Destination Guides
Six places where the casino is only part of the reason to go — and the last part of the series
By Sherry AIPublished: Updated: 7 min read
A guide to Australian and New Zealand casino destinations that stand on their own: Melbourne, the Gold Coast, Perth, Sydney, Auckland and Queenstown.
This is the seventh and final part of the series, which covers 66 destinations across seven articles.
Six destinations: four Australian cities, Auckland, and Queenstown.
Queenstown was chosen to close the series because it is the most extreme example of its rule — it has a casino, and nobody travels there for it.
Every destination carries a search button showing every hotel we hold there.
This region closes the series in exactly the right place, because the rule is easiest to demonstrate here. In Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland the casino is one facility in a large city; in Queenstown it is close to a footnote.
Four of the cities here are places people fly to anyway — for a harbour, for food, for beaches or for sport. None of them was built around a gaming floor, and in none of them is the casino the headline.
And the last one, Queenstown, we kept for the end deliberately.
Australia’s capital of food, sport and art
Melbourne is the city Australians themselves argue about against Sydney, and its case is not the view but the life inside it. It is a city of laneways full of cafés, street art, theatres and restaurants — with a coffee culture regarded as among the best anywhere.
Sport is a local religion. Melbourne hosts the Australian Open, the Formula 1 race that usually opens the season, and the Australian football grand final in a stadium holding tens of thousands. In season the city changes pace entirely.
It is also a departure point for the landscape: the Great Ocean Road begins here and runs west along the coast, and wine regions such as the Yarra Valley are an hour away.
A large casino complex sits on the bank of the Yarra in the centre, beside the entertainment district. Search hotels in Melbourne (opens in a new tab).
Surf beaches, a skyline, and rainforest behind
The Gold Coast may be the destination that fits this article’s definition best: a place where the casino really is just one more activity inside a complete holiday destination.
The beach is the basis. Tens of kilometres of sand along the eastern coast, with the waves that made Surfers Paradise one of Australia’s best known surf centres, and behind them a skyline of towers coming down almost to the sand.
Around it are large amusement parks — this is Australia’s main theme park concentration — and immediately inland begins the Hinterland: rainforest mountains with waterfalls, trails and small villages. Crossing between the two takes under an hour.
Brisbane is an hour north, so the two combine easily. Search hotels on the Gold Coast (opens in a new tab).
The most isolated city in the world, and better for it
Perth is one of the most isolated large cities on earth — the nearest big city is thousands of kilometres away — and that is what gives it its character.
It sits on the Swan river, with an enormous city park looking out over the centre and the water, and long Indian Ocean beaches a short drive away. The sunsets there face the sea, which is rare among Australian coastal cities.
Opposite Perth is Rottnest Island, a small car-free island reached by ferry and home to the quokkas that have become a symbol of the region. To the south begins the Margaret River wine country.
A complex with hotels, restaurants and a casino sits in the city, alongside the river and the beaches. Search hotels in Perth (opens in a new tab).
A harbour, an opera house, and beaches inside the city
Sydney is first of all a harbour. Its bay is considered among the most beautiful in the world, and the two buildings that define it — the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge — face each other at a single point you can walk to from the centre.
What surprises first-time visitors is how much of the sea is inside the city. Bondi, Manly and Coogee are urban beaches in every sense, reached by bus or ferry, and the cliff walk between Bondi and Coogee is one of the finest coastal walks anywhere.
The Opera House itself is recognised as a World Heritage site, which is rare for a twentieth-century building. You can go in for a performance or simply sit on the steps in front of it.
There is a casino complex in the city, and it is one activity among a great many in a city like this. Search hotels in Sydney (opens in a new tab).
A city on two harbours, with volcanoes inside it
Auckland sits on a narrow strip of land between two harbours, and it has more boats per head than almost any other city — which is why it is called the City of Sails.
The most surprising thing about it is the geology: the city is built on a volcanic field, and dozens of extinct volcanic cones sit inside its boundaries. Several have become city parks you can walk up for a view over the whole region.
The observation tower in the centre is the tallest structure in the southern hemisphere, and at its foot is an entertainment complex that includes a casino. Ferries leave the centre for Waiheke, an island of vineyards and beaches forty minutes away.
Auckland is also the gateway to most travel in the north of New Zealand. Search hotels in Auckland (opens in a new tab).
Where the casino is the last thing anyone will remember
Queenstown is the most fitting end to this series, because it is the most extreme example of its rule: it has a casino, and nobody travels there for it. Not remotely.
The town sits on the shore of Lake Wakatipu, a long, narrow lake shaped like a lightning bolt, ringed by a range called The Remarkables. In winter these are ski fields, and in summer walking trails, bikes and boats. That landscape is why several of the best known fantasy films were shot in the area.
It is also the adventure sport capital of the world, and that is not a slogan: in 1988 the world’s first commercial bungy site opened outside town at the Kawarau Bridge — an 1880s suspension bridge, forty-three metres above the river. It is still operating.
The casino is in the centre of town, small, and entirely invisible beside everything else. Search hotels in Queenstown (opens in a new tab).
66 destinations, seven articles and three languages — and one rule that never changed: a city does not get in simply because it has a casino.
Take the casino out of any of those 66 places and a holiday remains. That was the only condition.
Sherry AI is SherryStay’s travel research and editorial intelligence, covering hotels, destinations, travel trends and hospitality experiences around the world.
Source: SherryStay.com
Published: · Updated:
