Stay at Capella Lodge on Lord Howe Island, a Secret, Idyllic Isle in Australia

Welcome to Checking In, a review series in which our editors and contributors rate the best new (and revamped) luxury hotels based on a rigorous—and occasionally tongue-in-cheek—10-point system: Each question answered “yes" gets one point. Will room service bring you caviar? Does your suite have its own butler? Does the bathroom have a bidet? Find out below.

Capella Lodge

In three words: Like nowhere else.

What’s the deal? 
Lord who? Howe where? You may not have heard of Lord Howe Island, a spec in the Tasman sea between Australia and New Zealand—many Australians haven’t either. Only about 400 people call this six-mile, volcanic isle home. But for those who know, this is one of the most coveted destinations in all of Oceania. It’s no wonder why. Here, the large, crystal lagoon is ringed by the world’s southernmost reef system (rich with rare fish and not subject to the bleaching that has devastated the Great Barrier Reef). Many of the plants in its dense subtropical forests—an unusual mix of pines and palms—are found nowhere else (you’ll meet the woodhen, the island’s kiwi-like flightless bird, a conservation success story). Its peaks, the 2,549-foot Mount Lidgbird and the 2,871-foot Mount Gower, create an otherworldly prehistoric backdrop. No wonder UNESCO calls Lord Howe a World Heritage Site of global natural significance.

That’s why you come. How you come is more complicated. The island is a two-hour flight from Sydney, while a few small planes depart from the Gold Coast. Qantas just gave up the commercial route, handing the reins to a Cairns-based carrier, but you are still able to book via Qantas for the time being. Luggage is highly restricted and landing on the minuscule runway requires special training. All of that adds up to a fair amount of unpredictability. (Yachting these rough, remote waters is only for those with steel stomachs).

Meanwhile, a maximum of 400 tourists are allowed on the island at any given time—usually there are far fewer. So, outside the small village, you’ll feel like you have the place to yourself. Most visitors rent the few lettable houses, and fend for themselves. But to do Lord Howe in five-star style, Capella, located on the island’s southern end below its postcard mountains, is your only option.

Finally, don’t be confused by the name, this independently owned boutique lodge has nothing to do with the rapidly expanding Singapore-based Capella resort brand. It pre-dates them and offers a uniquely Australian style of service.

The best room: 

Talk about exclusive. There are only nine rooms here, a fact that should give you some idea about how restricted development is on the island (for better and worse). Each room is different and serves a different type of traveler—from single suites for couples, to two-bedroom layouts for families.

But for something elevated (literally), check in to the Lidgbird Pavilion, room No. 2. It comes with an expansive outdoor terrace with a private plunge pool and an outdoor bathtub. Enter into the living room, where you’ll find a kitchenette, a fireplace, and a large bathroom in the rear, and then head upstairs. Your bedroom is up here, a large space with a powder room, built-in sofa, desk, and floor-to-ceiling windows that act as picture frames for the sublime mountain backdrop. The bedroom has a secondary terrace. In the evening canapés and cocktails are served in your room, and your all-inclusive bar is stocked with French Champagne.

Rates for the Lidgbird Pavilion range from roughly $2,500 to $3,000 per night depending on the season.

The Rundown

Did they greet you by name at check-in? 

Yes. From the moment your prop-plane lands, you’ll be in good hands. A staff member will be waiting for you at the airport to greet you and whisk you away (it’s maybe a five-minute drive). Checked luggage? No worries, mate. In a place this small they can just grab it for you and deliver it directly to your room, so no waiting around.

Welcome drink ready and waiting when you arrived? Bonus point if it wasn’t just fruit juice. 

Once you’ve arrived you’ll be taken to the resort’s main building—a multi-purpose restaurant, lounge, and library space—and plied with whatever liquid you most crave. Sparkling wine? But, of course. Canapés come out as the staff give you the lay of the land, and you chat with the lodge’s gregarious long-time GM Libby.

Does the hotel have a standout perk?

You are here primarily to leave the resort on mild-to-vigorous expeditions up mountains, hills, and along the rugged coastline—or to dive and snorkel in that rare reef. To get there, most islanders—locals and tourists alike—will bicycle. While healthful and invigorating, the 15- to 20-minute ride into “town" can be dampened by chills, rains, or that double-whammy: chilly rains. That’s why VIPs should book the Lidgbird Pavilion in order to gain access to the resort’s only golf cart available to guests.

