Sometimes you just need to get away from it all and it doesn’t matter where you go or where you stay you just want to relax, put your feet up and do nothing. My trip to the Gold Coast was one of those weekends where I wanted to do just that, nothing, and booking my accommodation at the last minute, I came across this treasure of a place, St Tropez Apartments.

Although looking slightly dated,  the Spanish Villa – 80’s-esque  apartments are located smack bang in the middle of  Surfers Paradise around 35 minutes from Gold Coast-Coolangatta Airport and come with everything you could need. Everything for a qiuet or not so quiet weekend. Situated on Orchid Ave, it is a  2 minutes stroll to Cavill Ave the main shopping Mall and a 4 minutes mosey to Surfers Paradise beach, yet surprisingly very peaceful with no noise from the surrounding  area.

I arrived around 10pm on a Friday night and although reception was closed, I pressed the night service intercom and after speaking to a girl (somewhere), the manager of the complex came out and let me in. Within 30 seconds, I had signed the registration form, had my keys in hand and was opening the door to my ground floor 1 bedroom apartment.

Upon opening the door, I was amazed. Wow! I couldn’t believe the size of the place, it was huge. In the main living area there was a 6 seat dining table, 2 seat lounge and 3 seat sofa bed, a large flat screen tv with foxtel connected, dvd player and stereo. I was pertty pleased, I really felt I could relax and do nothing (or everything!)

The bedroom located off the main living area, was neat and tidy, came with bedside tables, inbuilt mirrored wardrobe and glass sliding doors out to a small courtyard. There was also a separate door to the bathroom and laundry, which came with a combination washing machine and dryer as well as iron and ironing board. The laundry and bathroom could also be accesssed  from the main dining room. After a quick look around I headed down to Woolworths supermarket, a mere 5 minute walk away to purchase my provisions for the weekend.

After a quick trip around the supermarket and the bottle shop 😉 I returned to the apartment to settle in with a few snack foods and a fresh uncooked pizza that I was going to stick in the oven. Oops, that was the only thing I hadn’t noticed and didn’t realise the apartment didn’t have – an oven! There was a large fridge (with a kind supply of milk), a stove with 4 hot plates, kettle  toaster, pots, pans, plates and cutlery and a microwave, but no oven, which really didn’t bother me as I wasn’t planning on any serious baking, but I wish I had noticed as the pizza was a bit chewy microwaved!

(Un)fortunately, it rained most of the time I was in the Gold Coast, so I did spend a lot of time just relaxing around the apartment except for a a daily wander along the beach where the 2nd Annual Australian Sand Sculpting Competition was being held (and daily washed away). I didn’t use the pool or spa, which I could see from my front courtyard located off the loungeroom which wasnt intrusive as the tropical plants and gardens still afforded me some privacy. As for the staff, they were some of the most relaxed and friendly people I have met at hotels/apartments in a long time, truly lovely people .

Its not 5 star luxury, but 5 star comfort, so very close to everything, yet you can still feel like you can get away from it all. 🙂

www.sttropezresort.com.au
27-35 Orchid Avenue,
Surfers Paradise,
Queensland, Australia
Ph: +61 (0)7 5538 7855