Crowne Plaza Hobart – Hotel Review

Towering over the very heart of Hobart, the contemporary Crowne Plaza Hobart makes for a comfortable and dependable stay among the small city’s sprinkling of attractions. Read on for the full review.

From here, the locally loved Farm Gate Market is within strolling distance on a Sunday morning, the art-strewn ferry to Mona from Brooke Street Pier is a few blocks away and beloved CBD eatery Templo is a 10-minute walk up the hill. After a wander around town, the wonderful rooftop bar, exceptional club lounge with Mount Wellington views and the cosy rooms of bathrobes and floor-to-ceiling windows make a blissful base to return to.

Where is Crowne Plaza Hobart?

You’ll spot the red brick building a mile away – it stands on Liverpool Street, one of the city’s main thoroughfares. By car, it’s about 20 minutes from Hobart Airport and around 10 minutes to Franklin Wharf on foot.

What’s near Crowne Plaza Hobart?

There’s something for every visitor to Hobart nearby. No visitor to Tassie should skip Mona and the direct ferry boarding spot of Brooke Street Pier is only 750 metres away. If it’s a Saturday, overshoot the wharf and hit Salamanca Market, where stalls spruik locally distilled gin to creamy ice cream. Farm Gate Market – another weekend favourite among brunch hunters – is even closer, a mere 150 metres from the hotel.

Room types

City views are guaranteed, no matter the room type, with even entry-level rooms taking in the surrounds through an expansive wall of windows. Plush beds, marble bathrooms and comfy decor immediately set you into wind-down mode, aided and abetted by fluffy bathrobes. And in the exceptional Derwent Suite, a timber bathtub makes for a blissful spot to spend a few evening hours.

Restaurants and bars

The hotel’s crowning glory is certainly The Deck; a level-four bar attached to an outdoor balcony that looks all the way to snow-dusted Mount Wellington. It makes for a lovely lunch spot (on warmer Hobart days), while the window-wrapped Core Restaurant and Bar is the spot for dinner. Local produce is at the fore of the menu and you can follow the thread through each course, from Barilla Bay oysters to start, Marion Bay chicken with romesco for main and local cheese for dessert.

Travel for work

The hotel houses Australia’s first Crowne Plaza Club Lounge, stretching across levels 10 and 11. From this high up, the imposing view of Mount Wellington is impressive, especially at sunset hour (which, helpfully coincides with the serving of complimentary local wines and canapes in the evenings).

The self-contained business centre, cushioned from noise in a kind of booth, is a helpful addition when you need a few hours of deep work. There are also a handful of meeting rooms to book for collaborative working – with room for up to 550, should you need space for a large-scale event.

Gym

The on-site fitness centre is open 24 hours a day and sports all the necessities: ellipticals, bikes, rowing machines, treadmills and free weights.

Sustainability

You’ll notice a few features of sustainability throughout the hotel including bamboo key cards, an absence of plastic straws, sustainably sourced produce and paperless check-ins – an effort to reduce waste from check-in to check-out.

Accessibility

Accessible features span emergency cords in rooms, grab bars in bathrooms, built-in shower transfer seats and visual alarms and alerts for travellers with disabilities.

What you need to know

If you can’t splash for the top-tier suite, the Juniors are a great fallback. Beginning from the 6th floor, the views over the city are wonderful, especially from the deep soaking tub positioned by the window.