Orpheus Island Lodge

It’s hard to describe how wonderful Orpheus Island Lodge is. From the moment you arrive and are welcomed with a glass of champagne it feels like an incredibly special place. The staff are all excellent and very friendly and the food is amazing at every meal. The lodge is extremely well managed and the manager Chrissie is always present and hands on which we feel is a very good sign. We rarely say that we would love to return to a destination but we definitely would love to return to Orpheus Island Lodge.

This was our third visit to Orpheus Island. During our first trip for my birthday in 2022, we loved the place so much that we advance booked for five years in a row; and I'm pleased to say that each visit has been just as memorable as the previous. There are two things, which to us, are the essence of what makes our time on Orpheus so special, and what keeps bringing us back. Firstly there's the food. Each meal is curated individually under the control of, for the second year now, Chef Josh Childs. We've eaten in some of the finest restaurants in the world, and Josh's creations I believe would equal any of them. It's rare in a high end restaurant to meet the Executive Chef, but as soon as you arrive on the island Josh is there to talk to you, to understand any dietary preferences that you may have. Josh is also apparently intolerant of delays longer than about 10 seconds in getting prepared meals out to guests, as on more than one occasion we've heard the familiar 'hello', and looked up to see Josh himself bringing a meal to a guest's table. One final point on the food at Orpheus, the 'Dining With The Tides' experience at the end of the dock is absolutely unique, and we book that once on each of our visits. The second thing that's so special about Orpheus Island is the staff. Nothing is ever too much trouble, and the staff are united in the singular purpose of ensuring that your stay is simply 'just perfect'. The Management/Supervisory people - Chrissy, Nicole, Elise, have been there for multiple years; and much to my surprise they remember and implement our unique preferences automatically from the instant that we arrive. The rest of the crew are all just simply nice people, from all over the world; and so friendly and accomodating. We talk at length with many of these people, they're genuinely happy to stand and chat, and as a result we become close to many and regard them as friends. Unfortunately most of them though will only spend one season on the island, then they move on to somewhere else in their journey; but that's good for them, and it's also necessary for us, so that we have the opportunity of getting to know the crew who will be there on our next visit. Thank you to everyone at Orpheus Island Lodge, past and present, for making our visits so special.

Had a wonderful time. Staff were so lovely and efficient and the food was delicious. The place was amazing. We went deep sea fishing, snorkelling, paddle boarding, kayaking and walked across the island. Lots to do if you really want to keep busy or just lie back and enjoy the ambience. Would go again in a heartbeat.

A stay at any luxury resort is not cheap so I thought I’d give you a review of some of Australia’s best tropical luxury resort options. First a few general comments. If you’re spending over $10k for 3 nights you should try to pick a time of the year when the chances of being seriously impacted by rain is minimised. Easier said than done with the way weather has been lately. Also some people are happy to lay by the pool for their stay.. we like that too but also love snorkelling with beautiful fish and coral and some not too hard bushwalking. All the costs are approximates Lizard island (2021) You get a small plane out of cairns, we shared ours with a couple. Lizard is expensive and you can get Beachfront suites for $4,300 and Oceanview villas for $3,700… there’s also a range of other accommodation from garden villas to a private house on the clifftop. We went for a beach front suite located about 50 metres from the beachfront which was very convenient. The downside was that on our last day the island had a barge come in and it was busy and noisy for a few hours.. but no big deal. Food was amazing, incredible but OMG it was soo slow. Can take 2 hours for lunch and 40 minutes to get entrees. That’s ok as you’re on holidays but we wanted to do stuff and it’s not great to loose the best part of 4 hours for breakfast and lunch. Hopefully that has improved. Service was good and the staff were really nice. We had a lovely welcome at the airport and check in. Activities… there are dinghies available and you can get picnic with nice food and whatever you want to drink to take to a nearby beach… we went to Watsons Bay There are sunset cruises, snorkelling tours and nice walks Lizard is beautiful with gorgeous white sandy beaches. You can walk out of your beachfront suite and swim out 30 -50 metres to coral reef with beautiful fish and coral… like wow. The other side of island past the airstrip (30 minute walk) was a beach totally littered with plastic. Watsons Bay is bit of a walk up the hill and back down, nice boardwalk and gorgeous beach. Qualia October 21 & December 22 Yes twice in a windward suite. They are drop dead gorgeous. You will be met at the airport and it’s a short drive to the resort. Their are spectacular views from the main building. I found the welcome a bit ordinary… sure you get a nice glass of bubbles but they didn’t seem to know we were returning guests and it was all a bit impersonal and standardised.welcome. Leeward and Windward pavilions Leeward approx $2k a night Windward $3k a night with a plunge pool Amazing views from the bed, the room and the plunge pool. You get a nice breakfast included and the staff there were lovely and way better than the front desk staff. Poolside we had good burgers and great service in the poolside cabanas. We had a lovely lunch at the restaurant pebble beach. We never ate dinner there but I am sure it would be good. You will be given a golf cart during your stay. There’s not much to do bu

Perfectly executed resort stay. 28 guests enables professional staff to make you feel like you're the only one there. Beds are sublime, pool is spectacular in dimension, clarity and temperature and the food is brilliant. On the latter we have never come across a chef that commands different cuisines with such confidence and brilliant execution. For us having been to Lizard and Bedarra, each wonderful in their own right, this eclipses both hands down.