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Traveller Awards: Immersive
Want to go on a safari in South Australia? Fancy a spiritual journey in Bali or a deep dive into the history of Washington DC? From an award-winning light show on a Queensland island to an off-grid Swedish wilderness retreat, our awards for the Immersive category celebrate the experiences that truly connect you to a place and its people. This curated list is for those who crave a holiday with depth, where every moment is a chance to learn, grow, and be transformed. Read on for our Traveller Awards 2025 winners in the Immersive category.
Monarto Safari Resort, South Australia
After so long providing a place for their beloved captive animals to snooze, zoos around the world have finally gotten around to providing beds for humans, too, and luxury ones at that. There are few better examples than that of Monarto Safari Park, an hour’s drive from Adelaide, which earlier this year opened, right in the middle of what is the largest open-range safari park outside of Africa itself, a 78-room hotel. It features a day spa, restaurant and bar and not one, but two outdoor swimming pools. If that’s not enough, a separate luxury lodge with glamping tents is set to open elsewhere in the facility next year. It all means visitors can stay longer at Monarto and spend more quality time, and in considerable comfort, with its precious wildlife, including a happily relocated herd of pachyderms from conventional zoos elsewhere in Australia and New Zealand. See monartosafariresort.com
Insight Cities Tours
Want to know what David Bowie got up to when he vanished from sight to hide out in Berlin? Intrigued by Budapest under communism, when it was known as “the happiest barrack” in the Soviet Bloc? Fancy hitting the high notes of Mozart and Beethoven’s Vienna? Insight Cities Tours offer small group and private tours of Central Europe with a difference – they’re all led by expert guides, often with PhD and MA-level qualifications in their subjects. The presentations – as you walk, ride on buses, or catch trains and trams – are filled with passion, irreverence and good humour. These are people in love with their cities, and that enthusiasm is infectious. See insightcities.com
Anantara Ubud Bali Resort, Bali
At this five-star resort a half-hour from Ubud, the lush environment is all around you – so much so, it seems to hang suspended over the valley and treetops, with splendid views of volcanoes a bonus. The resort is a big player in local conservation projects and offers excursions with its resident naturalists that explore surrounding villages, farmland and forest on Mount Abang volcano. A waterfall trek takes you to a pristine spot. You can also be guided through water purification rites and other Hindu rituals at temples, which provides a great insight into this important part of Balinese culture. See anantara.com
Nanuku Resort, Fiji
It may be one of Fiji’s most acclaimed resorts, but it’s the all-Fijian staff at Nanuku Resort, on Viti Levu, that hold the key to true luxury: connection to culture, family, the land and sea. It’s a secret they’re willing to share, offering guests staying in the 37 suites, villas and residences an authentic journey into the Fijian lifestyle. From a warrior welcome, to farm excursions to pluck ingredients for lunch, Fijian culture is front and centre at Nanuku. At the unplugged kids’ club, children can learn how to drum like a warrior and play island-style; guests can participate in reef and mangrove restoration; and even the wellness program is led by a Fijian hero, twice-Olympian and Commonwealth bronze medallist in judo, Sisilia Naisiga. Bula vinaka, pure and simple. See nanukuresort.com
Black Broadway Tour, Washington DC
There’s more to the US capital than the White House and National Mall. Hop on the Metro to DC’s Shaw Neighbourhood and discover an African-American take on The Gilded Age of the late-19th century. Author and local historian Briana Thomas’s walking tour takes participants on a journey through one of the most dynamic periods in African-American music and culture. The neighbourhood, also known as Black Broadway, is home to the Howard Theatre and the Lincoln theatre, venues that hosted artists such as Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong. Learn about how the area’s black population once thrived here without segregation laws. See blackbroadwaytravel.com
