O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat — Hotel in O'Reilly

We had an excellent stay filled with great activities at this spectacular location. Many people have already talked about how great this place is, so I won't include that here. Instead, in this review I will discuss parts of our experience to help you plan and prepare your visit.

For context, we visited in the middle of winter, and there was light rain occasionally throughout each day, with no heavy rain (less than 1cm each day). Despite the weather, views were still great and trails/activities were all viable.

The 6:45am bird tour is absolutely fantastic and is a must-do. I am not a morning person at all and had to go back to sleep after the tour, but it was definitely worth the early wake up. There are opportunities to hand feed wild birds, with bird food provided by the tour guide. No good opportunities to sit down while on the tour, but the trail it takes place on is wheel chair accessible. Mostly standing with only a bit of walking. Birds may land on your arms and head even if you don't have food for them. A few dozen guests attended this - busy, because it's just so good!

The ebike tour is very good and was the highlight of our trip, but it is not for everyone. We had low levels of biking experience (had a bike as a kid, no ebike experience), and this was enough for us to do the tour, but anyone who is a particularly nervous rider, very physically unfit, or hasn't ridden a bike before shouldn't do this activity. We didn't know how easy it would be to ride ebikes for two hours (with breaks to check out the view) - but it ended up being fine. A high fitness level is not required and the ebikes made it much easier than expected. Still some skill is required to get through difficult passages, but it is a skill you will develop on the tour. The guide teaches you how to handle the ebike and lets you practice a bit first before starting on the tour. We felt sore the next day and had a couple bruises. We also fell off our bikes a couple times at low speed (no injuries), but this is probably normal. I am female, and I find bike seats uncomfortable. Cycling pants with padding made this a non issue. The biking trail was muddy and wet from the rain. All items of clothing we brought on the ebike tour could not be worn again without washing, including shoes (fortunately we planned for this - as should you if it is wet during your visit). A long shower for all the mud was needed. It was only myself and my partner booked for that particular session, so not very busy, but that was likely because of the rain. Overall, the ebike tour is excellent and it is very worth it if you are sufficiently prepared.

The flying fox was fun, but it is only a single zip line that you go on multiple times. You must also walk back up the hill to go again. You cannot get to the flying fox if you are not able to walk up a rough path on a steep hill for a few minutes, so not viable for those with low mobility. If you are worried you might chicken out and not go down the zip line, then you can just walk back down the hill. Our shoes only got a little muddy with the light rain. They use full body harnesses and helmets, so wear reasonable clothing. The activity starts at reception, where you go on a short bus ride to the zip line, and a short bus ride back when it's all done. You can bring a backpack and leave it on the bus, which has the door open for you to access any time during the activity.

Birds of prey show is short but excellent. The large birds get pretty close to people, both flying and walking on the ground (landing half a metre away at times). The birds did not touch any of the audience members during the show we attended. An opportunity is given afterwards to have a bird on your arm (for a small price), but we did not do this as we had to get to another activity. Rain was not heavy enough to be an issue during our show, but the previous day I walked past the show taking place under cover when it was raining a bit more heavily.

Overall - all our activities were a fun time, even with a...

When we arrived to check in, there were two people at reception. The couple next to us got lots of information, they asked them if they were there for a special occasion and explained their package. We however, even though putting down that we were here for our honeymoon on the form we got very basic treatment. They literally just gave us a map and our key, yet the couple next to us were fussed about as they were there for an anniversary. Why bother asking about any occasion on the form in the first place, it is misleading, it makes you think you might get some form of better service. So yes, we got given the key and a map, they didn't explain about breakfast or afternoon tea. I just don't know how this could pass for good service.

We went to our room, the view was fabulous but we couldn't really get over the appearance of the place. It is so old and worn. The door had a huge gap under it and the wind kept banging it, we had to stick cards under the door. The green rugs were absolutely disgusting, you could see how old they were, falling apart and just dirty. The bathroom looked very old, cracked tiles and the whole room apart from the kitchen was so outdated. The floors were all scratched, dust all over, the bed had holes ripped into the headboard, the netting on the beds were old, dusty and obviously not washed very often. Dirt and grime all in the showers.

We tried to go down for the buffet breakfast but there was a long line all the way out the door and another couple told me they had been waiting 45 minutes to be seated. So we didn't actually get to have any food from our package and instead had to go over the the VERY overpriced café. One of the workers informed me that some of their gluten free options aren't even gluten free as they were cooked in the same oil, which explained why my new husband was so ill after eating from there.

Upon check out they didn't even ask about our stay, which I was hoping they would so I could tell them how awful it was. They literally just pointed to the bowl so I put the key in it. The whole customer service and experience of this place is really awful. Don't get sucked into the whole "rainforest retreat" it is shocking.

Please please please do not waste your money here like we did. Book an Airbnb you'll get wayyy better treatment. I don't have high standards, I've stayed in less than 3 star accommodation like Premier Inn, and found that it was much better than this absolute mess. This whole experience ruined our honeymoon, and that is something you can never get back. So thanks 👍🏻

Unless you want to be treated as another number and served food that makes you seriously ill. Celiac disease is serious, don't label food as gluten free if it is not. Not be able to get in for buffet breakfasts and want to sleep in dusty old rooms then this is the place for you.

My only regret is not taking pictures...

I'll start by saying we've been to Oriellys before in the past with no real complaints other than with our last trip, the average restaurant food and service , so much so we didn't go to the restaurant this time. We went this time to do the border track and really enjoyed ourselves. We stayed in late May 2025, and the overall experience was still getting close to 4 stars. I like the location and views with plenty of walks to do. The international service staff in the bar eatery area were excellent, and food and beer were good. The room we stayed in was good but a little tired, moisture leaking into cabinet of bathroom wash basin, the cleanliness of the room could have been better. The doona had what looked like a blood stain on it. Curtains needed cleaning and stains on the chairs in the room. All the things I've mentioned are small and just letting management know about the condition of the accommodation. The biggest complaint or gripe I had occurred on the last night, where after the big border track walk my son ( he is an adult) and my wife decided to go at night to inspect the glow worms. Upon nearing the glow worms, a voice yelled out that they needed to turn off their mobile phone flashlight, and it was a private tour and obviously come back later. So they decided that they would turn back along the path to the accommodation and for whatever reasons got lost.. took a wrong turn in the dark. The panic set in my wife called and let me know they were lost. I immediately went to the front desk to let them know and see if they could call the tour group to yell out to guide them back. The guy at the front desk took phone into office and came back a moment later and said he couldn't get onto them and left a message for the guide. Anyhow, long story short.... the guy behind the counter finished up his duties and closed front desk moments later and said in passing to leave, such and such would be available if we had not solved the situation. I was bewildered and disappointed and not entirely sure what I expected from the young guy, but probably more than that. Fortunately, the wife and son, who were probably lost only at most 30 mins, used Google gps to navigate out of the darkness and back to the accommodation, much to my relief. Best advice don't get lost at OReillys in the dark. Another small thing, the drink vouchers in substitution for not getting room cleaned, i asked about it upon leaving, and the same young man said you needed to register it its an ecco thing??? I'm not sure what that meant, but according to the pamphlet in the room, we were entitled to a drink voucher per person as we never had the room cleaned over the two nights...