Forres Park Nature Retreat

Firstly, they need to stop calling this a resort and spa. They need to understand what they have. It's a fantastic location for a basic backpackers hostel. Checked it out for one night as was going to bring in a group of friends but told them not to come. Outside near the church there was garbage all over the street and garbage in the surrounding gardens, mis mash of old tired furniture and useless objects lying around the land in in the rooms. Its very sad as the location and the bird life is wonderful. The room quality and poor wifi even in the top priced room was depressing. Old bedding, tired shabby furniture. It was clean just very drab and incredibly over priced. For one night i paid more than i paid in Kingston for high end hotel room. Everything needs to be ripped out. Fresh basic furniture, new bedding and simple rooms and the focus on birding. When folks check in why not greet them as they pull up in the vehicles, why not show them maps of some nice hike trails, why not give them some xerox sheets of the various birds you can see, why not have bird feeders outside all guests windows and seats placed throughout the grounds to sit and watch birds.... but most of all clean up the litter on the property toss out the scruffy broken items around the yard. Get the church over the road to clean the street too while you're at it.... such a wasted opportunity. New management and staff training and an understanding of what their brand is. It's not strawberry hill, it's a very tired back packer hostel robbing you with their prices. Hope there's change here as the location and building are great as were the local birds.

Gorgeous views of the Blue Mountains at this rustic retreat. The students really enjoyed their stay at Forres Park, especially the coffee farm tour. Staff were kind and helpful. One man, Antony, even spent time repairing a students' glasses when they broke. Great!

Our room was located outside the house in a shack. It was maybe clean but there was a mouldy smell all over. The linen were washed but nonetheless stained. The longer we stayed, the more centipedes scabbled around in the bathtube. Mustn't mention that the night was rather a nightmare, we tried to spend as less time in the room as possible. The restaurant was ok. We saw many different birds and met nice people there. Regrettably we didn't make it to the blue mountain peak. We hadn't had enough time and the prices were exaggerated high.

We stayed at Forres park resort & Spa on during our vacation last week as we wanted to spend some time at the blue mountains. When we arrived along with our 2 kids , we were shocked to see the condition of the place ! The rooms were stinking, felt as if animals were locked before we came. It was the most unhygenic place we ever stayed. The bathrooms were bad so were the beds. There were stains on the sheets, pillows you name it, stinking smell all over. If we had not arrived late (around 5 pm) we would have left the place immediately. Since it was a long hilly drive back in the night and no other accomodation closeby, we managed to spend the night but left the first thing in the morning ! I am surprised it is even listed as family hotel . It should be listed under backpackers who go for hiking only .definitely not meant for kids . Did I tell you it was overpriced ?? The only good thing was the manager. She was a nice friendly lady , cooked good cheese sandwiches for my kids !

This property has a great view of the Blue Mountains and was generally very peaceful. We also opted for the tour of the farm (US$10 extra per person), and that was a very good experience. The rooms were fine, but the lack of meshing on the windows meant that you either slept with the mosquito net over the bed or risked being bitten. Without the fans, the room I was in was pretty hot. The food was ok, nothing spectacular. Overall a nice experience if you do it just once.