Hot tubs, cinema: top luxury holiday homes luring Aussies overseas
By Sarah Falson
From eight-bedroom villas in Bali to cave suites in Santorini, Australian travellers are upping their game when it comes to luxury overseas accommodation. Subscribe now for unlimited access.
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When a hotel room just won't do, a holiday home can be just the ticket when you want more space and amenities like a pool, sauna or games room.
Aussies have traditionally booked holiday homes for a domestic getaway, but now more are looking to holiday homes overseas to fill their wildest desires.
This is according to Stayz which has released its list of top international holiday homes and amenities matter - think saunas, private pools, alfresco dining and expansive terraces.
Stayz travel expert Sarah King said more Aussies are booking private overseas stays in Greece, Italy and Croatia.
"Increasingly, Aussies are looking for more than just a room to sleep in, they want memorable stays that bring the destination to life and become a trip highlight," Ms King said.
"In many instances, these homes offer private views, standout amenities, unique experiences, and sometimes better value than traditional accommodation."
Here are some of Stayz's top holiday homes in top international destinations this winter.
Queenstown, New Zealand: Enjoy mountain views to die for at this luxury alpine escape in the heart of Queenstown. Lake Panorama Villa has three bedrooms, so grab your besties and enjoy the private outdoor hot tub, outdoor dining area and indoor gas fireplace.
Lake Panorama Villa, Queenstown, NZ.
Bali, Indonesia: Australia's favourite international holiday spot just got better with this next-level escape in Seminyak boasting eight bedrooms, a private jacuzzi, sauna and cinema. If you can drag yourself away from Villa Vienna, it's also close to Bali's beaches and nightlife.
Villa Vienna, Seminyak, Indonesia.
Rome, Italy: Stay in a Roman apartment just minutes from the Pantheon. Argentina Luxury Terrace boasts a private hot tub and a rooftop terrace where you can sip sunset aperitivos in the heart of the Eternal City.
Argentina Luxury Terrace, Rome, Italy.
Dubrovnik, Croatia: An ideal stay for families above the Adriatic in the village of Mlini, Villa Ivana offers panoramic sea views and a private infinity pool and is a short drive from Dubrovnik's Old Town. Popular with families or groups seeking a coastal escape.
Santorini, Greece: You can stay in a suite in a cliff in Santorini. Not only that, Cave Suite has a private terrace with a hot tub where you can enjoy sweeping caldera views, minutes to Oia's sunset spots and cafes.
Six out of 10 of the top international holiday home destinations are in Europe, showing Aussies will risk jet lag for cultural cities and Mediterranean coastal escapes.
Other destinations in the top 10 were Florence in Italy, London in the UK, NZ's Auckland and Crete in Greece.
Cave Suite in Santorini, Greece.
When it comes to holiday homes, the breadth and choice of amenities can set them apart from hotels and Aussies are looking for pools, parking for their hire car, internet, a washing machine and air conditioning.
Couples are the most likely to choose international holiday homes followed by friend groups and then families.
The latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows more Australians are travelling overseas than before the pandemic.
In April 2025, Aussies took 1,044,530 short-term trips, an 8.3 per cent increase compared with the same month in 2024, and 14 per cent higher than the pre-COVID level in April 2019.
Indonesia was the most popular destination country, accounting for 13 per cent of all resident returns, followed by New Zealand and Japan.
New data from the Japan Tourism Agency shows 2,626,550 Australians descended upon Tokyo between May 2024 and April 2025, up 30 per cent.
Australians travelling to Osaka were up 56 per cent and Kyoto rose 33 per cent.
April data from Roy Morgan showed 23 per cent of Australians planned to travel overseas in the next 12 months, up from 16 per cent in October 2022 when final pandemic-era restrictions on travel were lifted.
However, the data found more Aussies, 57 per cent, were planning domestic holidays, up from 52 per cent a year ago.
"Australians have always possessed a deep-seated wanderlust, and these figures confirm our enduring passion for travel," said Roy Morgan head of travel and tourism, Adele Labine-Romain.
"While economic factors and confidence levels have certainly been influencing travel decisions for some, the desire to explore remains strong showing a promising future for travel."
Words by Sarah Falson Sarah is ACM's travel producer. She believes regional travel is just as fun (if not better) than staying in the big cities and loves any travel experience to do with nature, animals and food!.My all-time favourite destination is ... Cornwall. From the giant seagulls to the blustery beaches, Cornish pasties and fishing villages, it stirs something romantic and seafaring in me. Next on my bucket list is … Mongolia. I want to go somewhere really unique that feels totally foreign and challenges my way of life.
My top travel tip is … Don't plan too much. Walk the streets and let it happen. And make sure you check out what's within a few blocks of your hotel - sometimes the best local food is found that way.
