Visiting Uluru – also known as Ayers Rock — is a mesmerizing and unforgettable encounter, only made better by a luxury resort stay. Both quintessentially Australian and a unique, personal experience, this more than 300-million-year-old site on our Inspiring Australia tour will leave you longing to return Down Under. 

Your time in the Red Center will be enhanced by your stay at the award-winning, five-star Sails in the Desert Ayers Rock Resort. Among Uluru resorts, Sails in the Desert adds a dramatic and elegantly comfortable aspect to your visit to the red center of ustralia. 

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The Location 

Sails in the Desert is just a five-minute walk from Town Square. Here, you’ll find a post office supermarket and several casual dining options for your travel needs. But more importantly, Uluru and the domes of Kata Tjuta are 12 and 33 miles away, respectively. 

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Your Uluru Resort 

As you approach this Uluru luxury resort, staggered sweeping white sails let you know that you’re staying in an iconic setting. Inside, colorful carpets featuring modern indigenous colors and prints carry you through the hotel.  

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The rooms 

The Indigenous motif continues in the hotel’s 228 rooms. Your private retreat will soothe with natural tones and Indigenous artwork, artifacts and decorative accents depicting the local Anangu creation stories. Your balcony or patio invites you to take in the wonder of the desert, day or night. Terrace rooms offer a shaded oasis beneath the gum trees and the enchanting desert night sky. A decadent experience among Uluru hotels, the deluxe suite includes a separate living area, bedroom and multiple balconies as well as a spa bath and rainwater shower. 

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The spa 

For any guest seeking a bit of pampering, the onsite Red Ochre Spa is the perfect spot to rejuvenate your body and spirit after a day exploring Uluru. The newly upgraded rooms and facilities host a range of services that will surely tempt any guest of Australian luxury hotels. Power-boosting facials re-awaken the senses. Hands and feet massages provide focused attention. And massages offer a range of customized treatments including hand-picked essential oils blends to soothe the senses.  

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Cocktails and more 

Continue your pampering as you treat yourself to a refreshing cocktail infused with native ingredients or a light meal at Walpa Lobby Bar. The Pitjantjatjara name for wind, this casual setting is ideal for coffee, lunch, snacks or a pre-dinner drink or nightcap. The menu includes burgers, sandwiches, seafood and salads such as the Thai Papaya and Prawn or the Ancient Grains salad.  

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Local to international 

Savor local flavors with a modern twist at Ilkari Restaurant, named for the local Pitjantjatjara word for sky. Enjoy a buffet breakfast, complete with a customized dish from the egg and pancake live cooking station. As evening sets in, the buffet dinner tempts with salads, vegetables, antipasto, seafood, roasts and a grill selection highlighting Indigenous flavors. Enhance your meal with a regional wine. Then top it all off with a treat from the cascading chocolate fountain alongside an intercontinental selection of sweets.  

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Dining poolside 

You’ll surely work up an appetite after a cooling dip in the pool lined with lush gum trees. Pira Pool Bar, the name for the moon, is just the place to enjoy a casual bite or cocktail in your lounger. Dine on a selection of shared plates including oysters and scallops, tapas, desserts and handcrafted cocktails. 

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Indigenous flavors 

While staying at Sails in the Desert, don’t miss your opportunity to join in the complimentary Bush Food Experience. Located in the Arkani Theater, just a few minutes’ walk from your hotel, this 45-minute program will introduce you to the local bounty of the land. Learn about Australian and local bush tucker and how local Indigenous people hunted, gathered and prepared these foods. Then watch a cooking demonstration. 

An eye for art 

While stunning Uluru is just a short drive away, you don’t have to step outside your hotel to take in one-of-a-kind Indigenous art at the Mulgara Gallery. Located in the foyer, this airy space showcases Australian hand-crafted glassware, pottery, textiles, metal and leather work. Admire the glasswork of internationally renowned artist Chris Pantano. View the Central Desert dot painting from Papunya and Mt Allen, as well as colorful body art from Utopia. The gallery also displays artifacts including didgeridoos, rain sticks and other tribal instruments. A collection of Australian Opal and colored diamond jewelry dazzles with its inspiration drawn from the land and sea. 

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A grand scale 

From detailed dot paintings to iconic Uluru, Sails in the Desert acquaints you with sites from the small to the epic. On your Inspiring Australia journey, you’ll take a guided walk through the domes of Kata Tjuṯa Walpa Gorge where you’ll learn the cultural significance of Kata Tjuṯa’s ancient rocky domes. Then, bask in your first views of Uluru at sunset over sparkling wine and canapes. A memorable ending in a memorable place. 

