Hotels near Ballina Byron Gateway Airport - BNK, Ballina

Ballina is one of our favourite short stay locations-2 hours from home. Great town with amenities. Beaches, the river stretching along the main street, whales and dolphins can be viewed from cliffs just outside town, friendly people and great golf course with excellent Asian restaurant. We have also holidayed here in the past-highly recommended!

Ballina is a well kept secret however it has been discovered as an alternative to the hype and bustle of Byron Bay. Coffees are still reasonably priced and there is an absence of social media wannabes posing on the beaches. I would recommend a trip to the Seven Mile Brewery for some therapeutic tonics. You might get lucky and spot a 'celebrity' zipping past on their way to their private chartered jet. The Ballina RSL is a good spot for a value feed plus some cokes, smokes and pokes. Mike Nolan is rumoured to hang out there occasionally. Have a yarn to him if you have done any damage to the rental, he'll fix it for a cashie.

Having lived in Lennox for 30 odd years form my teens we were very familiar with the area. The advantages are close walking distance to everything, beach, Lake, Shops, Restaurants, Bars etc. Surprising the amount of campers sleeping in vehicles along the road sides. Would avoid booking accommodation with no AC in bedrooms and No WIFI. Also insure you get what you pay for accommodation wise.

Homeless at the front door and shopping trolleys full of soaked belongings. A parade of bogans loitering around the hotel street and lawns. A perfect view of a river system dotted with pelicans and dolphins, seemingly trained to appear as the guest arrives. A very very busy town centre with a Main Street way past its use by date, impatient drivers rivalling the hectic streets of Rome or Beijing, trying to avoid the many elderly on their motorised scooters. A WIDE variety of every food and drink you could search for with an incredibly high standard of cleanliness at each cafe and bakery and eatery. Several thrift shops, boutiques and clothing stores catering for most if not all budgets and tastes. Unsafe for cycling in the sense that many European cities opt for with vehicle of choice mainly being oversized gas guzzling 4WD s. A tapestry of humans from many walks, a bouquet of widely sourced characters to fill River Street and a pace of somewhat crazed rush just prior to Christmas. The entire location can be enveloped in mist, a moment later sunshine followed by an afternoon storm, to a traveller, the most perfect combination of sea and river breezes with the warmth of a temperate day and no humidity. Casting aside or happy to accept the redneck hicks and drugged out locals that represent a minor percentage of those encounter, the town thrives on a balance of visiting Australian holiday makers and a sprinkling of mainly European and South American tourists. No swarms of Asians like Pitt Street mall or tribes of Ethiopians drifting along Todd Mall. Seemly untouched by the suffocating First Nation retoric, there is an acceptable streamlined understanding of accepting all as they come.

Very quiet place. We had trouble finding somewhere to eat as a family and later in the evening. Beaches weren't all patrolled - but it is just start of the season so that is understandable as well. We saw dolphins swimming.

Lennox Head offers beautiful beaches, fascinating rock pools, scenic coastal walks, a variety of cafes and restaurants, a well equipped IGA food store, a variety of different accommodation and quaint little stores, all in close proximity to each other. A large Woolworths store and a few other specialty shops are in a shopping centre that is a short drive from the town centre.