Driving a golf cart on this land that time forgot—where cars are banned to all but locals—feels not at all different from being chauffeured in the back for a Rolls-Royce Phantom across Hong Kong. It’s a kingly experience, especially when the weather suddenly shifts as it is apt to do.

Private butler for every room?

There’s no one to buttle for you, but the one-to-one staff to guest ratio means that you’ll never feel deprived of service. Cocktails are served at six in the lounge, a great opportunity to mingle with the very interesting sorts a place like this attracts. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served nearby. Your room is serviced twice a day, and bookings for excursions, should you need one, are made at the desk in the gift shop. It’s an easy-going, ask-and-you-shall-receive environment.

Sheet thread count 300 or higher?

Yes, 400 in fact. The linens are a house label, and the pillows are downy but swappable via the pillow menu should you wish. On rainy days (think short bursts of tropical showers), it’s hard to leave your bed and the exquisite view out your window.

Is there a heated floor in the bathroom? What about a bidet?

Bathroom floors aren’t heated, nor is there a bidet. But try to remember you are visiting an island so remote that it was unknown to humans (indigenous or otherwise) until it was spotted by Henry Lidgbird Ball in 1788. Even so, your facilities are far from rustic. In the Lidgbird suite, the shower has a floor-to-ceiling window looking out onto your terrace and the ambience is strong, dim, perhaps even sexy.

Are the toiletries full sized?

Yes. And don’t worry, it’s not more Aesop. It may be a nine-room resort, but it’s gone the extra mile to produce its own locally made bath concoctions. Labeled Capella Spa, the line leans into South Pacific botanicals.

Is there a private pool for the room’s exclusive use? How are the spa and gym?

Plunge pools or hot tubs are available in the majority of the rooms. Snorkeling here can be on the cooler side, so making a pot of “you" soup in a warm tub with a bubbly beverage in hand is heaven. There’s also a small pool next to the restaurant looking out toward the scenery and rather posh-looking hot tub nestled into the foliage on the other side of the lounge. Meanwhile, your gym is the mountain (and your bicycle). There’s also a small spa for basics like facials and massages.

Is there caviar on the room service menu? If so, what kind?

There’s no caviar and no room service per se. However, you won’t go hungry for delicacies or anything else. Like most Australian and New Zealand lodges, meals are served at your leisure in the dining room. Menus change daily, but a separate list of staple meals (your burgers and fish and chips, etc.) is always available. The food here, naturally, leans toward local seafood. Chefs in Australia get away with a lot because the quality of their produce is just so much better than what you are used to (sorry, Union Square market), but at Capella the chef (an islander of 18 years) is cooking with the best of them. Come expecting a lot.

Do you want to spend Friday night in the lobby bar?

You will! Each evening at 6 p.m. sharp, the exclusive cadre that are the guests of Capella gather to rub elbows and swap stories. There’s a nightly house special, but most relax next to the fire with classic cocktails or sparkling wine. It’s a clubby atmosphere of well-traveled professionals who make fast friends and chat cross-table over dinner. After all, a place this curious attracts like-minds.

Would you buy the hotel if you could?

If only. All land on Lord Howe is leasehold, and old-islanders get right of first refusal. It’s a political business. No wonder when proprietors James and Hayley Baillie sold their collection of famed five-star lodges to KSL Capital Partners in 2019, they kept this property in their pocket. If you aren’t already familiar with the Baillies, they’re worth getting to know, as they more or less created Australia’s contemporary lodge circuit (including a Robb Report-favorite Southern Ocean Lodge on Kangaroo Island).

The Verdict 

Lord Howe Island might very well be one of the most special places on planet Earth—and that’s some stiff competition. Its combination of unique flora and fauna and romantic landscapes create a place so magnificent that it’s in danger of looking too much like a fantasy render or a bit of CGI trickery. The shock of arrival is the realization that places like this really do exist.

And to be here at all means that you’ve made it into an elite circle. Occupancy hovers at over 90 percent year-round and with a maximum of 20 guests at any one time, it takes drive and special interest to land here. No, it may not have the bells and whistles of that other place you stayed that time, but that other place wasn’t here.

Rates: from roughly $1,200 to $1,800 per night in a Capella suite, all-inclusive.

Score: 9.5

What Our Score Means: 
1-3: Fire your travel agent if they suggest you stay here.
4-6: Solid if you’re in a pinch—but only if you’re in a pinch.
7-8: Very good. We’d stay here again and recommend it without qualms.
9-10: Forget booking a week. When can we move in permanently?

From the article by Christopher Cameron