Cumberland Lorne Resort Review
We spent two lovely nights staying at the Cumberland Lorne Resort, located on the Great Ocean Road in the busy seaside holiday town of Lorne, Victoria.
Lorne is a great place to stay a while on the Great Ocean Road. It is a beautiful location, with a huge, stunning beach and lots of things to do with the children. It also has all the essentials a traveller needs, and is reasonably well serviced with a petrol station, mechanic, hairdresser and supermarket, and of course numerous fashion and tourist shops and cafes.
Off to the playground, a trampoline park behind at the sea baths – Lorne has lots for kids to do!
Lorne gives off a bit of a surfie-hippie vibe, as all good coastal towns should! A little farther on from the main street, up the hill and around the bend is a massive Grand Pacific old-fashioned hotel, overlooking the ocean and the Lorne Pier which extends right out into the sea. Here pedestrians are welcome to stroll to the end on it’s wide concrete walkway (no side barriers in some places, so take care with toddlers!) and we had the delight of watching a wild a seal frolicking about and eating fish thrown to it in the deep water at the very end!
Lorne Pier extends right out to deep water where seals frolic
The Cumberland Lorne Resort where we stayed in Lorne is a group of accommodation blocks, some privately owned, run by a central Reception office.
Reception does close between 7pm and 9pm on weekends, however we did get caught out with the reception closing ten minutes early, and also on another occasion the swipe door from the Plaza locking off at least 15 minutes earlier than 9pm, so just be forwarned on those points, and don’t leave things until closing time!
The heated indoor pool is a real Cumberland Lorne Resort highlight!
One of the major features of the resort is its large heated indoor pool. There is an attached spa, baby pool, sauna and a reasonably-sized gymnasium – all of which is accessible using your room key-card up until 9pm (towels are supplied at Reception). There’s also a large games room area with pool tables, etc. – great for families with teenagers.
The Cumberland Lorne Resort is conveniently located at the very end of the Lorne main street. The complex has direct access to the main road and Plaza below by a stair case, or a steep-ish footpath from the side entrance. The handicapped may possibly find this hotel’s access to the Plaza and main road below a little challenging by anything other than car.
The Plaza directly below the Cumberland Lorne Resort has lots of take-aways
The Plaza and main road contain lots of takeaways which is great if you don’t want to cook your own meals, however the very well-outfitted apartment kitchen means you can self-cater to save some money on your stay – always a good family option! Remember that you are on holiday though – it would be a shame not to utilise at least a couple of the local eateries during your stay, and then just stroll back home to your apartment – no washing up!
Traveller Tip! The Cumberland Lorne Resort is just across the road from the Lorne Hotel, which can get a little noisy with pub bands and dance music on the weekends, so it’s best to avoid staying at that end of the resort if you don’t like pub music keeping the baby or toddlers up!
Parking is free and undercover, and there are lifts up to each accommodation block, which are named after famous shipwrecks – after all, Lorne is situated on the Victorian Shipwreck Coast! Our apartment block was named after the 1932 shipwreck of the steamer “Casino”, which resulted in the loss of ten lives at nearby Apollo Bay.
Looking from the kitchen – our apartment was open-plan and split-level
Apartments are modern split-level townhouse-style accommodation, accessed with a key-card, and vary from non-ocean (garden) views right up to Penthouse two story apartments (two balconies). There are some great one and two bedroom ocean view apartments are available, and this is what we stayed in.
The locals were awfully friendly! Cockatoos visited our balcony often.
Looking across the main street through the pines to the beach, you may even get some resident Cockatoos perching on your balcony, who you are not supposed to feed. (Okay, we may have fed them just the once – we suffer from missing our pets badly whenever we travel, and end up trying to pet any animal that stays still long enough!)
The kitchen is well-outfitted with appliances, a generous microwave and dishwasher
The split-level (just three or four steps) apartments themselves are open-plan, modern and nicely furnished. They are well fitted-out with excellent appliances. Ours had a modern kitchen with a dishwasher, microwave, large fridge, all pots pans and cutlery and toaster.
The corner spa bath looking out to the lounge
The bathroom had nice toiletries, a Jacuzzi spa bath (with a large window through to the lounge) and hairdryer, and within the bathroom area there was also a washing machine and dryer, with an ironing board and iron in the hall cupboard. The lounge had a large flat screen with some basic cable TV channels and local digital channels. The master bedroom had built-in wardrobes.
The Master bedroom is very roomy and has walk-in wardrobes & a small TV
Our apartment configuration was a large one bedroom with a queen bed and built-in wardrobes, and there was a fold out queen bed in the lounge area. The kids and I often end up piling in one bed together, and as this was a good-quality fold out, it was large and comfortable.
Rates at the Cumberland Lorne Resort are variable – definitely cheaper on Sundays and early in the week outside of school holidays, so book your accommodation during those times if you have the option – and ask for the best rate with Reception too – more than one night may well be cheaper!
So, the big question – would we stay at the Cumberland Lorne Resort again?
Yes, we definitely would. It’s a great Lorne accommodation option for families. The location was a real winner with that lovely view, across the road from the park, playgrounds and the beach, plus the indoor pool and large apartment with excellent facilities meant our stay was hassle-free and enjoyable.
You can read about what we did I Lorne on our road trip here, and read all of the Let’s Go Mum! Victorian road trip blogs as we meander along the Shipwreck Coast of the Victorian Southern Ocean here.
Have you stayed in Lorne? Did you like it? Tell us in the comments below!
