Crystal Castle & Shambhala Gardens — Attraction in Montecollum

Beautiful place but disappointing experience

The place itself is small but pretty — the crystals, the gardens, and the nature around are lovely. However, my experience overall was quite disappointing.

We came for the Crystal Castle Singing Bowl experience, but apparently it has changed. Now they have a group of monks doing a meditation instead, which honestly didn’t feel meaningful to us. It was our first time visiting, and we were hoping for the sound healing experience with the bowls, but we didn’t understand much of what was happening. Only one person tried to explain what it was about, and the rest just meditated. It wasn’t what we expected at all.

After the meditation, we went to the shop to buy a few things, and the experience there made me feel uncomfortable. Two women were working there — one Brazilian lady and one Australian — talking about their personal lives while we were trying to shop. I went to buy an energy cleansing spray, and as I was looking around, I noticed some lollipops near the counter. I asked politely if I could take one, and the Australian lady told me they were “for kids who find their fairies.”

I smiled and said, “Oh, then it’s for me too, because I’m also a child at heart.” She looked at me sarcastically and asked, “Are you really a child?” I replied, “Yes, because we all have an inner child — that’s where our energy and essence come from.” She just said, “Ah, yeah, okay,” but in a tone that felt dismissive and condescending.

For a place that promotes spirituality, energy, and healing, I found that attitude quite disappointing. People who believe in energy should know that staying kind and respectful to everyone regardless of age is part of that energy.

Overall, it’s a nice place to see once, but the attitude of some staff members can really affect the experience. I hope the management reads this feedback and reminds the team to stay kind and welcoming that’s what truly represents the spirit of...

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY HERE!!! We came to Australia for a short vacation from Canada and went there with our friends. First of all, A$50 is a way higher per head cost, but still we decided you hop on to experience the reality and the speciality. The garden was nicely arranged, cleaned and put on large crystals everywhere with short descriptions. The negative energy emerged when the "Crystal Castle Tour" started by a tour guide call "MEL" (the worst guide I've ever seen in my life). Basically, she didn't have any idea on what she was showing to us, and just read a piece of paper she had with a small description which we also could've read from the guide book provided at the counter. Once, she wrongly pronounced a name of God Lakshmi and said "I'm not familiar with statues" when we corrected it, but the reality is, she was not paying attention to the names or descriptions given. This place has brought statues from Hindu and Buddhist cultures to attach a fake spirituality to crystals, but even without knowing what those great philosophies have said about meditation, peace and mindfulness. This is another typical place which has used "religions" to get done the business as visitors think doing meditation having a crystal in hand will absorb the qualities given for each crystal. Throughout the tour, MEL was repeatedly saying about the cafeteria and the gift shops, but she didn't know how those crystals got different colors and values, what happens when we do meditate holding a crystal (connectivity between the frequencies of our individual Aura and the color of crystal) and simply what meditation does. For us, there's no WOW about the entire place other than the fact that using religions to market their crystal business. You may do way way better things for A$50 and there are enough valid and free YouTube resources, if you are really interested about meditation and...

I had such a beautiful experience at Crystal Castle back in 2017, but sadly, my todays visit was far from what I remembered.

First of all, the energy of the place has completely changed. Children were running around and screaming, which made it feel more like a playground than a peaceful sanctuary. What was once a sacred, grounding space now feels chaotic and commercial.

We waited in line at the café for over 8 minutes, and just as we were about to order, a woman randomly walked in front of us to ask a question from the lady behind the counter. Shockingly, the lady with brown rasta hair behind the counter decided to serve her first, completely ignoring us. It was incredibly disrespectful and unprofessional. She didnt even bother to say hello and apologise. Why to put the standing line if your staff doesn’t bother to follow this.

The café itself was also a letdown. Despite advertising as an organic vegan café, they didn’t have lactose-free milk. Instead, they offered a highly processed alternative that any health-conscious person knows can disrupt hormones and is far from natural. This was both disappointing and misleading.

To add to the list, I attended a sound healing session and was surprised to find it guided by someone who seemed inexperienced—so much so that they were reading off a script and even stumbled over just two sentences. For a place that promotes healing and spirituality, this felt inauthentic and underwhelming. Sound healing is also in the area where you can hear kids screaming and running which makes sound healing journey more difficult to enjoy.

Sadly, this experience did not reflect the soul and intention Crystal Castle once had. I truly hope they return to their roots and honor the sacred energy that once made this...