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The Advertiser
6 hours ago
- The Advertiser
It's the world's most famous pilgrim route - but are you ever too old to walk it?
Camino de Santiago. Picture: Getty Images By Susan Gough Henly Updated August 1 2025 - 2:35pm, first published 2:00pm Just an hour or so into my journey along the Camino de Santiago, I pass a radiant woman walking slowly on crutches, the fleeting image of her smile stays with me still. Subscribe now for unlimited access. or signup to continue reading All articles from our website The digital version of Today's Paper All other in your area "You're an inspiration," she tells me and I demure saying it's she who's the inspiration. I'm among a group of 14 travellers on a guided walk specifically for seniors. But it turns out we are far from alone in being of a certain age. Pilgrims of all ages, shapes and sizes have been walking the Camino de Santiago for a thousand years and in 2025 it is no different. In fact, this bucket-list pilgrimage is more popular than ever. These days there are nine pilgrimage routes of differing lengths but all end at the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, the capital of Galicia in north-western Spain, where many believe the remains of the apostle St James are buried. City of Santiago de Compostela and its cathedral in Galicia, Spain. Picture: Getty Images The most popular route, the 771-kilometre French Way from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in south-western France, involves a commitment of at least five weeks walking. You do not have to carry a backpack with all your gear as you can arrange for a luggage transfer service. However, you can walk the last 115 kilometres and still qualify for the Compostela, which is the official document in Latin certifying that you have completed "The Way". In 2024, almost 500,000 pilgrims received their Compostela - a 90 per cent increase in the decade since 2015. Australian walking specialist UTracks is offering one of the first guided Camino walks for senior travellers. Ranging between nine and 18 kilometres a day, you cover those 115 kilometres in a leisurely nine days. And you stay in atmospheric inns with comfy beds and ensuites, enjoy delicious local foods and get your luggage transferred daily. All you carry is your day pack and your joie de vivre. Our group is primarily from Australia, as well as two Americans and one Brit. We gather in late May on the sunny deck of a hotel in Sarria for a pre-walk briefing with our enthusiastic young Galician guide Pedro. He explains that we can walk at our own pace and he'll arrange meeting spots along the route. We sign up to a WhatsApp group for ease of communication. At a glance, I put most people in their 60s, with a couple in their 50s. I later learn that at least five people are in their 70s but, as the saying goes, 70 is the new 50 and most people look fit and raring to go. A group of UTracks walkers, including the writer at left. Picture: Maria Lara Bright and fresh, we begin walking together through the old town of Sarria and into the countryside, where the path turns to dirt beside a rushing stream and an old man sells hand-carved walking sticks for a mere 10 euros. We climb a hill through a forest of oak and chestnut trees and stop to get our first Camino passport stamp from a local who's offering fresh fruit for a donation. I chat with Susanne from New York and Susana from Wollongong in our group. Both tell me that the Camino has been on their bucket list for ages. Out into the sunshine, walking past just-ploughed fields framed with apple blossoms, I smile at three teenage girls in short shorts walking with linked arms. A priest in black prays with his rosary as a farmer forks hay. Blond Galician cows chew green grass. A spring gurgles beneath a stone wall. Middle-aged women in groups of two and three, chat animatedly as they pass a slender woman (who looks like she's struggling with cancer), hand in hand with her partner, both wearing red pants. Galicia's ever-present horreos (granaries) perched on toadstool-like stone stilts, witness it all. A marker on the route. Picture: Getty Images A couple of young families from America, including a toddler in an all-terrain stroller, are bird-watching and the dad suggests we look out for goldfinches and robins, blue tits and skylarks, and soaring red kites cruising for prey. I fall into pace with Sol in our group from Chicago, who's on her fifth Camino. She tells me., "Everyone always has something to share if you take the time to ask." I'm blown away by the gobsmacking diversity of pilgrims ... from Spain, of course, but also Italy, Japan, Mexico, Wales and so many other places. And this is just my first day. There's a pervasive generosity of spirit among the walkers. It's unlike any hike I've done around the world, where you might say a quick hello to people but rarely connect. Here, the path feels communal. A traditional horreo grain silo has been converted into a hotel for pilgrims. Picture: Susan Gough Henly On our second day, Queen's Don't Stop Me Now is blaring from a loudspeaker at a gift shop called A Paso de Tortuga (the Turtle's Pace). I love the humour. We stop anyway to buy scallop shells for our day packs. These might be the world's first souvenirs. Pilgrims in the Middle Ages picked them up from the beach in Fisterra (where, after Santiago, many walkers end their pilgrimage by the Atlantic Ocean) to prove they'd walked the