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Intercontinental Hayman Island

Intercontinental Hayman Island

Intercontinental Hayman island is the place you would go If you want sunshine and tropical weather. You will be surrounded by coral blue ocean, green pastures, coconut trees and white sand. If that’s what you want, well then look no further as this blog will cover off everything you need to know.

We booked a trip to Hayman island intercontinental after one of my friends went there for her birthday and as soon as I saw pictures, I knew it was “THE destination” I wanted to travel to, so I went ahead and booked my great holiday getaway.

Budget $4500 (Airfares+Hotel+ food+beverages) for 4 days for 2 people

Hotel $2700
Airfares $1200
Food and beverages $450 ( we got $300 restaurant credit included in our package so basically it was $750- $300 restaurant credit =$450 )

How to get to Hayman Island Intercontinental

We flew from Melbourne and our flight was from Melbourne to Sydney, Sydney to Hamilton Island. From hamilton island you must get the hotel transport, we had the return transport included in the package. There are only 2 ways to get there, either by the luxury launch service or helicopter ride. We got the luxury launch transfer. You get unlimited sparkling and a platter of snacks, It was a very nice way to start our beautiful holiday getaway. The launch transfer is about 45 mins to 1 hour.

You will be doing the check-in process while on the launch and it is a seamless service, once you get down from the yacht, there will be a buggy waiting to drop you off close to the room, where a service staff will take you and show around the hotel and escort you to the room.

We also learnt after booking our trip that Qantas does direct flights from Melbourne to Hamilton island only on Tuesday and Saturday.

It is so amazing to even think about this seamless process of check-in and starting the holiday as its stress-free and lives up to all my expectations.

The Hotel Intercontinental at Hayman Island

The hotel Intercontinental Hayman island itself was beautiful, the location was amazing, the view to die for and the staff was beyond exceptional. We got a package online that was approx $2700 which included the below

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Intercontinental Hotel
  • 3 nights accommodation
  • 1 island escapades
  • $100 restaurant and bar credit per day
  • Complimentary room upgrade to lagoon ocean view
  • Daily breakfast included
  • Return luxury launch transfer

I would say this was a good deal. This package was called handpicked holidays by IHG

The service in this hotel was beyond exceptional and it’s like landing in paradise. As soon as you get down from the airport in hamilton island, there is a service desk as soon as you exit, the service team there would give you bag tags which has your rooms already allocated. You would then collect your bags from the belt, add the tags on the bags and just relax hahaha I mean when I say that, they would come and get your bags and from that point onwards you are on a holiday.

It is not often that many hotels will do that for you. Many hotels here in Australia will make you work during your holiday, so this little gesture of everything being taken care of, is definitely a nice gesture.

The hotel itself is huge, there are 2 pools ( Aqua pool, Infinity pool), 3 main restaurants (Pacific, Amici, Bam Bam), 2 poolside bars ( Bam Bam and aqua) 1 Bar (Bar fifty) and a recreational centre.

They will also provide a Hayman island water bottle and tote bag. you can use the tote bag to take your things around the island and the water bottles are provided to reduce plastic and there are filling stations all around the hotel to fill up water.

The Room

Our room was the lagoon ocean view room, it was just above the Bam Bam restaurant and infinity pool. It is so beautiful. The best part of the room is the bed, oh my goodness, I can guarantee that once you lie on the bed you will fall asleep automatically. The room is cleaned every day and turn down service is done every evening as well. There is nothing to fault in the room, it’s big and spacious, have a separate dressing area, which is very convenient as well.

Where to Eat at Intercontinental Hayman island

We tried all restaurants. Being a foodie, I definitely had to try everything 🙂

Breakfast At Intercontinental Hayman Island

Breakfast is usually included in your stay. A breakfast buffet is served at the pacific restaurant. Morning view to die for, It is absolutely gorgeous. It is a full buffet breakfast. Coffee is barista made and served to the table. A full cold buffet breakfast including juice, cold cuts, smoothies, cereals, fruits, croissants, muffins and a full hot breakfast including, eggs, hash browns, bacon, sausages, tomatoes, baked beans. They also have eggs made to order, you have to order at the counter and waffles, can be ordered too. There are pancakes served in the buffet as well.

Where To Eat Lunch At Intercontinental Hayman Island

You can either eat at BAM BAM (different menu than the night menu), Aqua ( Pool sidebar)or bar fifty.

BAM BAM – Will have an Asian inspired lunch menu, which will include bao buns, noodles, Nasi goreng etc… they will also have crumbed fish and chips as well.

Aqua – Will have club sandwiches, burgers, fish tacos, Poke bowls etc…

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Cocktails & coconut at Aqua

Bar fifty – Will have salads, Burgers and fish and chips

Grove boutique & cafe -Will have cold sandwiches etc if you want to have a small snack

Where To Eat Dinner At Intercontinental

BAM BAM – It is Asian inspired food and they are all sharing concepts. Big portions.

PacificModern Australian, Individual plated meals

AmiciItalian inspired menu, can do sharing concepts ( This was definitely my favourite restaurant)

What To Drink At Intercontinental Hotel

Well if you are like me, I need a drink every noon and night 🙂 so choose your beverages carefully. We were a group of 4 people and we spent a lot on drinks than on food. It was essential we carefully select our beverages, without exploding our budget but I can assure you we drank around 4 wine bottles and 6 cocktails a day in total, so we drank and ate very well, within our budget.

