Alamanda Palm Cove by Lancemore

While we were told a couple of weeks out that the main pool would be unavailable, we were not told that it was a construction site, with constant drilling noise for 10 hours a day. The noise did die down on the weekend, so if you do chance a visit, try to stick to Saturday or Sunday - otherwise I'd avoid this location until 2025. $800/night is a lot to pay for a room that you need to avoid for much of the day. The timeframe of the pool works keeps changing and, when we visited in June, there looked to be months of work left. There is no appetite to improve experience for guests or be transparent with the situation, as the 'pool closure' notice on the website only ever shifts a couple of weeks at a time and is not a realistic estimate of when it will all be complete. Palm Cove itself on the other hand is beautiful and I would 100% recommend a stay in this town - just choose different accommodation.

Pool and spa were under renovation. The noise from the pool was unbearable (drilling etc). We requested a quiet room but were placed right in front of the pool area. This ruined my entire holiday. View of pool from my room was awful. We were advised approx. a week before that the pool was unavailable but not that there would be ongoing works and noise. We were not given the option to cancel or relocate to another hotel. Management/staff were very friendly but had no way of assisting us as the issue was with the body corporate of the building.

Thank you Angela for your wonderful massage treatment at L M Spa at Alamanda Resort, Palm Cove, Qld. You have hands of an angel and I look and feel like a new woman! If you are visiting this lovely place, treat yourself to this beautiful experience. Superb!

We just spent a fantastic week at the Alamanda. Before we arrived they arranged transport for us from (and to) the Cairns airport through Exemplar, an excellent shuttle service. A small discount is applied to the transport charge when the Alamanda makes the booking. From arrival and check in until we reluctantly said goodbye, every staff member including Kiley the manager were helpful and friendly. The kitchen/living area of our oceanfront one bedroom suite (#35) was on the top floor with our spacious en suite bedroom, and a second bathroom with shower, on the floor below. The furnishings are modern, there is Miele equipment in the kitchen and laundry, and the entire place was immaculately clean. The wonderful view from our big balcony took in the beach, palm trees, and one of the three swimming pools. The main pool was being renovated but unlike other reviewers, we never heard any construction noise from it. There was an occasional sound or two from what was probably routine maintenance or minor construction, but it was never a nuisance. The Alamanda is at the end of the main street that runs along the beach and is situated such that the street turns before it passes in front of the side of the building where our suite was located. As far as we could tell this was the only accommodation in Palm Cove that didn’t have the street between it and the beach, so no traffic noise. It is a short walk to the many restaurants, bars, and shops on the main street (DO NOT miss the restaurant Vivo - see separate review). Restaurant La Mesa at the Mantra is very good and gives a discount to Accor members, but only if you have your Accor card with you. There is a small well-stocked grocery store very near Alamanda, and a short distance past the store is the Palm Cove Tavern and bottle shop. Gabi in the office were eager to help us sort out an excursion to Kuranda via the historic train from Freshwater, and back down the mountain via cable car. One tour was based from Cairns which would have required us to pay separately for transport to the train station and back from the cable car station. Upon looking at the many brochures in the office we found a brochure for Brett’s one-day Kuranda tour that originates in Port Douglas with a pick up in Palm Cove, eliminating the need to pay for separate transport. It pays to look closely at the brochures. Gabi booked our tour with Brett’s excellent tour (see separate review) and the charge was put on our room. We have told friends and family about our wonderful stay here and some of them are already planning their visits. We will definitely be back!

This is the worst apartment hotel we’ve ever stayed at. I do not recommend for anyone who expects clean and luxurious accommodation. First, we stayed for 6 nights. Housekeeping only came once and didn’t even do a decent job. Hand & body wash bottle wasn’t filled, bed wasn’t tucked in and towels had stains. Honestly this is the worst hotel/apartment rental we’ve ever experienced. They charge $500 per night but the quality and service is like a motel or two star hotel. On top of that, appliances were dated. I will not recommend this place for anyone visiting Palm Cove area.

Be aware this property is an active building site. There was no warning of this when booking, or any update to us from the property about this before we arrived so we could make alternative plans or even when we checked in. We became aware when we arrived at our beach front apartment to find it overlooked the construction area. We talked to the people at reception about this who blithely said yes there are building works going on. They agreed to move us to a room slightly further away but the reality is you can’t avoid the building noise anywhere along the beach side of the hotel. It’s also immediately above the adults pool and we could hear it at the other pools as well. After another burst of jackhammering I talked to reception again they advised they aren’t told by the body corporate who own the property when building works are on or how loud they would be, and so they can’t advise guests in advance. I challenged this as clearly the works are audible and visible to reception as they’re happening directly above them. They offered us a partial refund so we can leave and find somewhere restful. So my advice would be avoid this property until they can guarantee no more building works. As others note, this property has a great location but otherwise is getting run down and tired. Perhaps the body corporate could focus more on renovating the apartments? For the price point it’s a con job. And beware all the stairs!!!!