjoyed at the Catseye Pool Club made me shocking emotions, joy and gratitude for the bounty this planet can offer, starting with the first meal I had there: a salad that was too simple and bright to stop thinking ($20).
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Tanner Saunders/The Points Guy
In the breakfast breakfast, my stay time was included, I ordered an incredibly delicious CPC breakfast bowl with sesame avocado, cauliflower rice, a soft boiled egg (I asked for this instead of boiled eggs, the kitchen was happy to do it), tomato, tomato, kasundi and kasundi and Beetrot and kraece and kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra kra. I also like the super crispy brown cake and top frozen banana whip, a huge bowl of fresh bananas that are almost like ice cream – served with raw granola and Cocoa Nib.
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Tanner Saunders/The Points Guy
Dinner at Catseye Pool Club is something I will never forget. From wine soup with wild fish and scallops with grilled fish bones ($46) to deconstructed pizza bread ($41), building your own skilled fish tacos ($43), and incredibly tender chicken ($80), each bite is better than the last.
Convenience and service
The exclusive Sunday pool is a beautiful pool overlooking the bay, sunrise yoga classes, family-friendly moonlight movie screenings, daily ice cream sundae bar (you stay in the room every night in Torndown service) and Sunday DJ Sessions.
Hamilton Island also has a large number of amenities, activities and activities that are shared between these amenities, various resorts and home rentals. Here are some of these brief summary:
- Share sports clubs, equipment, courses, spas and saunas
- tennis court
- Children’s Club Children’s Club between six months and 12 years
- Golf cart rental to the island
- Spa Wumurdaylin offers a variety of treatments and massages
- Hiking trails
- Boating and fishing
- Arcade with game, golf simulator and nine-pin bowling
- Kart racing
- Golf courses on nearby islands (find it from the plane!)
- Non-sports water sports and rental rentals such as slabs and kayaking rentals
- Snorkeling and diving in the Great Barrier Reef
- Exceed 60 Other Activities
Please note: Many of these activities are subject to additional costs.
Hamilton Island Wildlife Center
One of the highlights of my time at Hamilton Island was visiting the resort’s wildlife center, about five minutes from Sunday.
The center offers many special animal encounters, or just walking through small parks to see creatures like crocodiles, koalas, wallabies (kangaroos), various birds, and even some wild dogs. For about $22, you can get close to the cute Koala to take photos.
Heart Journey – Heart Reef Experience
Visiting the Great Barrier Reef is a life-changing experience. Fortunately, Sunday and Hamilton Island jointly offer the helicopter an exclusive opportunity to be like a heart in the iconic part of the reef, then land on a pontoon helicopter in the middle of the reef to snorkeling (costs about $900).
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Tanner Saunders/The Points Guy
This experience was the highlight of my trip to Australia, and my 45-minute snorkeling allowed me to discover everything I hope the huge barrier reef could reveal, including beautiful clownfish, glowing corals and fishes, their colors, shapes and sizes than I thought. After returning to the pontoon, we celebrated “Search for Nemo” with a glass of champagne before we could go back to Sunday.
Location and logistics
Hamilton Island has its own airport, Hamilton Island Airport (HTI), with flights available in Virgin Australia, Jetstar and Qantas to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
How much does it cost to stay on Sunday and how to book
The cash rate on Sunday starts at $572 per night. Currently, Sundays are not integrated into the luxury booking plan, so bookings are best done directly with the hotel.
Accessibility
An accessible terrace room is available on Sunday, with wheelchair accessible, wide wardrobe, bathroom with tracks and lowered ground floor, height-adjusted accessories and a head bag available on request.
As always, TPG recommends talking directly to the hotel before booking to better understand the hotel’s accessible products.
Bottom line
Sunday is the first new hotel to be opened in nearly 20 years on Hamilton Island, a popular family resort for Australians. I can tell you personally that it is worth waiting for. With a charming room with beautiful views, a meal from a very friendly staff and a famous chef you won’t forget anytime soon (seriously, I’ll try to remake breakfast bowls every morning for my life), I was taken away on Sunday. Actually, I have planned to return to the island to share the helicopter experience with my family so I can see their eyes light up when they first glimpses of the great barrier reef.
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