Ready, set, stirrup some fun!
Ready, set, stirrup some fun!
If there’s one thing Gold Coasters know how to do, it’s celebrate in style. Of course, Melbourne Cup Day is no exception.
Whether you’re in it for the bubbles, the frocks, or the thrill of the big race, the Gold Coast is serving up long lunches, flowing champagne, and more sweepstakes than you can shake a fascinator at.
Whether you’re after something opulent, glamorous, or more relaxed, here is a list of Gold Coast venues (listed North to South) inviting you to partake in some horseplay on Tuesday 4th November 2025. Place your bets: these are the hot tickets in town.
The Club at Parkwood Village
The Club at Parkwood Village is turning Melbourne Cup Day into a garden party to remember. From 12pm, enjoy live music, a drinks package, and canapés or grazing stations for a casual cocktail-style experience, or opt for a sit-down VIP dining package with a three-course meal. Watch the races live on big screens, join sweepstakes and Fashions on the Field competitions, and soak up all the spring racing spirit. VIP guests can enjoy spirits and cocktails, while every guest will be surrounded by a stylish, festive crowd ready to celebrate.
Where: 76/104 Napper Road, Arundel
Crafty’s
Casual, fun, and always buzzing, Crafty’s is the go-to for a laid-back Melbourne Cup Day. From 11:30am, enjoy a 3-course menu paired with a 3-hour beverage package featuring Crafty’s favourite pours, while live race screenings, lucky door prizes, and the Best Dressed competition keep the excitement high. After the races, stick around for live music, entertainment, and an unforgettable afterparty. It’s the perfect mix of good vibes, great food, and flowing drinks with your mates.
Where: Harbour Town Shopping Centre, 147 Brisbane Road, Biggera Waters
Aviary Rooftop Bar
For skyline views and race-day flair, Aviary Rooftop Bar is the place to be this Melbourne Cup. From 11:30am, guests are welcomed with a Four Pillars cocktail before enjoying a 3-hour beverage package and grazing on roving woodfired pizzas, premium hot and cold canapés, a seafood bar with Coffin Bay oysters and Mooloolaba prawn rolls, and a design-your-own cannoli dessert station. DJs, live sax, Fashions on the Field with prizes, lucky door draws, sweepstakes, and champagne tower moments keep the rooftop buzzing. Packages start from $119 per person, with optional premium drinks upgrades for those feeling lucky.
Where: Aviary Rooftop Bar, Melia Court, Southport
JW Marriott Gold Coast Resort & Spa
Prepare to dial up the glamour at JW Marriott, where Citrique is laying on the ultimate Cup Day Seafood & Grill buffet, stacked high with freshly shucked oysters and other delicious delicacies. Your glass of Moët & Chandon on arrival sets the tone, before a three-hour premium beverage package keeps the good times flowing. Entertainment, sweepstakes and raffles (supporting Gold Coast Hospital Foundation) ensure there’s more than one way to score big. And if you’re dressed to impress, you might even win an overnight stay in a lux ocean-view king suite at JW Marriott Gold Coast Resort & Spa (breakfast at Citrique included), valued at $878. Tickets are $199pp, with the option to upgrade to a Moët & Chandon package.
Where: 158 Ferny Avenue, Surfers Paradise
QT Gold Coast
If the Melbourne Cup were a cocktail, it would taste exactly like QT Gold Coast’s party. qtQT will be buzzing with live music, Fashions on the Field, and the glamour crowd sipping a welcome glass of G.H. Mumm Champagne. Guests can enjoy an oyster shucking station, roaming canapés, and sunlit soirées with tables dressed to the nines, all from the qtQT Level Two Rooftop. General admission starts at $69, and for an extra $79 per person, you can upgrade to a three-hour beverage package featuring flowing Mumm Champagne, lychee mojitos, refreshing spritz, and house spirits.
Where: QT Gold Coast, qtQT Level Two Rooftop, 7 Staghorn Ave, Surfers Paradise
Palette
Cup Day gets an artistic twist at Palette inside HOTA. Expect a refined three-course menu matched with a three-hour beverage package, plus all the excitement of the race streamed live. With sweepstakes, entertainment and fashion, this is a chic choice for those who like their Melbourne Cup with a side of culture. Tickets are $200pp and worth every penny for an elegant afternoon surrounded by art and indulgence.
Where: HOTA, Home of the Arts, 135 Bundall Road, Surfers Paradise
Juju
Celebrate Melbourne Cup Day Juju-style with food, fashion, and fizz from 12pm at Mermaid Beach. Choose your vibe: a refined long lunch downstairs with champagne, oysters, sashimi, king prawns, tenderloin, and chocolate mousse Bézier, complete with a live MC, Fashions on the Field, and Best Dressed prizes ($149 per person), or a lively rooftop party with roaming canapés, bubbles, and a premium drinks package. Booths include reserved seating and share platters, with the same MC and fashion fun keeping energy high (GA $179, Premium GA $199).
