Main Beach’s own G:link station, 300 metres from Crest’s door, is the fastest way to the Gold Coast’s biggest free carols night: the City of Gold Coast’s Mayor’s Christmas Carols, now staged at HOTA on Bundall Road after outgrowing its old home at Broadwater Parklands. It’s a Gold Coast institution each December, built around a changing line-up of Australian performers on a full outdoor stage, with an overflow big screen in the parklands beside Evandale Lake for anyone without a ticket to the main show. From Main Beach it’s a stop or two north to Surfers Paradise, then the walk HOTA sends every visitor on: over Chevron Island and the Green Bridge to the Bundall Road side of the river, about twenty minutes on foot. Driving works too, but HOTA’s free parking window is capped at four hours, not much use once an evening of carols runs past dinner, so the tram remains the better call once the sun’s down. Southport’s Broadwater Parklands, further up the same G:link line, usually adds a market for a few days each December, live music, food stalls and a Santa visit among them, worth a look if the tram’s already been caught for the carols. Both events are free, so the only real cost is the tram fare there and back.
The bigger night out, worth the drive
Warner Bros. Movie World’s White Christmas is the one to drive to rather than tram to: a nighttime festive event on select nights each December, ticketed separately from daytime park entry, with close to a million lights strung along Main Street, artificial snow falling over the crowd, a Christmas parade, and Santa meet-and-greets running the length of the evening. It’s the single biggest spectacle on the Gold Coast’s festive calendar, worth building a whole evening around rather than squeezing it in after a day at the beach, and worth checking the calendar for which nights it runs before locking in a date.
A quiet Christmas Day, two pools and a BBQ deck
Crest’s own two heated pools, indoor and outdoor, run straight through the festive season regardless of what December’s weather decides to do, the outdoor pool holding a steady 28°C whether the day’s clear or rained out. The covered BBQ deck is there for a group who’d rather cook their own Christmas lunch than book a restaurant table, and Tedder Avenue, two minutes on foot, covers everything from a last-minute ingredient to a Boxing Day coffee. The sauna and gym round out the quieter mornings either side of the big one, and the full-sized tennis court stays free of the crowds that fill the beach itself over the school holidays.
Book across the season
A stay that opens before Christmas and runs into the new year leaves room for both nights out and the slower mornings between them. Surfers Paradise’s own New Year’s Eve fireworks are close enough to reach on foot from the G:link, worth factoring in for anyone not heading home straight after Christmas Day. Check-in runs 2 pm to 5 pm, check-out 9 am to 10 am.
Check availability over the festive season, or read more about the One-Bedroom Apartment and the Premium Two-Bedroom. Ticket details and the year’s line-up for the Mayor’s Christmas Carols go up each year on HOTA’s official site.