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There are cocktails available in every restaurant, but we only had cocktails by the pool and all cocktails will cost $18-$20 in BAM BAM & Aqua ( both places have different cocktails on offer)

Wine is available in all restaurant, the most affordable bottle of wine in all restaurants will be $39

Wine bottles are also available in Groove the retail shop for $39 as well ( the cheapest) Don’t be put off when I say cheapest, as it is good quality wines.

Beer will also range from $9-$12 in all poolside bars and restaurants

If you plan an escapade to another island, the hub where you depart will have plenty of wine, beer, sparkling available. The rose is the cheapest wine and its $29 and a very easy to drink wine. And even the beer is cheaper than in the restaurant and it’s only $7 So if you are planning to go to another island, definitely buy the alcohol from the hub because it will be cheaper.

Sorry for all the non-alcohol drinkers, I didn’t even check the non-alcoholic drinks, but I did order a coconut which was $12

Activities on Intercontinental Hayman island

There are loads of complimentary activities on the island, we did almost all of them, if you really want to do paid activities, you can definitely do them, but time is limited on the island because there is so much to do. Each day there is a schedule of activities that are available.

Definitely have a look at the activities before coming to the island, because then you can plan everything accordingly because all activity times vary and are not available every single time. You also need to book some of the activities such as sunset hike and island escapades but not water sports. There is an activity desk next far fifty, where you can inquire and book activities. Every Monday they will also publish the list of activities available for the week on their website.

Beachfront Water activities

Each day there will be a schedule to check what water activities are available and what times. Because there is a low tide and high tide, the water activities are scheduled accordingly. Usually, it is early morning some days, other days it is early morning and afternoon. You have to go to the beach in front of the infinity pool where you do all the water activities, you don’t need to book it.

Kayaking, paddle boarding and sailing are all complimentary. you don’t need to know how to do them, they will teach you. We were unable to do sailing, because that activity is available according to the wind condition, and we were not lucky enough to have enough wind to sail.

Land activities

There are a-lot of hikes available either as a tour or you can do it on your own.

We did the sunset hike with a tour guide, you also can do it alone, but it was the first day and we didn’t know the road, so it was better to do with the tour guide. If you have time, definitely do that, it will be a 1-1.5 hrs hike, it’s not a long hike but with our guide, he will show you around and do the hike slowly. It is beautiful to do the hike up there, the sunset is gorgeous. some people even took a bottle of wine to enjoy watching the sunset.

We also did the hike to dolphin point its a 6 km hike 2.5-3 hrs hours in total. We did that early in the morning at 6.15 a.m. I would totally recommend doing it early in the morning as the sun is very hot and it’s hard to do the hike mid-morning. The view from the dolphin point was so beautiful.

There is also the cook’s lookout which my brother did, I didn’t do it as it was another 2km and also you can hike around the island, which again my brother did altogether a 12km hike. If you love hiking definitely do Dolphin point, Cooks lookout, from there the whole island. if not you can just do the dolphin point and walk back to the resort.

There is also a hike to Blue pearl bay 1 where you can hike and snorkel, we didn’t do that because we were doing blue pearl bay 2 which is not accessible by land and only by boat.

Island Escapades

We had a choice of 3 islands Bali hai, Blue pearl bay and hook island. This was included in our package. We did the Bali hai and blue pearl bay. Only one island escapade was included in our package but they had wrong wording on the website which said we can do 2 islands which we ended up doing but its only one island. I didn’t think hook island was nice so we choose blue pearl bay 2 and bali hai islands.

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Snorkelling gear all packed

Bali Hai Island Escapade

This is a beautiful island that has clear sand, which is good to sit down, under an umbrella pour a glass of wine and relax. You can also snorkel. Not every spot is beautiful for snorkelling, but if you are lucky you will find amazing spots to see corals. You are left there for 2 hours, you also can take a picnic lunch to enjoy.

When going for these escapades you don’t need to worry about anything. All you have to do is go to the activity desk at your allocated time and they will take you in a buggy and sort out all your swim gear ( lycra suit, snorkelling gear, life jackets, pool towels) they will also arrange chairs, umbrellas) there are water filling stations to fill your water.

You can purchase alcohol and they will pack it in an esky with ice and pack it into the boat. Everything is taken care of, you don’t need to worry about anything. You need to book this prior to the date either before arriving on the island or after. You will be taken to the island in a speed boat.It is about a 5-minute ride

Blue Pearl Bay 2 Island Escapade

This is a coral beach, so you need to have slippers with you all the time, you cannot walk barefoot. the beach is good to snorkel, you will not see many corals, but there are so many fish, you will be swimming with the fish. again everything will be organised, so you don’t need to worry about anything. This island has a bit of shade, but still, they will organise chairs and umbrellas. You will be taken to the island in a speed boat it is about a 10-minute ride

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Once you come back from the islands, they will take all the snorkelling gear and eskies and there will be a buggy waiting to take you back to the main entrance.

Recreation centre

We discovered this place on the last day, there are so many sports, games, you will never get bored.

There are 3 tennis courts, a basketballs court, squash, video games, table tennis and many more. definitely worth a visit to do some sports.

Checking out

Checking out is a seamless process as well, the day before they will send you a letter, which will mention what time you need to check out and what time the bags need to be ready, they will come and pick up the bags and do the necessary arrangements. Going back you will be offered the same service as you arrived. Sparkling and canapes and you will be signing off from paradise in style. Honestly, I didn’t want to leave but every good thing need to come to an end and that was the end of our beautiful holiday and we will definitely go back.

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So will Intercontinental Hayman Island be your next holiday getaway? comment below.

you can check out my other travel inspirations here.

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