Heron Island Resort

Incredible location. Swam with sharks, turtles, rays in the bluest water. Fairly basic accommodation and amenities, but sitting in the room is not the point. Be prepared for very noisy birds at night. Staff couldn’t have been nicer - special shout out to the kitchen for being careful with allergies, Lauren at reception, and master reef guide Elliot.

The food was terrible and over priced. The accommodation was ok if a little old and rundown. The fish and coral reef was amazing we absolutely loved it. Now that the ferry ride over there is no longer included in their accommodation fees it means that the price has gone up by over 600 dollars for a family of four in just one year. If you add together accommodation and the new travel expenses for only a little bit extra you can spend a week in Thailand or Fiji and have a far greater experience.

The accomodation was basic, the rooms came with a complementary fridge. You get a free snorkel rental per person during your stay. The birds are very loud at night, and there is bird poop everywhere. The bar and restaurant food and drinks are mid. The reef has a lot of jellyfish during high tide, and has a strong current. The reef during low tide will be sticking out of the water. You can’t swim between the boat channel during 8 am to 5:30 pm. Overall great stay with great views. During our stay, our boat back home was cancelled due to engine failure, and gave us free wifi and a 30% discount on accomodation.

We went for a long weekend in early September and had a marvellous time. The resort team was warm and welcoming, super friendly and we felt at home right away. The rooms were clean and comfortable enough. Food was at the upper end of the scale with some real highlights (loved the fish & chips and the line-up of desert) with veggie options available. The snorkel equipment was well-maintained. While snorkelling (right off the beach), we saw an abundance of marine creatures including turtles, sting rays and reef sharks (harmless). We also enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about our habitat and the local wildlife at the various guided walks and presentations. In short: we loved it. Would certainly go again.

Heron Island Resort is pretty basic in terms of rooms and food. Luckily, we had the beach house during the turtle nesting season. Turtles came up right in front of the beach house to lay eggs, which was amazing to watch. Although the beach house is spacious, the amenities can’t justify for the price (over $800 a night). The food at the restaurant was so unbearable. We felt that they are feeding frozen packaged food or dorm food to us with $50 per person charge. We don’t mind paying $50 for a dinner but the food needs to be decent. I would not recommend someone fancy luxury vacation to come here. In terms of coral reef, the island is highly impacted by the tides, which means the corals are shallow and damaged, resulting in sad looking corals and marine life on the reef. On the other hand, the channel offers decent coral walls and plenty of marine life. However, due to the boats coming in and out the channel, swimming in the channel between 8 and 5:30 is forbidden. Also, the visibility of the water around the island is just terrible. But we do like snorkeling with big rays and some sharks in North Beach and Shark Bay. Overall, there is nothing fancy about the resort. It’s a university’s research station, so the operation of the resort feels like it. It’s run by bunch of college kids and the food tastes like dorm food. However, they expect you to pay fancy resort price for not so fancy service and food. Ps. A big shot out for the naturist Brittney - she is the other highlight of the trip, offering the best guided walks on the island.

As a family of 4, with kids aged 10 & 13, this was an awesome holiday! We were tech free, up at 5am exploring the island for laying sea turtles, & snorkelled 4-5x a day in different spots from the deeper channel, to shoreline reefs and 1/day on the guided snorkelling tours which took you to different spots on the edge of reef by a very short boat ride. These tours do cost extra but are worth it - the guides are so passionate about what they do and helping everyone to experience it. We swam with so many turtles, reef sharks, rays & colourful fish through varying coral environments. We did a few of the free activities (shark talks, star gazing, reef walks). The bar and pool area is a great atmosphere with a stunning view, relaxed drinks and kids playing throughout the day. The dinner is a bit expensive every night ($50/ adult; kids were only $15) so you need to factor that in. The facilities are clean and well maintained with front reception staff very welcoming. It’s not a glamorous resort (by contemporary comparison) but very comfortable and as my 10 year old said when contemplating whether (or not) to get up at 5am on the last day to see the turtle’s laying … ‘it’s not everyday you get to wake up on the Great Barrier Reef!’ Highly recommend!

Loved my second visit here and the foods ok, service ok, location perfect, cost a little expensive for what you get ! The policies have been written by some over zealous Wally I suspect, whilst Mon repo / lady musgrave / lady Elliot / Wilson island and here on heron island get record numbers of returning turtles ( mainly because the turtle soup factory went bust years ago) they still feel the need to count and measure turtles !! It’s like koalas they have no idea on numbers really and the reef sharks see that only a hand full make it off the island alive ! So they are just seeking funding to grab & measure turtles ! Tag them ! Count their eggs! With lights on ! But us mere punters can on so much as shine a light to walk with at night ! And don’t get me started on drones they may get one customer a week with a drone if they allowed them and a drone up at 120 metres taking great footage to promote a great resort ! Oh noooooo not allowed as it will disturb the migrating and nesting birds but a few hundred customers with kids screaming and shouting through their nesting grounds doesn’t disturb them !!! Give me a break “ pathetic” suffice to say I got great footage with my go pro and my Nikon but share it and promote an island with backward rules ! Nah they get enough bad publicity as it is and I’ll just not go back whilst these rules are so stupid and I’m very very happy to debate that with anyone !!! Especially after seeing New Year’s Eve revolvers running through the forest with Fluro flashing lights screaming and carrying on and hearing about the drunken antic on Wilson island ! Have a think guys it’s not gonna get promoted too well while ya still in the dark ages !! Turtles won’t stop nesting if you stop counting ! Hatchling won’t stop emerging if you stop Counting eggs !! They are doing just fine without you helmeted warriors !!

Incredible location. Swam with sharks, turtles, rays in the bluest water. Fairly basic accommodation and amenities, but sitting in the room is not the point. Be prepared for very noisy birds at night. Staff couldn’t have been nicer - special shout out to the kitchen for being careful with allergies, Lauren at reception, and master reef guide Elliot.

The food was terrible and over priced. The accommodation was ok if a little old and rundown. The fish and coral reef was amazing we absolutely loved it. Now that the ferry ride over there is no longer included in their accommodation fees it means that the price has gone up by over 600 dollars for a family of four in just one year. If you add together accommodation and the new travel expenses for only a little bit extra you can spend a week in Thailand or Fiji and have a far greater experience.