More about Shantara Resort & Spa Port Douglas
Excellence
by TripAdvisor Member rheaLwrPlenty_melb_
From the moment my husband and l arrived at Shantara there was one wow after the other. It's so tastefully decorated, clean and it certainly matches up to the 5 star rating (from the towels to the china). The management Marianna, Luigi,Sarah and Daniel were so friendly and very helpful.
The location was 5 mins from the 4 mile beach and the start of all the cafes/restaurants. I took advantage of their day spa and had a massage and facial. Highly recommended. Our stay in port douglas was sensational, from great restaurants, walks, excellent quality time together and not to forget great acommodation Shantara. We're definitly going back next year -------------
Conveniently located
by TripAdvisor Member krazygloo
I booked this Resort based on Trip Advisor reviews, and it was exactly how I imagined it. Conveniently located 2 blocks from the main drag and 2 blocks from the beach, this is the perfect place for you to enjoy your holiday in Port Douglas.
From when you walk through the main reception, the open concept is nice and inviting. Swimming pools flank either side of the reception area and the sound of the waterfall creates white noise in the background. If you haven’t pre-planned your activities, there is a massive wall of brochures to assist you. There is secure parking under the complex, a spa located adjacent to the reception, and a gym tucked around the corner.
We booked a lovely one bedroom unit, located at the back of the building on the top floor. This was a very quite location, and looked over one of the pools. Even though the units face each other, there didn’t seem to be a lot of noise from other units. The room layout was fairly good. The bathroom was equipped with a large tub, which was great. We opted for a daily service, which is an optional extra when you book. My only complaints about the room would be the quality of sheets they used on the bed were about 200 grit sand paper, and the sofa located in the lounge area was a little small and upright for my taste. Also, the internet wireless didn’t seem to work, but an Ethernet cable was available from reception (the internet hook-up was a bit of a pain, you have to either unplug the cable or have popup enabled to see your time remaining). Other than that, the kitchen facilities were great; the individual air-conditioning units in each room were great, nice big flat screen TV and large spacious room layout.
When can I go back?!
by TripAdvisor Member stugmac
We had 3 rooms for a week and all were spacious, clean, comfortable (especially the beds) and well kitted out. All the rooms overlook either one of the 2 pools. If you're looking for true peace and quiet (no kids) then this is the place for you, I've never slept so well away from home.
The best parts of Shantara are the staff (family run) and the locations (5mins walk from beach and main street).
It is very modern and lacks a bit of character but this is a vey minor point. I would undoubtedly return should I get back to Port Douglas.
Fantastic Time
by TripAdvisor Member sunbury14
We booked Shantara through expedia,after checking out the reviews on trip advisor. We were not dissapointed the staff were very friendly and helpful, especially Sara.
The location was fantastic and we did a few day trips that Sara helped us book.
We would recommend this resort as it had great ammenities and was very close to the beach and the shopping strip.
Jo & Bernie [Melbourne]
Great stay at Shantara
by TripAdvisor Member Kidless
We have recently returned from 6 nights at the Shantara Resort.
The resort is very nice and extremely well presented being built only a year ago. It was perfect for a relaxing stay and restricted to over 16 year olds so there was no kid noise. The resort is in an ideal location, close to Macrossan Street where the majority of the shops and food restaurants are located and only a 10 minute walk to the marina where the boat cruises leave from.
We stayed on the second level in a one bedroom apartment with its own balcony and kitchenette. The ground floor apartments have their own courtyard access to the pools and were slightly more expensive but there was always a sun lounger available for us when we wanted a swim in the lovely pool. The staff were very pleasant on our arrival and helpful when we were arranging day trips to the Barrier Reef and the Daintree Forest.
Overall we had a great time at Shantara and would like to thank the staff for making our holiday so nice. We recommend the resort as a relaxing place to stay and it will be our first choice to stay there again when we go back to Port Douglas.
Awesome stay at the Shantara
by TripAdvisor Member HappyWanderer72
Stayed at the Shantara in Port Douglas in late September / early October for 5 nights. Chose this resort because it doesn't cater for under 16's which was fabulous, and the excellent location - about a 6 or 7 minute walk to the beach and about a 10 minute easy walk to Macrossan Street.
The Shantara is just over a year old so the room was absolutely spotless. I stayed in room 5B which was on the Pool Deck and had full sun in the afternoon.
Great kitchen facilities - nice new toaster, kettle, fridge and microwave. New flatscreen plasma with enough TV channels to give you options!
Comfy bed and loads of pillows with plenty of extra blankets if the super efficient air con cools you too quick!
Nice size bathroom which was absolutely spotless. Loads of towels provided for the bathroom and the pool deck.
I didn't have maid service, but I think if you paid extra they would come in and clean. Didn't worry me - I don't get maid service at home, so for 5 days I didn't mind at all!
The pool was never busy and it was lovely to be able step right out of your room and onto a private pool deck. The BBQ area was well used, but there was never any real noise from any of the communal areas.
Great stay - would definitely stay at the Shantara again.
Nice place, great location!
by TripAdvisor Member srkj
Shantara is a new small resort within walking distance to the main strip of Port Douglas. The resort itself is nicely appointed, extremely clean but not terribly private.