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What other elegant hotels will you stay in with Luxury Gold? 

Determining the best Australian grape is a quest many wine lovers are eager to embark on. Our Inspiring Australia journey will find you savoring every sip and acquaint you with different varietals within the Hunter Valley and beyond. After talking with Nick Williams, Cellar Door Manager of Hungerford Hill winery in the Hunter Valley, we’ve learned that the beauty of Australian wine is so much more than one perfect grape.    

Related Content: What to look for in a top-quality Pinot Noir, by wine expert Courtney Kingston 

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The Hunter Valley’s Australian grape 

The Hunter Valley, just a few hours’ drive from Sydney, is the oldest wine region in Australia. For almost 200 hundred years this warm climate wine region has been producing top Shiraz and Semillon enjoyed all over the world. In particular, the Hunter Valley boasts an aged Semillon and a medium bodied, earthy Australian Shiraz. What makes the Hunter so special? Nick explains, “You’ve got multiple generations working across multiple wineries over the years, sharing their knowledge travelling around the country and the world and then bringing that knowledge, that skill and those initiatives back into a wine region.”   

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The future of the Hunter Valley 

With such a rich history, wine enthusiasts can’t help but wonder what’s next for the Hunter. “The Hunter Valley really is a region that is caught between traditional values and constantly innovating and redeveloping itself, Nick comments. “Everyone’s ready to give something a go in the Hunter but you always have to look at where you’ve come from.” From where and how vines are planted—such as planting vines higher off the ground—to new techniques to increase yield, there’s no shortage of experimentation.   

Climate change also requires adaptation. “The rise of alternative varietals and seeing different growers trying to push what they can grow…We need to look at what we can swap around, taking out some clones of Shiraz and putting in Tempranillo,” Nicks says. “Everyone’s doing something a little bit different. We currently have on tasting two different sorts of the same fruit from the same block. One is very sweet and the other is quite dry. It’s almost bone dry. They were only picked a few hours apart but it’s the natural residual sugar in them just makes them pop.” In fact, Hungerford Hill has something for everyone. 

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Hungerford Hill 

This Australian winery is in a unique position to offer a breadth of varietals while embracing the grapes that the Hunter Valley is known for. “What we do at Hungerford Hill and what a lot of other but not all wineries in the Hunter are doing now is giving you a sample of what Australian wine can be…We are very fortunate in the Hunter Valley, where we are at Hungerford, to have a lot of different varietals but also to have a fairly broad wine philosophy: We make wine for people.” This philosophy embraces the ideology that wine is meant to be drunk. “It’s not to hide away it’s not to just give us a gift. It’s to crack open to pour a glass and to share with your friends your family your loved ones.”   

Most of Hungerford Hill’s wines are from the Hunter Valley, but they also bring in fruit from Tumbarumba, the snowy mountain region in the south of New South Wales, and the hilltops region in the middle of New South Wales. Bringing in grapes from wine regions differing in climate and soil offers guests the opportunity to find the best Australian grapes that they like. 

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Food and wine tasting 

During your visit to Hungerford Hill you’ll enjoy an Epic Tasting Experience. You’ll explore how food and wine interact as you try six different wines paired with small plates from their onsite Muse Restaurant. While these specifically tailored pairings change seasonally, Nick shares a few favorites. You might try the classic pairing of the lemony notes of Semillon with seafood or Sangiovese and duck. Or, enjoy the winery’s full-bodied EPIC Shiraz paired with a sausage roll made with Wagyu Beef. With Hungerford Hill’s focus on the guests, your tasting will find you sampling some of the 40 wines that are open each day.  

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Try something new 

Nick recognizes that wine drinkers have different tastes, and not just in varietals. “Sometimes you just need your security blanket of wine and then sometimes you might want to try and have a compromise wine with a friend.” He’s eager to give you freedom to stick with your favorite Australian grape as well as explore what Hungerford Hill has to offer on your tasting journey, from the Hunter Valley and beyond. 

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The perfect Australian grape 

In short, what makes the perfect Australian grape? “The perfect Australian grape makes a wine that someone wants to drink.” Nick says. “It’s not something that you look at. It’s something which is fit for purpose, something which calls out to you, or calls out to the winemaker, which then transcends into the bottle.” 

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Discover your favorite Australian wine with us.

Truly, one of life’s great delights is cheese. Whether served after dinner with Ligurian olives, melted into a mornay sauce or simply between two slices of freshly baked bread, it can be either an elegant or a simple pleasure.

“Dessert without cheese is like a beauty with only one eye”– Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, author of The Physiology of Taste