Adina Apartments in Perth have two excellent locations in the sunny Western Australian capital that, while close to eachother offer, two different experiences. We check in and test them out, with our family in tow.
As you know, we’ll always settle into an apartment over checking into a hotel when we can – which is why we were thrilled when TFE Hotels invited us to spend five days experiencing two of their Adina apartments in Perth, Australia.
We’ve been fans of Adina Apartments since we stayed at their Surry Hills serviced apartments a few years ago – and had wonderful Hudson Meats packages delivered to our door so we could cook our own breakfast and dinner.
A lot of apartment hotel and serviced apartment chains can be quite cold and sterile and lack personality, yet Adina Apartment Hotels, while predominantly functional, have a certain warmth about them, as well as some of the friendliest staff.
Here’s where we stayed and what we thought of our Adina apartments in Perth:
Adina Apartments in Perth
Adina Apartment Hotel Barrack Plaza
My little sister and niece, who live in Perth, joined us for our first two-day stay at the Adina Apartment Hotel Barrack Plaza, which was not only a great way for us to test out how practical the apartments are for families, but it was also a real joy to have them around and ‘on the job’ with us.
They gave us two separate, contemporary-styled apartments that shared an outer entrance, enabling the inner entrances to be kept open to create one large shared space. My sister and niece appreciated having a bedroom each in the larger two-bedroom apartment with its good-sized kitchen and dining area and comfy lounge room, which served as our main living quarters.
Terence and I slept in the spacious studio-style apartment, which had its own kitchenette, living area, and bathroom, stocked with the wonderful Australian-made Appelles products, which all the best hotels in the country are using right now.
We also had a private balcony – not that we had much time to use it. The set-up was perfect for us, but also would have been terrific for a larger family, several couples or a few girlfriends.
One of the things we’ve loved about the brand from the start has been their fantastic kitchens and the Adina Apartments in Perth were no exception. There was a full size fridge (bigger than the one we have at home in Siem Reap), good quality stove with oven (ditto), microwave (fantastic for re-heating leftovers from the nearby Korean eateries), and a dishwasher (while we love cooking when we travel, we can do without the washing up).
The kitchens are equipped with enough dinnerware, kitchenware, appliances, and utensils to make most meals, from whipping up a quick pasta to frying a fantastic Aussie steak (one of the things we miss most in Cambodia), and decent wine glasses, which are essential. One of the first things we do whenever we arrive in Perth is buy some bottles of Margaret River wine.
Having said all that, we hadn’t seen my sister and niece for a while, and TFE invited us to show them a good time, so we mainly ate out and primarily used the apartment for breakfast and snacks.
Breakfast was included, so we tested out the room service one morning and ate as a family in the dining area, which was super-nice, and the next day we tried the ground floor café-bar, Bar 138, which was just fine for a quick brekkie. It is a working bar, however, so families probably won’t be comfortable sitting inside. Fortunately there is an alfresco area at the front.
Breakfasts are traditional at the Barrack Street property – toast and jams, pancakes, various styles of eggs with bacon, sausages, and sides – and very generously sized. The coffee was also good.
We did make use of the balcony, with its sweeping views of the city rooftops, for sunset drinks and nibbles we’d picked up at Fremantle markets, including wonderful strawberries.
While the apartment was brilliant, the location was unbeatable. Barrack Street is slap-bang in the heart of the CBD (central business district or commercial centre), making it fantastic for exploring the Perth city centre. Green spaces, such as Stirling Gardens, are within easy reach by foot.
Perth’s best shopping is just minutes away on posh King Street and more mainstream shopping can be found in the arcades, department stores and boutiques on Murray Street Mall and adjoining Hay Street Mall.
It’s also a fantastic location for foodies. There are plenty of cheap and cheerful eateries in the area, including Toastface Grillah, which makes Australia’s best cheese toasties.
