If European luxury is hushed lobbies and staff in white gloves, then Australian luxury is stepping off a seaplane barefoot onto a private island with wet hair, glowing skin, and zero plans beyond your next cocktail.
Enter: InterContinental Hayman Great Barrier Reef.
Celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, Hayman isn’t just a holiday — it’s a true experience. Not the flashy kind. The quietly confident kind. The kind that’s been setting the standard for barefoot luxury in Australia since before anyone knew what barefoot luxury was.
Yes, you’ll find five-star everything: expansive suites, a destination spa, six restaurants and bars, and welcome drinks served with actual views of the Great Barrier Reef. But Hayman’s true power lies in the feeling it gives you. That deep exhale. The slower pace. The realisation you haven’t looked at your phone in hours — not because you can’t, but because you’ve forgotten about it.
To mark its milestone year (happy 75th birthday), the resort is unveiling a fresh program of experiences. There’s a dedicated History Room spotlighting Hayman’s origins as an ecological expedition site in the 1920s, a series of monthly chef collaborations across the property, and a 75th anniversary offer starting at $525 per night (for two people, including daily breakfast and a dream setting).
And then there’s everything else. Snorkelling the reef. Champagne and helicopters. Sunset hikes through rainforest. Dinner under the stars on a private stretch of sand. A mid-morning swim, followed by a pinocolada, followed by nothing at all.
Hayman is the kind of place where you can do everything — or nothing.
The resort recently changed its name — from InterContinental Hayman Island to InterContinental Hayman Great Barrier Reef — not just to clarify its postcode, but to highlight its deepening connection to the reef itself. There’s a growing focus on conservation and sustainable travel, including a partnership with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation. Luxury, here, isn’t separate from nature. It sits quietly within it.
Which is kind of the whole point. While other resorts push to be louder, flashier, newer, Hayman remains timeless.
Book your stay at InterContinental Hayman Great Barrier Reef here.
This writer stayed as a guest of InterContinental Hayman Great Barrier Reef.