Myself and partner stayed in a Shantara apartment for 7 nights which was well appointed. A little disappointed that a daily service is an addional extra, not so much the cleaning aspect, but fresh towels more than once a week should be standard for a 5* star facilty, not just at additional cost.
Upon arrival, cleanliness of the apartment was exemplinary which was a big plus in my books. The only disappointing aspect was the aspect its self! The apartments face eachother over a fairly small pool. This means that for privacy during most parts of the day the apartment shutters must remain all but closed which is a shame. One side of the complex has a water spillover feature which adds backgound noise to the pool area which works well but the other is super quiet- very pleasant whilst no one is talking but it is almost impossible to avoid hearing full conversations from other guests from the echo effect from the enclosed nature of the design of the building layout- particularly if they are ignorant enough to be broadcasting on their mobile phone. Its a whisper only zone to be polite!
The rooms are very comfortably but I would hightly recommend a pool deck room. The studios appear small with small, almost unsuable balconies and the upper levels one/ two bedders are somewhat isolated from the extent of the view of the pool because of the small pool size. The main view from the upper apartments is in to your opposing neighbours balcony and room! During our stay, very few of occupied upper levels residents utilised their balcony and I would conclude this may be the reason.
Overall a very pleasant resort, with great proximity to town and the beach, the spa facilties where on par with town prices and of a high standard. The rooms where well apointed and clean and the staff were very approachable and pleasant. The onsite BBQ facilties are a great extra for a lazy home cooked meal (lots of places to dine in PD but very few that offer terrific food IMO) The only downside was the limited amount of privacy and the abilty to be distracted by close proximity of other guests.
Still, PD is a great place for a relaxing holiday and if your searching for somewhere above the average close to town then Shantara should definately get a look in.
Excellent place
by TripAdvisor Member patti1288
We have just returned from a week in Port Douglas staying at Shantara resort. This was our second trip to PD so we knew what to expect from the area. We had stayed at Sea Temple last year so we were hoping that Shantara would be as good if not better. Shantara got the thumbs up! The resort is in a great location being only 2 blocks from the main street. No need to hire a car if you don't plan to do any siteseeing outside of PD.
The resort has 2 lovely pools which are a bit small (compared to Sea Temple) but great nonetheless. The water was very warm. It was nice to just sit by the pool in the afternoon as it was always really quiet. Most guests are out siteseeing in the arvo so we pretty much had the pool to ourselves.
The staff are very friendly and personable which is always a plus. They were happy to accomodate any requests that we had. We stayed in a hotel room with a pool a deck for a week. It was a little small but workable as there is also a small kitchenette in the room (very handy). The rooms were super clean and had ok decor. The sugar ants can be a problem if you don't keep the kitchen clean but this is a problem for all hotels in PD.
If privacy is a real issue for you then this isn't the place for you as all rooms overlook the pools and each others balcony but this can be a good thing in that you can easily make new friends!
Dining is fairly expensive in the area but food was very nice. We had no complaints. We would recommend Zinc and On the Inlet. The weather was fantastic. It was around 30 degrees all week.
All in all a very enjoyable holiday.
Good location
by TripAdvisor Member LetsDoLunch
Shantara is a fairly new property within easy walking distance of the beach and Macrossan St (the main shopping street in PD). The location is perfect even if you don't have a car - we had a rental car but hardly used it.
We had an apartment on the second floor, with a balcony overlooking one of the two pools. All the rooms face inwards to the pool, so you can easily see into most of the other rooms. I'm glad we didn't spend the extra for a pool deck apartment, the balconies on those were really tiny and most had only one lounge chair to sit on - not much good if you're a couple!
The resort is adults-only so for most of the time it was fairly quiet, however towards the end of our stay there was a large group in one of the ground floor apartments - they weren't being particularly loud but the way all the apartments face each other amplified the noise.
The rooms themselves were clean and fairly simple. Probably simpler than I would have expected for 5*. The kitchen facilities are good, the bathroom is great, and there is also a good TV with DVD player. The couches could be comfier. I also thought that for the price, a daily service would be appropriate.
The pools are very pretty but small. No pool bar or poolside service. The staff are very friendly and endeavour to be helpful, however the only thing I needed during my stay was a safety pin (to hold up a dress) which they couldn't provide!
All in all we enjoyed our stay, but I thought it was more of a four star property charging 5 star prices.
Something amiss ....
by TripAdvisor Member Duesseldorf
My husband and I were looking for something new & therefore clean, pool access via our balcony, no kids and in a good location (short walk to main st) which is what we got with Shantara. Something was amiss though and we think it was the lack of charm and a bit overpriced. Off Peak $260 per night for six nights (daily cleaning $30 optional - how any 5 star accommodation can do this is beyond me) seemed to be OK until we stayed at four other 5 star accommodations throughout our Aussie trip (from proper hotels to a luxury house) which were less in price (even Sydney), as clean and worlds apart in service. We didn't take the optional daily clean but just got a mid-week clean which included fresh towels, replacement of dishwashing detergent (it was a well appointed kitchen) and the bed remade - no sweeping/cleaning of floors or showers etc. We saw quite quickly that 'new' isn't everything - older can also be immaculately clean and have the bonus of 'charm/service/daily cleaning (included)' too.
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