Barrack Street itself is something of a ‘Little Korea-town’ with some excellent Korean BBQ joints and grocery stories – although since our last trip a handful of other Asian eateries, including a couple of Japanese restaurants, have also opened. Adina’s helpful staff gave us a great tip: some of Perth’s best banh mi (Vietnamese baguettes) are a couple of blocks away at Saigon Pastry House.
Northbridge, which is essentially Perth’s Chinatown, is just across the railway line (the main city train station is one block away), and it’s main drag is lined with every kind of Asian eatery imaginable: Cantonese, Vietnamese, Taiwanese, Malaysian, Peking Duck places, Chinese bakeries, Asian supermarkets, you name it.
Northbridge is also Perth’s cultural precinct and is home to the superb state museums, including the excellent Art Gallery of Western Australia and the compelling Western Australian Museum, both of which have wonderful exhibitions of Aboriginal art and indigenous crafts and artifacts respectively.
We took advantage of the location by hitting the pedestrian shopping malls, as much for the colour and action as shops – kids running through the water fountain at Forrest Chase, buskers belting out pop songs, Asian students offering free hugs.
Adina Apartment Hotel Perth
The Adina Apartment Hotel Perth, located between Mounts Bay Road and the Esplanade, was the second of our Adina apartments in Perth.
It was also in a hard-to-beat location, a couple of blocks away from Hay Street Mall, and even closer to Barrack Street Jetty, which is the departure point for Swan River cruises to Fremantle, the Swan Valley wine region, and Rottnest Island, and is just a block down the hill.
Located above Perth’s main transport hub, it’s also incredibly handy for accessing Perth’s excellent train and bus network, including the free CAT buses. On our first afternoon we caught the CAT up to King’s Park, which, along with nearby Stirling Gardens, are two of many wonderful Perth picnic spots that are in easy reach.
Our second apartment was a spacious one-bedroom with another excellent kitchen, similarly fitted out to the first. This one had the added bonus of a coffee plunger and TFE generously provided some freshly roasted coffee and cool eco-friendly ‘keep cups’.
The bedroom had a sizeable walk-in wardrobe which lead directly into the bathroom, which was also accessed from the comfortable living/dining area.
This property had a little bit more style about it, with cool touches like funky cow-skin chairs.
It also boasted balconies, but unfortunately for a property so close to the spectacular Swan River, there were no sweeping city vistas. Not that it mattered, as the waterfront is just a few minutes’ walk away, and we were so busy getting out and about and taking advantage of the terrific location.
Within a few minutes of leaving our apartment we were on the CAT and less than ten minutes later we were kicking around Kings Park.
The café downstairs, Metro, where breakfast is available, serves more modern café fare than the first property, including one of the best potato omelettes I’ve ever eaten, although like the first property, the servings were also massive.
Come evening, the lights are dimmed and it takes on more of a bistro vibe and its bar and alfresco area hum with the chatter of guests, many here for conferences and events at the adjoining Convention and Exhibition Centre. There was a university graduation ceremony during our stay that made me a tad nostalgic for our old uni days.
Our Verdict
Both properties are brilliant with spacious, well-equipped apartments with fantastic amenities, and facilities we didn’t have the time or need to use, including compact swimming pools and underground parking.
While Perth’s CBD is compact – it’s possible to walk from one end of the city to the other in half an hour – which property you choose to stay at really depends upon how you plan to spend your time.
The Barrack Street property is best for shopping and exploring Northbridge and eating out in Leederville, while the Mounts Bay Road address is well placed for excursions further afield, whether its by water to Fremantle or the Swan Valley or by bus or train to explore the city’s parks and beaches.
If panoramic views are a priority then you better go for the Barrack Street apartments. Just make sure you allow time to stay in to enjoy them!
Our stays at the Adina apartments in Perth were part of a project in partnership with TFE Hotels who hosted us and organised an array of wonderful activities, including the day in Fremantle, the Swan River cruise, and some wonderful meals. See the links above.
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