A Perfect Balance Of Self-Catering & Luxe Service, Bina Maya Is Your Next Down South Getaway
Disclaimer: We were recently invited to stay at Bina Maya at their expense, so please factor this in to our review below – we stand by everything we’ve said, but figure it best to be up front with you!
While we love to showcase the wonderful array of spectacular stays around our State, every now and then we’re fortunate enough to get the opportunity to actually road test them, which was the case with a recent weekend stay at Bina Maya. This luxurious, eco-friendly and sustainably-built accommodation is perched amongst beautiful native Australian bushland, making it feel like you’re immersed in the forest while also being just a short drive from Dunsborough, Yallingup and the Margaret River wine region.
There’s three options to choose from, with two villas catering for groups of 2-4 people, while the Residence (pictured below) is designed with larger groups of 4-8 in mind – perfect for a family/friends getaway. The whole setup was built in 2018 and 2022 by award winning builder Adrian Zorzi with a modern, spacious, Scandivian influence that maintains a warm and welcoming feeling – as in you won’t really want to leave.
The first thing you need to know about Bina Maya is that along with the incredible attention to detail applied to all aspects of your stay, owners Sara and Tim Greay take a great deal of care in curating all aspects of your stay to make sure you’re stress-free while there, and guaranteed to leave feeling rested and relaxed.
Here’s how our two night stay played out:
Night 1
Leaving Perth to head down south after work on a Friday afternoon isn’t ideal, however any of the stress involved in that process was immediately wiped away on arrival. After chatting with Sara in the lead-up we had arranged for a special pre-prepared meal to be waiting for us on arrival from Lady Lola restaurant in Dunsborough – an epic gluten free lasagna (which just went in the preheated oven).
There’s nothing worse than trying to find somewhere to eat on your way down south later at night after a few hours driving, so to have a restaurant-ready meal good to go in the room was a beautiful way to start the weekend. Walking into a roaring fireplace at the accommodation on a wet and wooly night didn’t hurt either!
Day 1
Pro-tip: “Bina” is Noongar for “light of the morning”, and you’ll see why if you leave your massive bedroom window’s curtin open over night – the morning sun streaming in is a fantastic way to start the day.
Sara and Tim pride themselves linking you up with local operators to get the most out of your getaway, and so our Saturday was spent on a South West Luxury wine tour with Director Bek Rogers, who was also our driver for the day. Bek has fostered relationships with many of the best players in the south west’s food and booze game, and enjoying those spoils in a luxury Mercedes van made for a rather pleasant afternoon. We sadly only had time for a couple of stops, but what we lacked in quantity we made up for in quality with a tasting in the spectacular surrounds of Larry Cherubino’s Margaret River Cellar Door, before lunch overlooking the beautiful Amelia Park vineyards for lunch – both were outstanding.
Night 2
As you can imagine a day of great wine and food calls for a relaxing night by the fireplace, drinking some of the bottles purchased during the day and enjoying a platter organised by Bina Maya from the team at The Art Of Grazing. A luxury stay down south also wouldn’t be complete without a cheeky outdoor dip, and the free-standing bath overlooking bushland on the private balcony did just the trick.
Day 2
Our final morning began with an Art Of Grazing gluten free breakfast platter with veggie fritters, rocket, avocado, tomato relish and gluten free granola (pictured below), followed by in-house massages with Jen and Rio from Massage South West. The one hour “Total Body Indulgence” massages included exfoliation, essential oils and moisturising followed by a complete body massage incorporating a mix of Swedish, therapeutic, reflexology and deep tissue methods…AKA just the ticket to fully reset before jumping in the car back up to Perth.
Overall, in case we haven’t communicated it well enough above – we loved our stay at Bina Maya. Being luxury accommodation it is somewhere on the upper-middle range when it comes to cost per night, but it’s worth it on two fronts. Firstly the completely self-contained accommodation is pure indulgence, we’re talking:
- Rain water showers
- Free-standing baths
- King sized beds
- Luxe towels and bedding
- Fully-equipped kitchens and laundry
- European Morso wood fire place (with wood provided)
- Locally-made toiletries and bath salts
- Locally-sourced condiments and pantry items
- High speed wifi with streaming (if you can pull yourself away from books and board games)
Second was the service provided by owners Sara and Tim – from top to bottom you can tell they’ve got your experience front of mind, wanting to make sure you enjoy a perfect getaway and being as hands-on or not as you want. They’ve struck the perfect balance between self-catered holiday and hotel service feel, with in-house massages, facials, private yoga lessons…even a private chef will pop by and cook you dinner if you like! Looking for a stunning location to elope? They’ve got that covered too.
Along with the link ups to local providers, the communication in the lead-up and during was fantastic. Little things like checking in to make sure we’d arrived okay after a stormy drive down from Perth, the fireplace going when we got there and the oven being pre-heated for our dinner on arrival was fantastic.
It’s little touches like that that can elevate a vacation from good to great, which is what you’ll experience at Bina Maya.
Head to the Bina Maya Website to book your next south west getaway today.
All Images: Supplied