Mantra Crown Towers Surfers Paradise – an Aussie family review

With so many family resort options to choose from on the Gold Coast, it’s hard to know which are the best…but we’ve found a great one – Mantra Crown Towers! This amazing resort certainly has one of the best hotel pool areas in Surfers Paradise, but it has so much more to offer holidaying families! Here’s why we think Mantra Crown Towers is one of the best family accommodation choices around in Surfers Paradise…

We’ve just got back from a school holidays trip to the Gold Coast – this is such an amazingly fun place to visit with the family any time, but especially so in winter when you can escape the southern cold for a short time!

For accommodation this year, we decided on Mantra Crown Towers, a huge family resort located in the heart of Surfers Paradise.

A bit of pre-booking research…

I always try to do some research on-line before I chose our accommodation – some would argue perhaps a little bit too much! My personal booking challenge for this trip was to try to find somewhere that ticked all of our family’s particular boxes – our main must-haves were: a reasonable price, good location, good reputation, on-site parking, heated pool and great views. Not a big ask really…

Mantra Crown Towers, Surfers Paradise

As it turned out, the good reputation part was the hardest to find. I did some Googling, and it seemed that many of Surfer’s Paradise big resorts had issues –  complaints such as “too dated”, “apartments were left dirty”, “things were broken or missing”, “reception service was terrible” and so on.

Not Mantra Crown Towers! It had a great reviews, plus it ticked all of our boxes – accommodation booked!

From first contact, Mantra Crown Towers couldn’t do enough for us to ensure that our stay ran smoothly. After-hours check-in? “No problem”. Early check in?” No problem, you can use the pool whilst you wait for your room” – they really couldn’t have been more accommodating.

In no time they had everything organised – I was already impressed. In fact, our stay was so trouble-free that  once we had checked in, we didn’t communicate with the front desk at all until check-out! I think that’s a first…

Our holiday begins!

On the day of our arrival at Mantra Crown Towers we were struck with the elegant, impressive lobby. At 4 and a half stars, this resort looks and feels like a five-star resort.

The Mantra Crown Towers lobby – yay, we’re on holidays!

Check in couldn’t have been faster or simpler, and this the middle of the Gold Coast Marathon AND school holidays! The kids were handed a welcome activity pack which I really appreciated – something to keep them busy whilst I unpacked – perfect!

Once the kids caught sight of the pool from the lobby, that was it as far as they were concerned – swimming was obviously going to be big on our holiday agenda!

The Mantra Crown Towers lagoon pool sandy beach is just beautiful

The two bedroom ocean view apartment

Our apartment was a “two-bedroom ocean view” on the 35th floor – the super-fast lift zoomed us up in no time. Security is excellent here – access to the car park, any resort entrance doors and lift were all controlled by a simple swipe-key system, and there are security cameras in public areas.

Modern, sleek and beautiful, Mantra Crown Tower’s apartments are real show-pieces. We entered gasping “wow!” – stylishly designed and decorated, our corner apartment was incredibly spacious, with drop-dead panoramic views of the ocean and city from all bedrooms, dining and lounge areas.

The large lounge area is a great place to relax, and the TV has Foxtel and pay-per-view movies – but who needs TV with those views, right? Admittedly, the kids still watched ABC 3 and Nickelodeon now and then whilst I got things done!

The main lounge area is very stylish yet still comfortable

Two good-sized balconies gave us the perfect vantage point for viewing both the city and sea for miles and miles. We loved starting our day with breakfast at the dining setting on the larger balcony, where we could even whale-watch when we were lucky! We worked out that the trick was to look for the misty spout above the water. Alas – I was too slow to catch the whales in photos – all I got was misty spout photos!

Breakfast in style – our favourite morning routine – with a little whale-watching!

The apartment was fitted throughout with top-quality appliances, such as a laundry containing a state-of-the-art (and quiet!) clothes washer and dryer and two powerful reverse cycle air conditioning units.

There was a large ultra-modern kitchen with everything you could need to feed the family (Also with tea, coffee and sugar supplies – you will need to provide your own milk).

The ultra-modern kitchen is well stocked with crockery, cutlery and electrical appliances

There are two large bathrooms (with hair dryer and luxury toiletries). The en suite even sported a generous corner bath to help ease those overworked holiday feet and legs – ahhh! Plus of course this is perfect for families with babies and toddlers to bath.

The en suite features a luxurious corner bath at one end and shower at the other

A walk in robe for the main bedroom more than took care of any possible storage issues.

The walk-in robe was handy to store all of our suitcases and clothes

At night, the views became electric, and it was beautiful lying in bed watching the illuminated waves breaking across the Surfers Paradise beach as I drifted off to sleep… The kids liked to do this from their room too, although I would sneak in and draw their curtains after they went to sleep so that they weren’t up at the crack of dawn ( I’ve yet to hear a parent say, “Oh I love it when the kids leap up at 6am on holidays”)!

This gorgeous view photo was taken from the main bedroom bed!

Although we had a very busy holiday agenda, we ended up using any spare time we had to enjoy the lovely apartment and soak up the views whilst we could – and of course, the resort pools…

The tropical lagoon pool area

There’s no doubt that the enormous pool area is a major feature of Mantra Crown Towers.

Set in lush tropical gardens, the main lagoon pool isn’t heated, however the kids pool is. If its too cool in the main pool for you, there are plenty of heated pool and spa options available.

The waterfall cave on the central island of the lagoon pool was a big hit with the kids!

