Lon Retreat & Spa — Hotel in Barwon South West

The Positives – The resort exceeded all expectations. Both our room and the resort were just lovely. The private access to the pool, the spa, and the beach were also incredible. All the views around the resort were also lovely. More, the onsite massages were just amazing, as well as exploring the local area, i.e., Queenscliff, Point Lonsdale, and Barwon Heads. You wouldn’t have known there was a global pandemic going on at the moment. In fact, I think Queenscliff is my new favourite place in Melbourne to visit, following Wilsons Prom and the Yarra Valley, because all the beaches, wineries, and the restaurants nearby were just incredible! I can’t wait to visit Queenscliff again :) it’s a must-see area in Melbourne, with 3 beaches in the local area to visit.

The Negatives – 1) Poor to average customer service. On the second day we arrived, someone parked in our car park. We notified the staff that evening and twice the following day. However, 4 days later, the car was still parked in our parking spot, which made us feel very unwelcome at the resort. More, it would have taken them less than 10-mins to send out an email blast to find the owner of the vehicle (or knock on a total of 6 doors), but that alone was too much for them. 2) The walls between the rooms were incredibly thin. Every night during our stay at the resort, we were woken up by people banging their wardrobes. It sounded like a basketball hitting our wall. In fact, that’s what I thought the sound was until I heard our wardrobe make the same noise. 3) My wife and I stayed at the resort for our honeymoon, and no fuss was made. When we have stayed at other B&B’s in Melbourne before, celebrating our anniversary or something, they might give you a bottle of wine or a small hamper as a thank you for celebrating your special day with them. However, the resort didn’t do anything of the sorts. More, we had to follow up on our room service and on 2 occasions, the older lady at the front desk just completely ignored us as we walked back into...

The people are super friendly lovely. The rooms are beautiful and the area and space is stunning. The perfect place to just relax. The cheese platter was lovely lots of fresh produce.

However, I was in a room on the ground floor and walls are so thin that you can hear everything from the room upstairs, you can hear them shower, going to the toilet, walking around. It was difficult to sleep because the person kept on waking up to go to the toilet. Plus the rooms do not get serviced. If you would like a service you need to ask. I was eligible for a service on 1 day for my 3 night stay.

The hot mineral pool is a tiny spa bath, the exact words were used by the lady that worked there and she said it’s more if a spa bath then a hot mineral pool. The bubbles don’t work and 1 maybe 2 people max can sit in it at one time.

I do not recommend ordering the in room food. I paid $140 for 2 salads and a bit of chicken. There was sauce but because everything was in containers I expected instructions on how to construct it, but there was none. Definitely eat the food out in the neighbouring cities or in Point Lonsdale. Much better.

I paid $130 for a 45 min massage that was ok.

The biggest thing that is missing is a cafe/restaurant. It would have been lovely to be able to get breakfast in the morning from a cafe in the retreat.

Overall, the experience was nice but just ok. I have stayed at other retreats before such as Gaia in Byron and that’s amazing. You get 3 amazing meals plus they call you a few weeks out to organise and book your massages. At Lon you have to call and book it and it seems to get booked up very quickly. Plus at Gaia they had free yoga every morning and you definitely do not hear people around you taking a shower or going to the toilet and your room got served daily.

My recommendation is to visit other retreats, They have huge pools that are an actual mineral pool and us amazing. You cannot call this a retreat, it’s a farm with...

I decided to treat my partner and I. I had to save for this weekend away as $2,000 is a lot of money for us and I must admit I stressed about spending this amount of money for 2 nights. As we arrived I instantly relaxed, driving along the driveway and parking in our allocated car spot. I walked into the beautiful reception and knew it was going to be a lovely weekend. We were greeted by Ashley who was super lovely and friendly and welcoming. We opened the door to our Nimbus suite and was greeted by a beautiful water view and calming music which was a lovely way to start our afternoon. We hoped to have a swim in the mineral pool but it wasn't working so we went for a walk down a private track to the beach instead. Dinner and breakfast was exceptional. I love how we could prepare ourselves but it was easy. No wastage either as just enough for 2. The plunger coffee, choice of tea, the additional products you can purchase from the pantry were wonderful. We had an amazing nights sleep in the comfy bed with the beautiful linen. The next morning we went for a 3.8km walk around the farm, bird sanctuary and golf course. It was so lovely and well signed. We had massage which was divine; followed by a swim in the pool which was now working. As other reviews have said, we did find that we could hear other guests - shutting doors, making noise but it wouldn't turn me off coming back again. We had such a lovely 2 night stay and whilst the rooms are wonderful, the spa centre is magical, for us it was the walking around the property, being in nature; the trees, the sea, the cattle, the swans, it was all what we came for, relaxing, luxurious and private. Now I have to start saving again for...