Pullman Port Douglas Sea Temple Resort & Spa

Stayed in 2 bed penthouse. Lovely experience. Rooftop bbq and spa. Apartment had full kitchen. Garage parking. Pool is magnificent. Restaurant is ok,better options in town. Regular shuttle bus to/from town, runs till late. Apartment comfortable, A/C throughout and ceiling fans. Lift to help taking luggage to 1st floor apartments. Quiet, clean and relaxing.

Contrary to prior practice this year we decided to book a "5 star" resort some distance from the town of Port Douglas. In my humble view, Sea Temple Resort is a classic example of a venue that is not quite a resort, not quite a hotel and not quite villa accommodation. It is a mixture of all 3 and this has resulted in a few "pros" and quite a few "cons". This will be a long review, so apologies in advance, but need to comprehensive for the benefit of fellow travellers. Please note that we were placed in Unit/Villa 154 - I suspect that not all Sea Temple 2 bedroom villas with a private plunge pool will be identical (as these are clearly individually owned and not all owned by the Resort) so some of the comments may be specific to that room: PROS - nice size villa - the photos on the website are accurate. Spacious rooms; - good size TV in living room with a smaller one in main bedroom; - reasonably good sound proofing when doors are shut (kids in the pool next door made a bit of noise) however, scraping of chairs and footsteps from the above unit were quite annoying; - a great resort pool - good for kiddies, but beware if you get a unit near the kids end of the pool - quite noisy; - easy access to 4 mile beach. CONS - Parking - we were told that there was no allocated parking. Being 6 kilometres from the town of Port Douglas many guests had cars. It is a free for all when getting a car park. In some cases, you might end up parking 150 metres from your room. Even more galling is that we discovered one of the garages was in fact allocated to rooms 153/154 (even though this was not mentioned when we checked in) - all this did was result in a game of cat and mouse with the car from room 153!; - Outdoor area lacks maintenance - pool tiles need a good clean. Covered in a film of grime. Also, found what appeared to be an insect nest on one of the chairs (see photo); - This apartment is not appropriate for someone with mobility issues- the shower is in the bath, which means having to step in and over the bathtub edge - might be tricky for older people; - no fan in the bathroom - even if we opened the windows and left the bathroom door open, it would steam up like a turkish sauna and cover everything in the bathroom with a film of moisture (including the towels); - A lack of any instructions - there is an "Accor" channel on the TV but it was not operational (see photo). There are no instructions provided on using any appliances of note; - for a fully contained unit, the lack of utensils, plates and bowls was an issue - there is the bare minimum; - only one toilet - not a major con, but it is in the bathroom - if you are sharing this villa with another couple, might need a roster to be put in place; - only very limited extras - for example, no salt or pepper, limited coffee pods, limited dishwashing powder - we were staying for two weeks; - A disconnected smart TV - whilst the resort provides wi-fi (which is of average strength) there is no internet. A 5 sta

Pullman port Douglas is far from port Douglas. About a 10 +++ minute car drive. So if you don’t want to spend $60 to and from a nice dinner, do not stay here. The service here is below average. It is not a beach front property. Accor plus doesn’t exist here. So if you’re a silver member, don’t even bother.

Beautiful gardens and pool, our room was nice but cleaning during our five night stay was non-existent. The towels were changed and the bed was pulled up and tucked back in and that was it. There was no replenishment of coffee, tea, etc but it was provided if you asked for it. The wi fi in our room did not work at all and we were subsequently provided with a dongle which worked well. Gina at the front desk was fantastic and very helpful. Our package included breakfast which was nice but not anything special. We didn’t eat an evening meal in the restaurant as it seemed quite expensive and the menu was very limited. We did however attend a wedding while we were there and the wedding food was excellent. It was always a long wait to get served at the pool bar as there was only ever one person on duty who also had to make cocktails. Two people are definitely required. Our room had a small outdoor area. When we arrived there was quite a bit of leaf litter laying around and it wasn't cleaned while we were there. 5 star? Only just I think.

The two bedroom apartment we stayed at was privately owned. It has a spa on the roof top with a large outdoor area with BBQ facilities. The apartment was fairly well equipped though it would be better with a second bathroom. The shower is over the bath which may be tricky for someone who is a little less mobile. Communication with the host was excellent. We did not dine at the restaurant but they were very kind to deliver a small amount of tomato sauce to the room when the request was made. The resort has direct access to Four Mile Beach. Overall, it was a comfortable stay.

Resort was nice toilet and showers needed better cleaning for a 5 star resort . service average and over priced wouldn’t go back. I would go overseas than Port Douglas Bali or Thailand for the next trip. Over all I would be giving Port Douglas a miss and see other parts of the country. Lots of respect ad works which slows everything down.