Best Heritage Stays in Mount Gambier
Travellers who would rather sleep somewhere with a story than somewhere with a lift have one clear choice among heritage stays in Mount Gambier. The Old Mount Gambier Gaol is exactly what the name says: a decommissioned prison turned accommodation, with family rooms, parquet floors and a courtyard, one point eight kilometres from Blue Lake and nine from Mount Gambier Airport. Guests rate it highly for its history and its location, and it comes with a garden, a bar, a tennis court and free parking, which is more than most limestone buildings on this coast can offer.
Mount Gambier grew on limestone and the town has never really hidden it. Cave Garden sits open in the middle of the shopping street, Engelbrecht Cave runs under the road, and the older buildings along Commercial Street are cut from the same pale stone as the ground below. The result is a South Australian regional centre where the built history and the geology tell the same story. Evenings are quiet, the pubs close at a sensible hour, and the volcanic sights are minutes away by car.
Stays in Mount Gambier
Heritage in the Limestone Coast usually means a stone facade and a plaque. This is a working conversion of an institutional building, and the layout still reads as what it was, which is the entire appeal for the people who book it. The rooms carry parquet floors and modern additions like air-conditioning, free WiFi and flat-screen televisions, so the history is in the structure rather than in the plumbing. Anyone who finds that idea unsettling rather than interesting should book a motor inn instead.
The Old Mount Gambier Gaol is the only property in town where the building itself is the reason to stay. It is a historic structure with family rooms, private bathrooms and parquet floors, updated with free WiFi, air-conditioning and flat-screen televisions so the stay works as accommodation rather than as a museum visit. On site there is a garden, a bar, a lounge, a shared kitchen and an outdoor dining area, plus luggage storage for travellers between legs. Guests rate the place particularly well for history, culture and location, which is a rare combination in a regional stay.
The grounds do more than the name suggests. There is a tennis court and table tennis, an outdoor play area, picnic areas, outdoor furniture and barbecue facilities, which turns a heritage curiosity into somewhere a family can spend an afternoon. Hiking is listed among the activities, and the crater rim tracks around Blue Lake are one point eight kilometres away, so a walk from the property is realistic rather than theoretical. Wine and champagne are available at the bar, useful given the Coonawarra vineyards sit within an easy drive north of town.
Logistics are straightforward, which is not always true of heritage buildings. Free parking and private parking are both available on site, Mount Gambier Airport is nine kilometres away, and the town centre with Commercial Street, the Riddoch Art Gallery and Cave Garden is a short drive or a decent walk. The honest note for anyone weighing it up: an old gaol has thick walls and an institutional plan, so rooms feel different to a motel and the atmosphere is part of the deal rather than an accident of the renovation.
A traveler's takeMost people book a night out of curiosity and end up staying two. The courtyard is the surprise, quiet in the late afternoon with the tennis court in use and someone getting the barbecue going. Blue Lake is close enough to walk to before dinner, and the drive back through Commercial Street after dark, past the limestone shopfronts, makes the whole stop feel older than the rest of the highway between Adelaide and Melbourne.
Local tips
- 1Book a family room if you are travelling with children, since the converted cells vary in size and the family configurations are the ones with the most usable space.
- 2Walk to the Blue Lake rim rather than driving, because the property sits under two kilometres away and the approach on foot is the better introduction to the crater.
- 3Use the shared kitchen and barbecue facilities on a long stay, as the town centre is a short drive and eating in the courtyard beats another pub meal.
- 4Ask about the history of the building at check-in, because the staff know considerably more than the signage and the detail is what most guests come for.
- 5Leave a morning for Coonawarra if you like red wine, since the vineyards north of Mount Gambier are close enough to reach and return before checkout.