Best Family-Friendly Hotels in Mount Gambier

Stays in Mount Gambier

Nightcap at Federal Hotel Mt Gambier is the pick when the forecast looks poor, because the indoor children's playground means a wet afternoon does not end the day. The restaurant and bar downstairs handle dinner without another drive, family rooms are available and parking is free. Blue Lake Reserve is four minutes away by car and the Riddoch Art Gallery two, so the family can move between the volcano and the town centre without much planning. The honest note is that this is a pub building on a working street, so the ground floor keeps its own hours at the weekend.

Limestone Coast Tourist Park works for families who travel with their own gear. There is an outdoor play area, a games room, a shared kitchen, barbecue facilities and an outdoor fireplace in the garden, which is a better setup for long stays than any motel room. It sits six kilometres from Blue Lake and thirteen from Mount Gambier Airport, so the town is close but the site itself is quiet. Pets are allowed, which matters for families travelling with a dog. The Old Mount Gambier Gaol takes a different line again, with family rooms in a historic building, a tennis court, table tennis and an outdoor play area, one point eight kilometres from Blue Lake.

Arkana Motor Inn and Terrace Apartments is the one with a pool, and that decides it for a lot of families in summer. The indoor heated pool with spa is usable regardless of what the Limestone Coast is doing outside, and there are family rooms, a children's high chair, guest laundry and a barbecue area in the gardens. The town centre is two minutes by car and Blue Lake six. Mount Gambier Hotel and Park Hotel round out the group with family rooms, on-site restaurants and free parking, two and two point seven kilometres from the lake respectively, both a short walk from Commercial Street.

This is a regional South Australian town that happens to be built on a volcano, and children take to that faster than adults do. Cave Garden opens up in the middle of the shopping street, the main lake changes colour through the year, and Engelbrecht Cave runs beneath the road. The pace outside is unhurried, the playgrounds are well used, and the Limestone Coast weather can flip in an hour, so the indoor options carry more weight here than in warmer parts of the country.