I have to be honest – I never thought of Penrith as a holiday destination. I tend to opt for beach holidays, nature adventures and CBD staycays, but I've always passed through Penrith on the way to the Blue Mountains without thinking of it as a destination in itself. Cut to me and my family looking for something a bit different to do – we've long been keen to try indoor sky-diving at iFLY, and then Penrith scored its first luxe hotel. The new Pullman Penrith, part of a $110 million development, got our attention.
The Pullman is Penrith’s first five-star hotel, and it’s located in the Panthers precinct, right across from the sprawling Leagues Club with its many restaurants as bars, as well as iFLY, and an Aqua Golf driving range – plenty for me and my family to do right there on the hotel's doorstep, let alone everything else nearby.
I was expecting the hotel to be comfortable and have all the amenities you’d expect from a five-star hotel – I didn’t expect it to be so elegant, though. As you enter the lobby, striking and colourful artworks and installations line parts of the walls and ceilings – it feels more Melbourne than Western Sydney.
We’re offered a glass of Champagne and juices after check-in, which we enjoy on a lounge at a marble table while we decide where to go for lunch. We settle on a restaurant at the Panthers club across the road, because we're booked in for dinner at the hotel's restaurant, Marcel Bar & Bistro, tonight. We head to the lawn out back as the kids run around on the grass before sunset, a great spot to enjoy the last sunshine of the day. As we walk across the road back to the Pullman, the light is hitting the curved hotel in such a beautiful way that it shines gold, and I’m already starting to develop a little crush on this pocket of Western Sydney.
Our room is big and comfortable with luxe trimmings and sophisticated decor (this isn't a cookie-cutter business-vibes hotel). The afternoon light streams in through sheer ceiling-to-floor curtains. There's a focus on good sleep – the big beds are really comfy, there's a sleep therapy menu accessible via a tablet, and you can take your pick from a variety of pillow types. It would be easy to settle in here for room service and mini bar for the night, but we’ve heard great things about Marcel.
Hotel restaurants can be hit and miss, but this one is a hit. We work our way through the Grande Tasting Menu ($110 per person), starting with oysters, moving onto a generous antipasto and charcuterie board, a range of delicious starters and sides, a flat-iron steak with red wine jus for main, and a sweet potato crème brûlée for dessert. The cocktails are up there with the best I’ve had in recent times. Once again, it's all a little unexpected – I didn't think I'd be fine-dining in Penrith.
Marcel is also where the hotel serves up a lovely buffet breakfast. While we're in town, we also have some great meals at other nearby spots, including the hotel bar/café, Tori, on the ground floor; a pink-hued Mexican restaurant called Checho’s; one of the best Indian restaurants we've been to in ages, Punjabi Paradise; and The Orchard, which is like Penrith's answer to The Grounds of Alexandria.
Of course, we also hit up iFLY (definitely an experience you should have at least once in your life), as well as having a round of Aqua Golf (it’s a driving range where you hit the balls into water instead of onto grass, aiming at certain targets to win cash prizes). The convenience of having both these activities across the avenue – as well as the Panthers club with its Timezone, ten-pin bowling, range of restaurants and the rest – makes for super-convenient fun.
The hotel also has a fitness and wellness centre (with sauna), which was designed in partnership with the high-performance team at the Penrith Panthers NRL club. (Not gonna lie – I didn't use it, but I went up for a squiz, and can confirm that it's the sort of place even Nathan Cleary would be happy to train in.)
The whole experience here at the Pullman and in Penrith has been unexpected – packed with action, atmosphere, luxury and a whole lot of delicious food. We'll be back.
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