Illumina, Kingfisher Bay Resort, K’gari
Eco-friendly Kingfisher Bay Resort on K’gari (Fraser Island), has been welcoming guests since 1992, the same year the island went on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Since then, it has continued to evolve through a raft of new experiences, dining options and, recently, the Illumina light show. Exclusive to guests, Return to Sky is a 20-minute sound, light and laser show held each evening. Designed by international light artist Bruce Ramus in consultation with the Butchulla people, it tells the story of creation, regeneration and renewal. One minute the wetlands are painted red and seem to crackle with fire, the next it’s the swirling eye of a blue cyclone. If you have visited before, but need a reason to return, this is it. See kingfisherbay.com
Aurora Safari Camp, Sweden
Inspired by the bush camps of Kenya, this all-inclusive wilderness lodge overlooking the Rane River in Swedish Lapland is located a one-hour drive north from the coastal city of Lulea. Comprising a communal dining lounge, three teepee-style cabins and two futuristic glass-roofed pods, the property’s showstopping attraction is the Floating Camp. Moored in a tranquil, forest-flanked bay, the self-contained pontoon sleeps six and has an outdoor kitchen, a sauna, an alfresco wood-fired bath and a firepit. Perfect for families or groups, it offers an immersive off-grid adventure punctuated by sauna sessions and bracing lake dips, all surrounded by stunning forests and lakes. See aurorasafaris.com
The Aiguille du Midi, France
The Aiguille du Midi is a physics-defying attraction quarried out of the summit of a 3842-metre-high mountain in France’s spectacular Chamonix Valley. Reached via a cable car that holds the world record for the highest vertical ascent, the complex contains several interesting exhibitions on mountaineering and the effects of altitude, plus a nerve-testing glass box called Into the Void that’s suspended above a 1000-metre drop. On a clear day, outdoor observation decks provide panoramic views of Mont Blanc and some of the massif’s other 4000-metre-plus peaks. And if you’re lucky, you’ll get to see climbers and mountaineers scaling the surrounding cliffs, training for Mont Blanc summit attempts. See aiguilledumidi.montblancnaturalresort.com
Wollemi Ridge Retreats, NSW
Run by a passionate young couple with roots in the area, this Bilpin-based immersive weekend retreat is a thrill for the senses – and a welcome spell of technological disconnection and nature-based reconnection. The package includes all meals, all experiences and lodging in a toasty, well equipped tent with a micro-fireplace. It’s all about the region here, and that comes through in nightly bonfires, evening trail walks down into the gully to see glowworms, wooden chopping board-making workshops using locally milled chestnut, farm tours on the adjacent permaculture operation, and an itinerary that centres around the bush and its bounty. You’ll leave refreshed, reignited and ready to tread a little softer. wollemiridgeretreats.com
Cultural Island Discovery, Hamilton Island
Exclusive to island guests, Hamilton Island’s newest cultural tour, run by local Ngaro man Robbie Congoo, offers a deeply personal perspective on the Whitsundays’ rich Indigenous history – though it’s a history lesson with a luxury bent (canapes and champagne included). Passengers are first whisked to Hook Island on a luxurious 55-foot motor yacht, where an uphill trek leads to some of eastern Australia’s oldest and most remarkably preserved rock paintings – dated between 9000 and 12,000 years old. Congoo’s deep knowledge of native flora and fauna and retellings of his own family’s experiences on Queensland missions as members of the Stolen Generation, are captivating yet harrowing. See hamiltonisland.com.au
Traveller Awards contributors: Kate Allman, Kate Armstrong, Flip Byrnes, Justine Costigan, Jim Darby, Anthony Dennis, Ben Groundwater, Jenny Hewett, Belinda Jackson, Kerry van der Jagt, Julietta Jameson, Trudi Jenkins, Brian Johnston, Ute Junker, Katrina Lobley, Catherine Marshall, Chrissie McClatchie, Rob McFarland, Justin Meneguzzi, Julie Miller, Jane Reddy, Jane Richards, Katherine Scott, Craig Tansley, Lee Tulloch, Sue Williams, Riley Wilson.
