The Novotel Atrium Darwin, or simply ‘The Atrium’ as locals call it, has been a long-standing popular hotel destination with visitors for many years now. Situated further down the Esplanade, the hotel offers a range of rooms perfectly fit for families, couples and solo travellers to enjoy. For our stay, we were put up in one of the Junior Suites overlooking the water and on the bitingly warm day that we checked in, being able to open the curtains to see the blue ocean was just what we wanted.
You walk into the lobby and the first thing you notice is the interior, which looks like the inside of a plant/botanic house. Greenery is everywhere and water features which really ram home the idea of being in a tropical location. It’s spacious, with a bar and their restaurant at opposite ends and is really the only area I noted that you could tell how old the building is. The lifts are a bit slow and signs of wear and tear are noticeable. Once inside the room however, the contemporary and modern fit out is a complete contrast.
With a separate lounge room and workstation, the Junior Suite is perfect for business trips or for the type of people who, like me, are likely to spend more time pulling all their work into bed with them. With a room like this, there’s room to spread all of your work out in the other room, keeping the bedroom and main living area separate. There are two wall mounted televisions in the suite offering your usual free-to-air and basic cable and while the TV/multimedia connectivity set up in the lounge room didn’t seem to be working, the TV in the bedroom was working fine.
The bed itself is extremely comfortable (a sizeable queen mattress), with an artsy headboard that was an appealing feature on its own. Featuring its own little illumination, it meant that you didn’t need to have all the lights in the room on at any one point, but it wasn’t overbearing. Upon stepping into the room for the first time, the air conditioner was operating already on low with the curtains closed (the room does, as pointed out, face the glare of the harbour) and with just the light of the bed’s headboard to light up the room, the whole place felt larger than it actually was.
The bathroom is spacious enough, even though the bath and shower aren’t separate – not really a big deal for this traveller. The vanity is sizeable and all the amenities are offered in decent supply. Similarly to the items in the mini-bar and amount of storage space on offer, the hotel offers its guests a multiple amount of both products.
For a quick stay in the city, this is a perfect spot – five minutes walk and you’re up the Smith Street end of the Darwin CBD district, at the top of Mitchell St. Ideally situated to access the Darwin City Mall, Browns Mart, the Esplanade of course and the Mitchell Street clubs and pubs, the Novotel Atrium does offer a nice sense of reprieve however after a busy day shopping in the heat or a big night out.
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To learn more about the Novotel Atrium Darwin and the Dry Season rates they’re currently offering, head to their website!
Images supplied.
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