Where: 2235 Gold Coast Highway, Mermaid Beach
Robina Pavilion
If you’re after a waterfront vibe, Robina Pavilion is rolling out a Melbourne Cup Day celebration that’s equal parts luxe and lively. From 12pm, enjoy a three-hour premium drinks package featuring wine, beer, tap RTDs, bubbles, and a cheeky spritz on arrival, paired with a moving feast of hot and cold chef-curated canapés and a decadent dessert station. Take in the races on mega screens, groove to live music, strike a pose in lux photo booths, and join in sweepstakes and prize competitions. Whole table bookings are available, making it perfect for groups wanting a stylish, fun-filled race day. Tickets are $155 per person + booking fee.
Where: 229 Ron Penhaligon Way, Robina
Robina Events Centre
Over at Robina Events Centre, the Melbourne Cup luncheon is taking things sky-high on their rooftop terrace. Kick off with a cocktail on arrival before indulging in a three-course lunch paired with a generous three-hour drinks package. Olympian Leisel Jones will be the MC, while live tunes, sweepstakes and a photo booth keep the vibe lively between races. Tickets are $170pp, or if you’ve got a full stable of friends, grab the early bird table of 10 for $1,500.
Where: Robina Events Centre & Green Fields Bar + Restaurant, Level 4, 94 Laver Drive, Robina
Kirra Beach House
With its dreamy beachfront backdrop, Kirra Beach House is shaping up as one of the most coveted tickets this Melbourne Cup Day. From 11:30am, arrive to a sparkling glass of Mumm Marlborough Brut before enjoying a 3-hour canapé and drinks package, including Aperol Spritz and Hugo Spritz, an oyster bar, and a chef’s selection of canapés.
DJs and Fashions on the Field crank up the party vibe, while live Melbourne Cup coverage keeps the excitement high. VIP cabanas offer private service, seafood towers, and Perrier-Jouët Champagne for the ultimate A-list experience. The afternoon also features sweepstakes supporting the Gold Coast Hospital Foundation and access to the Southern Gold Coast’s largest afterparty from 2:30pm onwards. General tickets start at $169 per person.
Where: Level 1, 2 Marine Parade, Coolangatta
So whether you’re chasing oysters and Moët, woodfired pizza on a rooftop, or simply a cold beer and a punt with friends, the Gold Coast has you sorted this Melbourne Cup. Book early, though, these tickets gallop out the gate fast.
Words by Chelsea Ipsen
Robina Pavilion’s epic end-of-year lineup.
Look, we’re not saying Robina Pavilion is the official headquarters of fun on the Gold Coast… but we’re also not not saying that. When it comes to throwing events, these legends don’t mess around. They’re the kind of parties that magically convince even your most “I’ll just pop in for one” mates to stay out until closing. And with the silly season just around the corner, Robina Pav is already leading the charge with a festive calendar that’s serving food, fun and full-blown fabulousness. Let’s be real, if there’s ever a time to get your sparkle on, it’s now.
Giddy up, glam squad. Robina Pav is giving race day a serious glow-up, and this year it’s more than fascinators and fizz, it’s a whole moment. Forget the boring basics and saddle up for a luxe, three-hour beverage package from 12pm–3pm (yes, please). Think wine, beer, tap RTD’S, bubbles and a cheeky spritz on arrival to kick things off in style.
Food-wise? It’s a moving feast of hot and cold canapés, designed for elegant grazing between photo booth poses and race calls. And if you’re the kind of person who skips mains to save room for dessert (same), you’ll be all over the decadent dessert station.
Want more reasons to book? There’s a sweeps station, whole table bookings, and did we mention the vibes? It’s $155 per person + booking fee, and it’s shaping up to be the most fabulous Tuesday of the year.
If the thought of peeling potatoes, wrangling relatives and trying not to burn the ham sends you straight into panic mode, good news: Robina Pav has Christmas completely sorted. This year, they’re dishing up a dreamy seafood buffet lunch that’s basically summer on a plate, with a side of festive magic. We’re talking freshly harvested Pacific oysters, wild king prawns, Moreton Bay bugs, and smoked salmon rosettes with dill crème fraiche.
And that’s just the entrée. The hot buffet brings the heat with maple baked ham, slow-roasted mustard beef sirloin, herb-roasted chicken Marylands, baked salmon with lemon, dill and hollandaise, plus a spread of garlic and rosemary roasted root veg, steamed greens and all the Christmas classics your heart (and stomach) desires.
