Lizard Island
Resort hotel · Cook
PMB 40, QLD 4871, Australia
Highlights
Luxury reef resort with gourmet dining, water sports & spa.
Luxury reef resort with gourmet dining, water sports & spa.
"A luxury accommodation option on a reef island that caters to guests looking for high-end lodging and easy access to premium snorkeling and diving opportunities nearby." - Stuart Rigg
"Set within a national park and the Great Barrier Reef, this remote luxury property is the only hotel on the reef and offers fringing reefs close enough to swim to from the property. It provides access to some of the reef’s most spectacular dive sites, including the world-famous Cod Hole where a giant potato cod is resident. Recently admitted to Relais & Châteaux, the resort emphasizes sustainability (with about 90% of food sourced from local Queensland producers), occupies a 2,500-acre private island fringed by white-sand beaches, and offers hiking trails showcasing native flora and fauna." - Chris Dong
"Referred to as an iconic island destination within the reef region, it carries a reputation for distinctiveness and appeal among travelers seeking notable, standout island experiences." - Devorah Lev-Tov Devorah Lev-Tov Devorah Lev-Tov has been a travel, food, and drinks journalist for more than a decade, with bylines in publications like The New York Times, Vogue, and Bon Appétit, in addition to Travel + Leisure. Travel + Leisure Editorial Guidelines
"Located 120 miles north of Cairns, secluded on 1,000 hectares of tawny bush, and ringed by sugar-white beaches, Lizard Island is no hard sell. It’s one of the few luxury resorts in Australia with the bragging rights to being located directly on the Great Barrier Reef. An easy 10-minute snorkel from shore will reveal the alternate, neon-tinged universe of the fringing reef. Silvery slivers of fish reflect the bright Queensland light, and slo-mo turtles glide above gardens of giant purple clams and coral that’s shaped like uncooked spaghetti. There is as much to do underwater—diving, fishing, swimming—as above. Unfussy white-weatherboard villas, with still-wet swimsuits dripping upon timber decks, dot the island. Inside, the rooms are bright and airy and boast high ceilings. Some have with wide-frame views out onto the lapping blue sea, while others are wrapped in a garden that vibrates with scuttling critters. Out of sight, on its own jagged outcrop of granite rocks, is The House, a brutalist concrete and copper three-bedroom private villa, which is surrounded by lonely swaths of white-sand beach. But beyond the island’s obvious charms, it’s the Lizard Island Research Station—headed by a husband and wife duo—that really sets this place apart. Opened in 1973, the station is one of the world's leading reef-research facilities on a luxury resort, which guests can tour (even though it’s not part of the resort)—and they do, quizzing the marine scientists and even rolling up their sleeves to take part in hands-on citizen science initiatives across the endangered reef. It’s an insight into Australia’s changing relationship with tourism and proves that a remote paradise can be both beauty and brains. From $1,655. —Chloe Sachdev" - CNT Editors
"Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is like Jerusalem to divers, many of whom make the pilgrimage to Queensland in search of the ultimate undersea experience. And this part of Australia is home to some impressive resorts as well. Among these one of the most closely guarded secrets is Lizard Island, at the northern end of the outer reef, a near-private island, home to, at maximum, 80 guests at a time, plus any number of the Goanna lizards for which the island is named." - Mark Fedeli
