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Turtle Beach Resort Review
Turtle Beach Resort is located at Mermaid Beach on Queensland's Gold Coast.
The resort is on the Gold Coast Highway, minutes to the beach and within walking distance of many shops and restaurants.
There is a choice of one, two or three bedroom modern fully self contained apartments.
The resort has extensive recreational facilities, including 4 pools, tennis courts, games rooms, gym, sauna, a café, massage and beauty salon and BBQ’s.
We visited in October 2002.
Accommodation
 We stayed in a two bedroom, ground floor self contained apartment. It included a lounge, dining, kitchen, ensuite, washer, dryer, dishwasher, cooking facilities, two large balconies with furniture, ceiling fans and secure undercover parking. There was also optional air conditioning (split system) – for $4 /day.
The rooms were very modern and spacious. There are three stories of accommodation. If you have kids the ground floor units would probably be best. With the upstairs apartments you need to use the back doors of the resort to get out and then walk around to the pool and tennis area. These back doors were locked so you need to have a key with you always. With the ground floor units you could simply walk out through the front balcony.
Our apartment was right next to the golf putting and pitching green which had its own sand trap. The kids soon turned that into a sand pit, and could be easily supervised from the front balcony. The tennis court was only metres away and the kids playground was close enough to keep an eye on the kids.
The resort is split into two resorts, Turtle Beach 1 and Turtle Beach 2. Both have similar facilities, pools, etc. Turtle beach 2 was a bit better laid out with all facilities in the centre surrounded by apartments.
Activities
 Plenty to keep the kids occupied. There are 4 pools in each ‘resort’, with a kids wading pool, two lagoon style pools and a 25 metre lap pool. All pools are fully fenced with childproof gates.
There were also four heated spas. Under the resort in the car park are three games rooms with pool tables, video games and pinball machines.
Both resorts have a tennis court which can be booked by the hour and is free to use. You can hire racquets and balls for $5/hour. The courts are available at night but you’ll need your own equipment.
Putters and golf balls are also available for hire at $5/hour to use on one of the two putting greens.
Every day at 11am and again at 6pm you can send the kids off to the cinema theatrette. The movies at generally aimed at the kids but adults are most welcome to attend.
There are two enclosed playgrounds with climbing equipment and slides and in Turtle Beach 2 you can keep an eye on the kids from your balcony.
For the adults there are two gyms with saunas.
Facilities
 Babysitting is available through reception as well as tours, theme park tickets & transport. Turtle Beach offers special packages that can be cancelled at any time. So if you wake up to a rainy day you can cancel you theme park trip and re-book for another day.
The resort features a café with full cooked breakfasts and light lunches at reasonable prices. Dinner is also available Tuesday to Saturday from 5pm to 8:30pm. You can also order a theme park pack consisting of a salad roll, snacks and drinks.
There’s also a massage and beauty salon featuring facials, pedispa, handspa, waxing, tinting and massage.
Eating
Turtle Beach resort offers a number of electric BBQ’s scattered around the grounds. There were at least 5 in Turtle Beach 2. The electric hot plates are easy to cook on and you can either eat at the BBQ or on your balcony. Again much easier if you have a ground floor apartment.
The café has breakfasts, light lunches and dinners and you can ring and order delivery from one of the many home delivery services operating around the Gold Coast. These are all listed in your resort room book.
Within easy walking distance of the resort are a number of restaurants and take aways. Pizza and hamburgers straight across the road and Chinese and Italian restaurants next door.
There’s a convenience store opposite the resort, however there are no supermarkets within walking distance. A bottle shop, bread shop, video hire and bbq chicken are close by.
If you want to walk a bit further you can reach KFC, Sizzler and Lone Star within 15 minutes as well as passing a variety of restaurants on the way.
Both Broadbeach and Caville Ave malls have plenty of places to eat with food courts and restaurants to choose from. Broadbeach is a bit less hectic and cheaper than Caville Ave.
Shopping
You can walk to Pacific Fair, but it will take at least half an hour. You can catch a local bus from the front of the resort and be a Broadbeach or Pacific Fair within five minutes. It’s much easier with a car, but you can get to most places by public or private transport.
Pacific fair offers a wide range of shops, a train ride for the kids and food court. Carrara markets is open each weekend selling just about anything you can think of. Plenty of food stalls and bars, pony rides for the kids but was absolutely jam packed during the school hols.
Getting Around
Without a car you can still get to most places. The resort arranges transport and tickets for the theme parks and the local bus stops near the entrance.
The beach is only two blocks away, a 5 minute walk if you take on the Gold Coast Hwy traffic, 10 minutes if walk up and cross at the lights. Once you get to the beach you are a couple of hundred metres from the nearest flags.
Summary
Turtle Beach Resort offers modern, spacious accommodation at reasonable rates. (for 7 nights in the school holidays we paid around $900). Ground floor units are the recommended option, especially with young kids, but with only three levels you are reasonably close to all facilities – much more pleasant than being on the 23rd floor of a high rise.
There is plenty to keep the kids occupied with some great pools and playgrounds. The café is very handy and the gym, sauna and lap pool are there to help with your fitness.
The only negative is the location – its not beachfront and it’s not within walking distance of the main areas of Surfers, but as with everything, you tend to get what you pay for.
Links
Readers Reviews
Trip Advisor Reviews
Turtle Beach Website
Book Online
Gold Coast Accommodation
Gold Coast Travel Guide
Gold Coast Tours & Attractions
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