Salads are also making an appearance for anyone pretending to eat light before going back for round three, think potato and artichoke with house dressing, baby gem and parmesan with green goddess and a vinaigrette party that would make even Santa do a double take.
But wait, it gets better. The dessert station is quite literally the stuff of festive dreams. Belgian chocolate fountain? Check. Pannacotta, trifles, mousse, macarons and classic Christmas pudding with lashings of custard? All there. Basically, it’s your official excuse to skip straight to the sweet stuff.
Pricing is family-friendly and tiered: $195 for adults, $145 for teens aged 13–17, $90 for kids aged 4–12, and little elves under three eat for free. Drinks aren’t included in the buffet price, but the bar will be shaking, stirring and pouring all your holiday favourites. There are two sittings -11am to 1pm or 1:30pm to 3:30pm.
Whether you’re raising a glass at the races or trading roast duty for seafood and champagne, Robina Pavilion is making sure your festive season is done right, no stress, no mess, just good food, good company and unforgettable vibes. But don’t leave it too late! Bookings are essential.
Where: 229 Ron Penhaligon Way, Robina
Website: www.robinapavilion.com.au
Instagram: @robinapavilion_
Words by Chelsea Ipsen
STORY SPONSORED BY ROBINA PAVILION
Kirra Beach House is a whole new era for Kirra.
It’s a whole new era for Kirra – as the hotly anticipated Kirra Beach House, slinks into town bringing chic sips, cabana chills and rooftop revelling to the formerly not-much-happenining Marine Parade precinct, and totally transforming the southern social scene as we know it.
And let’s all just try to maintain an orderly fashion here.. thankfully, there’s plenty here to go round.
Like, 1200 whole sqm of it – the mammoth, terrace-studded stunner is fully prepared for the inevitable inundation as we all clamour to get a glimpse of the dreamy new venue, equipped with multiple indoor and alfresco areas, wine and cocktail bars (three, to be exact!) and high-end event spaces.
The kitchen, meanwhile, brings the likes of raw and cooked seafood platters, succulent steaks and signature burgers to Kirra’s picturesque beachfront – slinging perfectly crisped pizzas out of the Marina Forni pizza oven daily.
And did we mention the uninterrupted ocean views from every angle?
The new standard for a spectacular summer has well and truly been set here, guys.
Our jaws may be on the floor, but we’re not at all surprised – after all, the new concept was pioneered by local hospo trailblazer, Dave Galvin, an undertaking a mere four years in the making.
The SITE Hospitality owner/operator has been working tirelessly to deliver us not one, but two bar-raising venues this year alone – already blessing us with Broadbeach show-stopper, kost a few months back (and before that Mozza Mozza, Bird Royale and Crafty’s Sports Bar).
Somebody stop him (but don’t, actually, keep ’em coming Dave).
And frankly, we just have one question.. when doth the man sleep?
When it comes to new venues, often the phrase ‘game changing’ often gets bandied about rather liberally (guilty) – but Kirra Beach House is truly unlike anything we’ve seen this far south, the breathtaking venue putting the seaside village on the map as a destination for elevated dining and drinking.
And we do mean elevated in all senses of the word – the new venue sits atop it’s more casual counterpart, the newly unveiled and fresh-faced Kirra Beach Hotel one level below.
The new additions signify a whole new chapter for the suburb’s seaside promenade that comes courtesy of the KTQ Group’s multi-stage Kirra Point Project.
“The venue will have a beach club atmosphere about it, with great music, mesmerising panoramic views of Kirra, Mediterranean-style food using the incredible local produce we have on our doorstep, a world-class drinks list and, of course, great service” says Dave.
And really, did anyone expect anything less?
The kitchen of Kirra’s darling new destination is led by head chef Drew Wilson, curating a Mediterranean-style grazing menu that is both flavour-packed and true to the laidback, coastal location.
It features a contemporary mix of dishes such as Kingfish crudo with citrus vinaigrette, chive oil and floral salt… or perhaps the summery ‘burrata with yellow peach, aged balsamic and smoked salt’ to woo the cheese fans.
Bars Manager, Kaden Pool invites us to ‘dive in’ to a delectable menu of resort-style cocktails, the type that scratch that nostalgia itch in all the right places.
Such as ‘Bahamas’ Champagne Piña coladas and ‘Cancun’ spicy watermelon margaritas, made for summer sunsets and crafted to make you feel like you’re on holiday…
Wait, we’re pretty sure we might be. Or dreaming. Who could say for sure. We might need to get around a few spicy melon margs to determine, first.
Where: Level 1, 2 Marine Parade, Coolangatta
When: Sunday to Thursday 11am–late, Friday & Saturday: 11am–1am
Words by Kellie Leader.
