Where Byron Dreams Begin: Our Favourite Places to Stay
When you think of Byron Bay, you might picture surfboards strapped to Kombis, golden sunsets at The Pass, lighthouse walks, and travellers who've journeyed halfway across the world to soak up the magic. That used to be us too, travelling twice a year to our favourite town, seeking sun and surf, but it's not just travellers, for locals and nearby residents, including us, taking the ultimate staycation is a real thing and understandably so, we have a world class holiday location on our door step, and we thought we'd share our favourites with you.
Byron Bay is known globally for its beauty, lush hinterland, pristine beaches, vibrant markets, and a creative, wellness focused community. So naturally we gravitate to the accommodation options that embrace all of this, particularly the nature component.
The Sunseeker
The Sunseeker is a boutique-style motel/hotel that’s been renovated into a creative, design driven getaway blending retro surf culture charm with modern comforts. They offer 40m2 suites with a closet style bedroom, a living area with comfy furniture, plus a private patio or balcony that opens onto garden or leafy surrounds. But as a family we love the surf cabins with their fun bunk beds, outdoor bath, weberQ, and the outdoor breakfast bench with huge glass windows/servery that opens up inside to out.
The cabin is suited best for a family of 4 or 5, so this is our choice. If we decide to do a girls night or a boys night away, something that we like to do every now and again. The residence is more of a splurge but is a great choice for a larger family as it sleeps up to nine people and is a retro design dream, stay here and be inspired for your next design project!
The Sunseeker has a lagoon style pool, fire pit, a casual cabana bar, large in ground trampoline, playground and flow hives, plus a cute coffee cart right out the front. It is close to town, yet still has the lush close-to-nature aesthetic.
Elements of Byron
Elements of Byron is our choice for barefoot luxury, we stay here every year when our family from Los Angeles visit, as it's the perfect place to host international guests and for cousins to run wild together. It is beachfront resort living in lush rainforest surroundings, with villas tucked among native bushland on a large property right on Belongil Beach.
Think of all the great things the kids love about a big4 caravan park but ultra luxe, stunning cabins, spacious surroundings with each cabin oriented to feel like its just your family amongst the nature, buggies to transport you around the resort, dreamy beds and pillows, room service and daily housekeeping.
Our pick is the Superior 2 bedroom villa, for its bathroom configuration, which we prefer over having the bath house in the Deluxe villa. We add on a roll away bed to the kids room for our eldest, and the three younger ones share the generous king size bed. Elements offer a huge resort style experience, a super sized infinity lagoon pool, an adults only pool with a swim up bar (if you can escape the children for a moment I highly recommend this), private cabanas, the Osprey Day Spa, yoga and wellness offerings, rainforest walks, and tennis. The on site restaurant serves high quality meals using local produce and the pool menus are also delicious.
We love Elements over the winter months also, the main pool is positioned to perfectly capture the warm winter sun, it can be July and feel like Spring!
Walk to the wonderful Habitat Precinct, IGA and Sunday Sustainable Bakery, meander around the local designer stores in the Industrial Estate, my pick for shopping for fashion and the home, and catch the Solar Train into town with the kids, always a favourite activity.
Broken Head Holiday Park
If you can travel to the area with a tent or caravan this is my pick for spending time reconnecting not only with the stunning nature but with the family, slowing down, beach three times a day, headland walks and surf surf surf.
One of the reasons we love Broken Head Holiday Park is that it is run by the Bundjalung of Byron Bay Aboriginal Corporation (Arakwal), which reclaimed the land in 2009. The Arakwal people manage the park to uphold cultural values and provide affordable accommodation and we love to support this. It's a more down to earth, nature immersed experience, and offers beachfront camping, cabins, or beach shacks, surrounded by rainforest and just steps from the ocean. It sits within the scenic headland of Broken Head Nature Reserve, the dramatic orange cliffs where the kids forage and play with ochre is one of their highlights.
We can't review the cabins or beach shacks, but we choose to pitch our tent here a couple times a year, on an unpowered site at the base of the rainforest, and then use the camp kitchen with its scenic view and the clean and spacious bathrooms, such an incredible budget friendly holiday. The camp kitchen has BBQs, fridge/freezer, hot water, and the park has a small kiosk for essentials, a café nearby (Auntie’s Café), laundry facilities, free WiFi, and basic amenities.
If you're looking for somewhere to wake up to ocean waves and rainforest rather than resort glamour, just 5-10 minutes drive from the town centre of Byron Bay, this is our recommendation.
From the design driven charm of The Sunseeker, to the refined beachfront luxury of Elements of Byron, to the laid back coastal simplicity of Broken Head Holiday Park, Byron Bay offers an incredible range of places to stay that each reflect a different side of this iconic region. But what ties them all together is the unmistakable Byron energy, the ocean air, the creative spirit, the sense of calm that settles in the moment you arrive.
Whether you’re lounging by a resort pool, sipping a sunset drink on your balcony, or falling asleep to the sound of the waves, Byron has a way of making every visit feel effortless and unforgettable.
No matter how you choose to experience it, one thing is certain, there’s something uniquely special about waking up in Byron Bay, and these stays only make it better.