Camino. Now the shells are ubiquitous. We pass the 100-kilometre way-marker to Santiago; rest on a stone seat under a soaring oak tree; stop at bars and chapels to stamp our pilgrim passports; marvel at ancient standing stones incorporated into shale walls where wildflowers and ivy grow through the cracks; and walk through pine and eucalypt plantations. It turns out that Rosendo Salvado, a Galician Benedictine monk, who was the first abbot in New Norcia in Western Australia, is responsible for sending eucalyptus seeds back to Spain in the mid 1850s, thereby establishing an invasive species in these parts. On the Camino, we're alerted to the environmental hazards of a proposed eucalyptus pulp mill nearby and are asked to sign a petition to stop it. Guide Pedro points out the spires of the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela. Picture: Susan Gough Henly The next day, we pause at a 250-year-old chapel in Saint Nicolao hamlet, mesmerised by the resonant tones of three men singing in Latin to the shrine inside. Later I explore, alone and in the sunshine, the ruins of the Castro de Castromaior, a remarkable Celtic Iron Age fort. Sometimes we're shrouded in forests with just the sunshine at the end of a tunnel of green drawing us forward. We pass an old woman planting her vegetable garden. A troupe of Argentinian cyclists in pale blue and white-striped jerseys flashes past. A young man dressed in a Saint James cape stamps our pilgrim passports. Beside a Knights Templar stone chapel that began life as a pilgrim hospital, we drink cold beers and eat lunch at a restaurant, with sheep and chickens grazing out the back door. Go on a guided trip geared for seniors with shorter daily kilometres, comfortable hotels with ensuites, and luggage transfer. Give yourself an accurate self-assessment of your overall fitness but don't let age define you. Build up your walking endurance over several months before you start. Pace yourself. Walking the Camino is not a race. There are dozens of places to stop for a rest and a reviving snack and drink. Blessed with morning mists that clear into balmy bright blue skies, our days develop a comforting rhythm. We're up early, fuel up on hearty breakfasts and are on the road by 8.30am. Walking dirt paths beside newly planted fields, we pass through hamlets jumbled with stone houses, chapels and barns then tackle asphalt roads beside busy highways, truck drivers often honking support as they roar past. A woman sells foot cream made from local plants. Dread-locked hippies in a combi van display their handmade jewellery. Sunhat-wearing nuns stamp pilgrim passports in the blinding sunshine. A Brazilian offers strawberries and cream beside a medieval bridge. The iconic walk in Galicia, Spain. Picture: Getty Images Our accommodations are varied and comfortable, with standouts being the modern two-star Hotel Vistalegre in Portomarin, with a sundeck and hot tub that can be reserved to soothe aching muscles, and Pazo Santa Maria, a beautifully restored 18th century stone manor house surrounded by gardens on the outskirts of Arzua. Along the way, we savour specialties like boiled octopus with paprika, Galician steak, grilled scallops, Galician broth made with vegetables, beans and pork, and tarta de Santiago almond cake. Bring Vaseline to prevent blisters, Moleskine to put on sore spots before they become blisters and Compeed Second Skin once blisters start. Also bring antiseptic ointment, gauze and scissors. Invest in good-quality seamless, moisture-wicking socks to help prevent sweaty feet, which can be a primary cause for blisters. Wear good-quality, comfortable hiking shoes that have been broken in and are waterproofed. Take off your hiking shoes and wear sandals once your hiking for the day is finished so your feet can air out. Dress in layers. Carry waterproof gear. Wear a hat and sunscreen, and drink plenty of water. Stretch before, during and after each day's walk. To the metronome of our footsteps, my fellow travellers and I toggle between grunt and glory, discussing the mundane (blisters and aches) then sharing intimate reflections about our lives. There's a refreshing lack of small talk. When we stop at one of the many Camino bars, I notice a Canadian who has passed his pilgrim staff to a German asking her what is singing in her heart at that moment. Okay, maybe this is veering a little too close to schmaltz, but everyone is genuinely more openhearted, precisely because they've committed to this journey, which feels like a collaborative endeavour. Indeed, it seems that even if people are walking solo (as many are), there's no sense that they're walking alone since there are so many opportunities to connect with others. My new friend Sol tells me that one of the things she's learned from her Camino pilgrimages is that it's okay not to be perfect. I think she's leaning into what it means to be human. From my research about Saint James, whose story is fuzzy at best, it appears that, despite his best efforts, he was not a very successful missionary in Spain. Perhaps he's the ideal role model for all of us walking the Camino. Posing with a statue of Saint James. Picture: Susan Gough Henly As we get closer to Santiago, I find myself savouring walking meditations on my own. I marvel at purple foxgloves and white calla lilies; pass shrines to saints and sinners, that is, ordinary people; smile at advertisements for the Gloria tattoo parlour in Santiago; and take a freeway