08 February 2024
11 mins Read
With over-tourism a growing problem worldwide, Cocos (Keeling), due to its size – a mere 14sq km – is set to keep visitor numbers restricted. Book your beds early, accommodation is limited.
Most places to stay are a passport’s throw from the airport on West Island – one of two inhabited islands on Cocos. A short spin of your suitcase wheels will have you booked in, unpacked, and sitting by the ocean, cocktail in hand, watching waves roll in before the sun goes down.
The other – Home Island, where most Cocos Malay people live, has homestay options. There are no high-rise, five-star hotels boasting swim-up bars, so where do you lay your head after laying around on the beach all day?
Suitable for: Couples or friends travelling together.
Talking of rolling your suitcase, The Breakers self-contained bungalows are surrounded by lush greenery, a leaf’s launch from the airport.
Take your pick from twin or queen rooms fitted out with timbered trimmings, a spacious bathroom, air-conditioning, and any essential item you’ll need to throw a hearty meal together after a full day’s adventuring.
There’s a thatched open-air BBQ Pondok set in a private garden if you want to mix it up and socialise at champers-o’clock as the sun slips away.
The town’s one and only supermarket, visitor centre-come-gift shop, and a handful of restaurants are two minutes’ walk from your bungalow’s balcony.
Fancy attempting the ‘Krygios serve’? Tennis courts are available next to The Breakers’ grounds for you to practice your ball toss.
Nestle into lush island greenery with The Breaker’s bungalows.
Select from four villa options. Suitable for: Couples and families.
Become a hideaway castaway in a stylish self-contained villa right in the heart of town and watch the waves roll in from your private veranda.
If doing nothing is on your agenda, the villas have uninterrupted ocean views willing you into blissful relaxation.
Feeling energised after reclining? Hire a push bike for $20 and ride along the highway. Drop into one of West Island’s deserted beaches, the year-round bath-tub warm waters are ideal for snorkelling and SUP boarding (stand-up paddle boarding).
When hunger sets in, beachside restaurant – Saltmakers By The Sea – serves up delicious tropical smoothie bowls along with one of the islands’ finest roasted coffees or try Tropika Restaurant.
Relax on your deck with ocean views.
Be surrounded by the stunning greenery of West Island when you stay at Castaway. (Image: Rik Soderlund)
Suitable for: Couples or solo travellers.
This heritage-listed boutique bed and breakfast enjoys a prime beachfront location overlooking a reef rock pool on William Keeling Crescent – named after the merchant seaman who discovered the magical isles back in 1609.
The private beach-themed ensuite room has been stylishly designed with ocean lovers in mind.
Consummate hosts, Colin and Christine, will have you feeling at home within minutes of picking you up in a golf buggy from the airport. The couple includes an island-intro buggy tour, snorkelling equipment, and buggy use during the first two days of your stay.
Don’t miss brekkie. Colin and Christine serve up a scrumptious continental breakfast on the sweeping veranda. The backdrop – mesmerising rolling waves, one crashing wave after another.
It’s hard to pull yourself away, but adventure awaits on the coconut-frisked shores of the surrounding islands.
Watch the sunset from your patio at ninetysixeast Bed & Breakfast.
Suitable for: Couples and families.
Furnished from floor to ceiling with warm timber furnishings – these cosy cottages on the airport’s Air Force Road provide a home away from home. Don’t worry about noise pollution though, you’ll see more birdlife than planes with only two flights per week.
Completely self-contained, you’ll want for nothing in these spacious two-bedroom cottages. Loaded bookshelves, daybeds and cushion-covered couches top the undercover deck.
Laze back, read, journal, or see if you can identify the island’s exotic birds.
The cottages are a golf ball’s throw from West Island’s golf course. Sit and watch the serious hole-in-one shooters, or join in Scroungers Golf, a friendly nine-hole round played every Thursday afternoon where all levels are welcome.
Wander to the beach, or over to hit a casual round of golf.
Suitable for: Couples or solo travellers.
With salt in your hair and sand between your toes, nestle away in the quirky Bird’s Nest after a day of island exploring or kayaking.
This self-contained pad has all the frilly furnishings for a peachy beach escape. Choose a flick from the unit’s DVD/video library and settle in for a movie night after a sunset cocktail.
As most amenities are close to West Island’s accommodation, a leisurely stroll will bring you to the central pocket-sized hub.
Check out the Visitor Centre and chat with friendly staff about what’s on. They’ll help with bookings and answer any questions about the islands.
Enjoy a sunset cocktail then settle in for a classic movie night.
Suitable for: Couples or solo travellers.
Squirrel away in these tastefully appointed self-contained apartments. Located in a peaceful leafy cul-de-sac, think romantic retreat, rest, and recharge.
The ocean is a mini-meander away – walk along the surf and beachcomb with hermit crabs looking for new homes.
The community bus stop is a two-minute stroll and runs to West Island’s jetty where the ferry leaves for Home Island and Direction Island – where a silky stretch of sand was crowned Best Beach in Australia, 2017.
With over 12 years of experience, resident and owner Levi Fowler is an expert on all things Cocos. Levi will collect you from the airport and by the time you’re reclining and sipping a sundowner on your deck, you’ll have the low-down on the upside of paradise.
