Discovery Resorts - Glen Helen

Stayed here for 4 nights as our base camp to go see and do the sites of the West Macdonnell Ranges. With the pay for 3 nights stay 4 nights, it worked out to be $47 (unpowered) per night. In the unpowered section you have a big gravel area where you can set yourself up in, keep in kind that unpowered area doesn't have taps for you to connect to, so fill your tanks from one of the powered sites before setting up camp, the area is quite level. There is a nice new camp kitchen located in the unpowered area equipped with BBQ's, fridge, sinks, 5 toaster, kettle and a microwave plus spring water. (Unfortunately this area also gets used by the freeloaders that camp down the road) The amenitie block is nice and new also, kept quite clean Once again, my pet hate in amenities is floors that don't slope correctly and the changing area in the showers ends up saturated (this shouldn't be a thing in this day and age) The free loaders also seem to just drive in and use the amenities. As for the communications, there is No Telstra signal, There is Optus signal but its incredibly slow, there is free Wi-Fi but the signal in the unpowered section keeps dropping in and out. The Wi-Fi in the reception building isn't much better and is slow. No television signal either Can't comment on the restaurant as it expensive and we didn't dine there. They do have a small selection of groceries and a Bar

The place — that nature created and indigenous people tended for millennia — is amazing, epic, wonderful, inspirational. The ‘resort’ itself is pretty bad. Wifi non-existent (why pretend to offer if it doesn’t work?), food worse than average for this kind of thing (served cold, basic menu, breakfast from the 70s - and not in a good way - and always running out, pricey given all that), and service not good at all (distracted, haughty, vague). Rooms were fine (although a low bar had been set by this point) albeit with confronting toilet door design! Basically just old dorms - repurposed.

They make you pay for every little thing. We weren’t even allowed to fill our water bladders for drinking. Nearly ran out of water that day. Beautiful spot, tarnished by commercial, money hungry business.

I have had 2x experiences with Glen Helen: The 1st was making a reservation for an overnight stay. The booking was made 6 months ahead of the stay and made through their web-site. 18 days later, I reconsidered and requested a cancellation. For cancellations greater than 14 days out, their Ts&Cs state that all but 1-day's worth of the deposite is refunded. Given that my stay was 1-day, I was out 100% of the deposite = $305. Really angry about that. I since booked via Tourism Central Australia (they provide a great service). The onerous term is not included. See separate review

The accommodation has been greatly improved since I was last there with renovated bathrooms, new beds and linen. The location is lovely but the food rates 0 stars. Breakfast was good, the picnic lunch was a box of spinach leaves and dinner each night was inedible. The chef Cory was arrogant and had music playing full blast all afternoon. We were there for peace and tranquility and he ruined our stay.

Lovely location for an overnight stay. Staff are friendly. Bedrooms are a bit tired even though we are looking at the rock face which are meant to be updated accommodation. Average selection of food. Wi-Fi keeps going on/off so could do with an update.

It was last opened night of the season so... Most of the room were closed but our was ok. with an extraordinary view of the river. Since it was almost deserted, not much comment on food, nice balcony for a beer and a small path to the gorge

Peaceful comfy stay right in the heart of the west Mc Donnell ranges so perfect for visiting all the gorges. The room was newly renovated and very modern with everything we needed to make for a fantastic stay. The breakfast was very good with lots of choice from fully cooked to fruit and cereals. The only thing lacking was the dinner menu which really needed a few salads added to it otherwise vegetarians and people with issues were in trouble as it’s all pizza and chips. I should say that the staff were fantastic particularly Loui who went out of his way to make our stay perfect. Strongly recommend staying here and also recommend you pay the extra for the escarpment view as it was well worth it!!

Firstly the rooms have been updated and while small are lovely and clean, very comfortable beds (pillows are terrible unless you love very thin ones). We had the front lot of cabins and the view was breathtaking. The staff are friendly and helpful. Swimming in the Finke was just magical and walking down to the gorge first thing in the morning is a must, most likely get it to yourself. So now the not-so-positive. The bar area is fantastic and sunset drinks in such a setting is a must. We had to have the buffet dinner when we were there. Terrible is an understatement. Very expensive, and looks like they didn't even try. We know food is sometimes hard to get in for the area but there was no excuse for this, looked like a 1950s boarding school dinner offering (not that I am old enough to know what that was like).