underpass where a giant, spray-painted yellow-and-black butterfly wishes me a Buen Camino. On the penultimate day with the most kilometres to walk (18), I come to the sudden and surprising realisation that, despite my blisters and sore muscles, I don't want the Camino to end. Maybe it's the adrenaline. Maybe it's the endorphins. Or maybe it's just the elimination of the inessentials of everyday life and putting one foot in front of the other to just keep on going? I ask 79-year-old Yvonne, the oldest and - dare I say - one of the fittest people in our group, "Are you ever too old to walk the Camino?" A stamp provider along the Camino dresses as Saint James. Picture: Susan Gough Henly "That's a tricky question," she tells me. "Before booking the trip last year, I thought, 'I must do this before I get too old. I hope I can manage it.' However now that I've walked it, my mind has changed. I now think I could walk it easily enough next year, the year after next, even the year after that. We're all travellers on our journey through time." A friend sent me pilgrim blessings written by a nun at the Church of St Stephen on the Camino. Three of them really resonated. "Blessed are you pilgrim, if you discover that the Camino opens your eyes to what is not seen. Blessed are you pilgrim, if what concerns you most is not to arrive, as to arrive with others. Blessed are you pilgrim, because you have discovered that the authentic Camino begins when it is completed." So, are you ever too old to walk the Camino? Are you ever too old for connection, community and comradeship? The question answers itself. Getting there: Qatar Airways flies via Doha and Barcelona, to Santiago de Compostela, for around $3200. You can take a taxi or bus from the airport to the Santiago train station, and then take the train to Sarria, the UTrack hike's starting point. Doing the hike: The 12-day UTracks Guided Camino Walk for Senior Travellers, which includes all accommodation, 11 breakfasts, 10 dinners and luggage transfer, is $3851 per person, twin share. Explore more: The writer was a guest of UTracks
Sydney Morning Herald
9 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
A whisky collector, PS40 bartender and bottle of Ice Magic walk into a new bar ...
Eating out Just open Pack up the Kingswood and head to Silver's Motel in Enmore to relive the great Aussie road trip. Previous SlideNext Slide The spirit of the great Australian road trip has been distilled into Silver's Motel, a new Enmore Road bar serving a 300-strong whisky collection alongside bright-green Midori Splice slushies until 2am most nights. Like the highway motel your dad pulled into after a gruelling six hours behind the wheel, Silver's is all nostalgia and unpretentious charm. Behind the art deco exterior, it's all vinyl bar seating, walnut laminate veneers and sunlight filtering through venetian blinds. Funk queen Chaka Khan is playing over the speakers, rare whiskys are hooked up to a line of spirit dispensers, and there's a conspicuous bottle of Cottee's Ice Magic behind the bar. Silver's Motel is the second venture from acclaimed bartender Michael Chiem, who owns and operates PS40, recognised as The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide's Bar of the Year in 2023. This time around, Chiem has partnered with former employee, bartender and whisky enthusiast Tynan Sidhu. 'We've always had a fascination with roadside motels,' Sidhu says. 'They're these beautiful time capsules of the 𝄒70s and 𝄒80s, and they really spoke to the kind of environment we wanted to create here in Enmore.' Enmore, which has become one of Sydney's go-to destinations for a night out over the past two years, feels more laid back than its Kings Cross cousin. With a 90-person capacity, Silver's Motel is set to be the largest bar on the strip, but Chiem says it was important for the pair to lean into the suburb's characteristic approachability. 'The concept came from looking around at all these fancy hotel bars [that were opening in Sydney at the time] and thinking, well, we're definitely not one of those – we're more of a motel bar,' Chiem explains. 'You know, somewhere that's approachable and warm, somewhere you can come and go as you please.' That means plenty of seating, at tables, booths and along the shiny veneer of the nine-metre-long bar. It also means a friendly bartender is on hand and eager to walk you through their whisky selection – demystifying a liquor that can be intimidating for some. Chiem says that same down-to-earth approach carries through to the drinks list, which features eight house cocktails, three whisky sours, a tight selection of mostly craft beers (the Crown Lager and GB Bitter being two necessary exceptions) and mostly Australian winemakers (save for the champers, of course), with standouts like Patrick Sullivan and Samantha May. 'Our drinks aren't too over-the-top,' Chiem says. 'They're very considered, very comfortable, and very delicious, but we're not trying to force new things onto people.' The house cocktail list ($24 each) channels rustic country cooking: the Semi Gloss cocktail is a three-day process of burning down mandarin peels to create a syrup, paired with gin, Margan vermouth, lemon verjuice and orange bitters; while the Marigold Rush is a whisky sour using freshly muddled marigolds.
The Age
9 hours ago
- The Age
A whisky collector, PS40 bartender and bottle of Ice Magic walk into a new bar ...
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