A bit of background: I rode my bicycle 8,000km from Adelaide to Darwin and I stayed in some pretty grungy places - and a few nice ones - including camping in a tent, bush/guerrilla camping, pub rooms, pub cabins, motels, and so on). My wife booked this hotel when she rendezvous-ed with me before we flew back to home to Canada.
The Paravista is a motel that is >30 years old and doesn't seem to have had any major infrastructure upgrades since then. Having said that, it is well-kept and clean. We stayed on the 3rd floor in rooms 17 and 18, at two different times. We did encounter ants but that is definitely a pretty common for Australia, so no big deal for me (don't leave food out). The Paravista is just off Stuart Highway in a quiet neighbourhood about 3km from Darwin center (Mitchell St. area). On my last 2 days in Darwin, when I had time to kill waiting for a flight home, I actually walked from downtown to the Paravista. You can also take the bus. It's reasonably close to Mindl Beach and Museum of the NT (definitely both are very walk-able). Most people would probably be well-advised to have a car, though, when taking into consideration how much they have paid just to get to Darwin, i.e., time is money.
Our rooms included: TV (flat screen), a/c, ceiling fan, free wi-fi, fridge, tea/coffee, kettle, glasses, bowls/plates/utensils and a balcony. There is a pool, full kitchen, laundry ($2 washer/dryer) and apparently a BBQ (we didn't use). We did not see a phone nor hairdryer. In fact, wireline phones are very rare these days and I did not see one in in ANY paid room of my 4 months of travelling Australia.
There is basic local shopping available in less than a 10 minute walk, including a newsagent, a high-end grocery store ("Fine Foods"), a great coffee house, and various restaurants (we didn't do the restaurants there, though). Be sure not to miss the great local market on Saturdays from 7:30am to 1pm. I recognized some of the Thuirsday night Mindl Beach vendors at the Saturday Market, too.
We spent 5 nights in the Paravista before doing a week-long tour of Kakadu National Park and then another night after the Kakadu tour, just before flying back home to Canada.
I've saved the best for last: the customer service is second to none at the Paravista. Nelson and Tenielle are the two employees I dealt with and both were helpful and friendly. However, Nelson is the person I dealt with mostly and he went out of his way to accommodate me in the following ways:
- called airport shuttle bus for info and booking on my behalf
- asked and called around to find flowers for me to buy for my wife who I hadn't seen for > 3 months (he found a place nearby)
- made all the usual touristy suggestions
- made suggestions on where to buy supplies to box my bicycle for the flight
- gave a great room rate on our return visit for our last night before flying home
- graciously stored our luggage and boxed bike for a week while we toured Kakadu by rental car
- graciously extended check-out time to accommodate our late flight
- printed out my eTicket for my flight (need paper one for international flights)
- and various other 'little' but important things
So, I gave 3 points out of 5 for the facilities and 1 point for the awesome customer service. I'd give it a 1/2 point for good value but can't do that on trip advisor. I can't ethically give it 5/5. Bottom line: unless you're fabulously wealthy and can afford a $400/night room, I think you would find exceptional value in this motel. Darwin is now the most expensive place to buy a house in Australia, so this is not a cheap city to visit. I would definitely return the Paravista.