The main pool features a pristine white sandy beach ringed with numerous beach-lounges and shades. On a central island, there is a mysterious waterfall raining down to conceal a cave that has a seat hidden inside of it. The kids LOVED discovering, and then spending time in the cave! These pools are such a great kid’s (and adult!) wonderland.

Two wooden bridges connected to the central island to make a path spanning the width of main pool, which also leads to a large outdoor heated Jacuzzi spa – beautifully lit at night to create a blue-grotto effect.

The outdoor spa is huge and toasty-warm – perfect for winter evenings!

A handy poolside kiosk is located next to the children’s pool which sells all sorts of snacks, drinks and pool toys. This means you can grab that coffee, or perhaps just a toastie whilst you’re down there. The kiosk is open for breakfast from early morning to evening – so you could spend all day at the pool if you wished!

The children’s pool and playground

The children’s pool itself is just brilliant – with it’s very own sandy beach, this pool is heated to take off any chill. The kids just adore the large Pirate Ship to play on, which they can access with a separate staircase. Then there’s the water-slide, which is actually quite fast, and “super-fun” (according to my children!). They loved going from the kid’s pool to the indoor heated pool and back again, which were just a few steps apart.

Yahoo! Fun on the pirate ship slide in the children’s pool

Younger children and toddlers can safely paddle and play in the connecting large shallow area, complete with big turtle statues to climb upon! There’s even a playground located next to the kids pool too – just in case the kids are looking for more fun!

The kid’s pool shallow play area and playground behind

Next to the kids pool and the main outdoor pools you’ll find the enormous heated indoor pool and spa. When we visited, it was unseasonably cool, and we found the indoor pool was lovely and warm to slip into if the outdoor pool was a little cool in the evenings.

We loved swimming in the huge heated pool, located a few steps from the children’s pool

Large enough so that it never feels crowded, the indoor pool is well-heated, and the gym, sauna and steam room are all located here as well.

At night, the entire outdoor pool area is lit up in a rainbow of beautiful colours – it’s Vivid Surfer’s Paradise! Magic to swim in, or just sit by and contemplate what a lovely holiday you’re having!

The pool area is beautifully lit at night

Location, dining and entertainment

When it comes to location, Mantra Crown Towers is ideally situated – just a block from the beach and a five minute walk, or three blocks, to the main Surfer’s Paradise city shopping centre. This means that although you are close-by to all of the Surfer’s Paradise city attractions, you aren’t trying to sleep in the middle of that 24 hour bustle and noise! During our entire stay, we found Mantra Crown Towers to be a very quiet hotel – yet it was peak school holidays when we were there, and the hotel was full.

Across the road from the Mantra Crown Towers can be found all those necessary little conveniences – a chemist, a medical centre, several corner shops and dining options abound. But if you don’t wish to venture out straight away, you can always pre-order groceries from Woolworths to be delivered to your room (for free) too! So convenient, and a real money-saver on holiday.

The Chiangmai Restaurant is located next to the lagoon pool

That said, don’t forget to spoil yourself a bit with some meals out – you are on holidays, after all!

Good, cheap family restaurants with special deals are all around the hotel, and the gorgeously atmospheric Chiangmai Thai restaurant is located right within hotel grounds, by the pool. There’s also the casual dining cafe located in the hotel lobby, in addition to the pool kiosk – so you don’t even have to leave the resort to have a nice meal!

If you do ever manage to extract the kids from the hotel pool, you’ll find that the resort is flanked with numerous family entertainment options – mini golf, hi-bounce trampolines, the famed “Vomatron” and “Slingshot” thrill rides, Dracula’s Haunted House….and that’s just for starters. Not to mention that amazing Surfers Paradise beach, just 100 metres away – it’s a beautiful family walk along the beach-front esplanade. Rest assured, you’re not going to get bored staying here – this town is designed for families to have fun!

Less than ten minutes walk from the hotel you’ll find this iconic sign!

Getting around

There is a light rail tram stop right in front of Mantra Crown Towers, on Surfers Paradise Boulevard. Trams make transportation around the Gold Coast really simple – or you can just drive yourself, with a hire car company right next door and moped hire across the road.

There are plenty of bus and coach tour options for airport pick up or transport out to the theme parks – just see Reception for bookings, and current timetables and prices.

We booked a hire car from the airport, as this gave us more freedom, and was far more cost-effective for visiting the Gold Coast theme parks. Mantra Crown Towers is only 20 minutes drive away from Dreamworld and Movie World, and just 5 minutes to Sea World!

Sea World with its classic family shows is just 5 minutes away from Mantra Crown Towers!

We found the free underground carpark at Mantra Crown Towers a real bonus too, as many of the other resorts and hotels don’t own or operate their own car parks – so that would have been an extra per-day expense if we had stayed elsewhere, but free at Mantra Crown Towers!

Summing up…would we go back?

Absolutely – the main problem with Mantra Crown Towers is leaving it! I regret that I didn’t make more time for us to take more advantage of this resort – it truly is a Surfers Paradise family gem.

We’ll be back to stay Mantra Crown Towers resort again!

Click on the slideshow at the beginning of this review to see lots more photos, or click play below to see a video tour of our Mantra Crown Tower apartment…

To get a feel for a typical two bedroom ocean view apartment, you might like to take a stroll with me through the one we spent our Gold Coast holiday in, in this short walk-through video…

Mantra Crown Tower resort useful info

Address: 5-19 Palm Avenue, Surfers Paradise QLD 4217

Phone: 13 15 17

You can find out more or book at the official Mantra website here or the official Mantra Facebook page here

Have you ever stayed at the Mantra Crown Tower resort, or would you like to one day? Tell us in the comments below…