Levi’s akin to the local Olympian, into everything from kite surfing, and cray fishing, to health and fitness, to being passionate about the local community. So, when it comes to looking after you, he dots and crosses your holiday needs.
Find everything you need in your own self-contained apartment by the sea.
Suitable for: Couples or solo travellers.
This self-contained studio is hidden in a quiet cul de sac that is an easy 150-metre stroll to the beach. The owners are a small family who lives in the main house and love to share their passion and knowledge of the Cocos with travellers.
With its own private entrance, whip yourself up a seafood feast in the kitchen then lay out on your own secluded deck, surrounded by nothing but lush tropical trees and the sounds of waves rolling in.
If you can tear yourself away from the pristine surroundings, a 500-metre walk will put you in the town centre.
Chill out on your private balcony, or stroll down to the beach.
Suitable for: Families or groups of up to eight people.
If this beautifully furnished cottage were any closer to the waves lapping the shoreline, your bed would be a water-based one.
Skip, hop or dance across the 30-metre palm-edged garden to the palm-edged beach, where you can laze under palm trees; FYI Cocos is full of coconut palms!
Pack up the fishing gear and throw your hook out. The five-star alfresco area boasts an outdoor kitchen kitted to cook up the day’s catch. Want to entertain? The indoor kitchen would suit any aspiring MasterChef.
The owners of this stylish four-bedroom, two-bathroom home have thought of everything and more. Along with features you’d expect to see in any first-rate property, you’ll find bicycles, paddle boards, kayaks, and snorkelling equipment.
Get in quick, book this premier home and listen to waves whisper against the shore as you sleep the night away.
Stay right on the water at Beachcombers Cottage.
Suitable for: Families or groups of up to eight people.
Not to be mistaken with the iconic 1970s-styled home from the classic Australian movie, The Castle is a three-bedroom holiday house all about the modern touches, open-flow plan, and gourmet kitchen.
Saunter into town, nip in and out of Cocos’ shops, grab a coffee and a freshly baked sweet treat at Salty’s Grill & Bakery.
The Castle’s huge outdoor patio area has cushioned day beds ready for an afternoon’s siesta.
Later, head into town and share duty-free drinks with friendly locals at the Cocos Club’s bar as the sun sets on another perfect day.
You’ll feel like a local as you catch up on the three w’s – what to do, where to go, and who to do it with, in paradise.
Spread out on the generous-sized deck.
Suitable for: Couples and families with teenage children; the house is unsuitable for little ones.
Imagine salty breezes and far-reaching views of nothing but sapphire seas. Seaward is a home fashioned with all things ocean in mind, while ticking off comfort, location, and décor.
A quote from Ernest Hemingway’s novel, Islands in the Stream, hangs in one of Seaward’s bedrooms, summing up the luxury residence: “The house felt almost as much like a ship as a house. Placed there to ride out storms. It was built into the island as though it were a part of it; but you saw the sea from all the windows, and there was good cross ventilation so that you slept cool on the hottest night.”
Built to flow with the environment, the property has ceiling fans, relying on sea breezes to cool without air conditioning.
Positioned at the farthest end of Airforce Road, the house is more of an adult retreat. The high lounging and viewing decks have been designed with relaxation in mind.
Bask in salty breezes and sapphire sea vistas at Seaward.
Suitable for: Couples, or solo travellers.
Escape life’s stresses and slide into seclusion at this end of West Island property.
White and bright and not a dot in sight, Cocos Escape is a clean, modern open-plan home boasting lagoon views across a beckoning ocean.
The holiday home has been designed for natural cooling with louvres and ceiling fans dotted throughout.
Amble twenty metres from your patio and plunge into the lagoon to spot the islands’ majestic turtles gliding through calm clear waters.
Take your pick from the deluxe two-bedroom option – suitable for up to four guests, or the self-contained one-bedroom studio apartment furnished for the solo traveller or couple.
Escape life’s stresses at this secluded West Island property.
Suitable for: Two couples, or small families.
Relive your childhood in this hexagonal-designed pad; it has all the feels of grandma’s home. Games, books, videos, and nesting nooks feature in the bohemian two-bedroom, one-bathroom cottage that is My Island Home.
Retreat to the deck’s comfy couches and listen to the birds singsong in the adjacent park.
Like everything on the islands, nothing is far away, whichever way you turn you’ll be taking holiday snaps before five-minutes tick past on your smartwatch.
After a day of island hopping, the breeze through the property’s palm trees swish you into slumber.
Listen to the birds singsong in the adjacent park.
Catch the ferry, Cahaya Baru, from West Island’s jetty and head over to Home Island to meet the friendly Cocos Malay islanders.
The Visitor Centre on West Island will help with available homestay bookings and point you in the right direction.
Stay the night at Oceania House – the family home of the ‘Kings of Cocos’. (Image: Lynn Gail)
Home Island’s grandiose colonial bed and breakfast guesthouse, Oceania House, has recently changed hands with plans to refurbish and reopen to visitors soon.
Step back in time – its antique-infused interior and Victorian-themed rooms together with the ornate spiral staircase are quite something.
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