The Wallaroo Hotel — nicknamed “the WALLY” — is the pub-style stay at 26 Alexander Street in the coastal South Australian town of Wallaroo, but it is not the only place to sleep in town: TripAdvisor’s Wallaroo hotel results keep surfacing apartments, motels and holiday parks. The comparison that follows sets the WALLY against those alternatives and grounds each claim in the listings and sources cited throughout.
Last checked: 2026-10-20
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Hotel name: Wallaroo Hotel (nicknamed ‘the WALLY’) · Main address: 26 Alexander Street, Wallaroo, South Australia 5556 · Phone: (08) 8823 2444 · Yelp listing hours: Monday 10:00 am – 11:59 pm · Second location: Wallaroo Hotel Coolatai, 14-16 Warialda Road, Coolatai NSW 2402 · Coolatai phone: 0456 721 557
How we researched this
Last checked: 2026-10-20.
Sources reviewed: hotel booking platforms (Expedia, Hotels.com, Booking.com listings), hotel comparison sites (HotelsCombined, trivago, Travelocity), TripAdvisor hotel results, pub directory data (Gday Pubs), and the Gwydir Shire tourism site.
We did not visit the property on site, interview hotel staff, or independently verify menu items or current prices; rates and hours below are snapshots from the reviewed listings.
Wallaroo stays at a glance
- The Wallaroo Hotel, nicknamed “the WALLY”, is an iconic Wallaroo location tied to laid-back nightlife, drinks and marina views (Expedia Australia).
- Sonbern Lodge Motel sits at 18 John Terrace, a short walk from Wallaroo’s main shopping street, bars, cafes and a supermarket (HotelsCombined).
- Wallaroo Marina Apartments is positioned as a waterfront, marina-oriented property with spa facilities (trivago).
- Wallaroo Holiday Park, at 1 Pamir Court, is near the beach with free self-parking, free in-room Wi-Fi, a playground, games room, laundry, barbecue grills and bike hire; its Expedia score is 9.0/10 from 56 reviews (Expedia).
- The same Expedia listing records Wallaroo Marina Apartments at 8.8/10 and Kadina Gateway Motor Inn at 8.4/10 from 280 reviews. (Expedia)
- From US$42 a night — the lowest listed hotel rate in Wallaroo, on Booking.com.
- Two locations — “Wallaroo Hotel” resolves to a pub in Wallaroo SA and a pub in Coolatai NSW.
- Only metres — how close the Cornucopia Hotel sits to Wallaroo’s main shopping district, per Gday Pubs.
- October 2026 — the freshness date shown on the Wallaroo Hotel’s Yelp listing.
Wallaroo Hotel key facts
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Hotel name | Wallaroo Hotel, nicknamed “the WALLY” |
| Main address | 26 Alexander Street, Wallaroo, South Australia 5556 |
| Phone | (08) 8823 2444 |
| Yelp listing hours | Monday 10:00 am – 11:59 pm |
| Second location | Wallaroo Hotel Coolatai, 14-16 Warialda Road, Coolatai NSW 2402 |
| Coolatai phone | 0456 721 557 |
| Lowest Wallaroo hotel rate | From US$42 for Sonbern Lodge Motel (Booking.com) |
| Nearby hotel | The Cornucopia Hotel — two storeys, in the heart of Wallaroo |
What Are the Best Hotels in Wallaroo?
The reviewed sources split Wallaroo’s accommodation into three styles: pub-style hotels, motels and self-catering holiday properties. The table below lines up the three hotels that matter most for the “best hotels in Wallaroo” question — the Wallaroo Hotel, Sonbern Lodge Motel and the Cornucopia Hotel — using position, source detail and price signal.
| Hotel | Position in Wallaroo | Key detail from sources | Price signal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wallaroo Hotel (the WALLY) | 26 Alexander Street, older part of town | Pub-style accommodation with counter meals; iconic nightlife, drinks and marina-views venue | No standard rate in the reviewed sources; call (08) 8823 2444 |
| Sonbern Lodge Motel | 18 John Terrace, short walk from the main shopping street | 9.2/10 listed guest score from 20 reviews; parking, Wi-Fi and air conditioning | From US$42 per night on Booking.com |
| The Cornucopia Hotel | Heart of Wallaroo, metres from the main shopping district | Two-storey hotel beside the shopping district and local cafes | No rate in the reviewed sources |
The Wallaroo Hotel: a pub stay in the older part of town
The pub at 26 Alexander Street operates as pub-style accommodation with counter meals, and its Yelp listing logs Monday hours from 10:00 am to 11:59 pm. The phone number is (08) 8823 2444, and because no room rate or menu for the WALLY appears in the booking and review sources used here, the hotel’s own phone line is the fastest way to check availability.
An iconic Wallaroo location associated with laid-back nightlife, drinks, and views of the marina.
Expedia Australia — Wallaroo hotels destination guide
That positioning matters for the comparison: the WALLY is a social, eat-and-drink stay in the centre of town rather than a motel-with-a-pool, which makes it a different product from the quieter options below.
Sonbern Lodge Motel: a short walk from the main strip
Sonbern Lodge Motel, at 18 John Terrace, is a central, historic-town option with parking, Wi-Fi and air conditioning, a short walk from Wallaroo’s main shopping street, bars, cafes and a supermarket. Expedia Australia’s Wallaroo accommodation guide records the motel at 9.2/10 from 20 reviews, with a sample one-night rate of about AU$156.
Friendly staff, a good location, and a historic-town setting.
Mark — guest review presented on the Sonbern Lodge Motel listing
On Booking.com, Sonbern’s from-price is US$42 a night — the lowest listed hotel rate in Wallaroo in the sources reviewed.
The Cornucopia Hotel: a two-storey stay in the heart of Wallaroo
The Cornucopia Hotel is a two-storey pub in the centre of town. Per Gday Pubs, it sits only metres from the main shopping district and local cafes, which puts it at the walkable heart of Wallaroo; the reviewed sources do not include a room rate or phone number for it.
Beyond the table, two more names keep appearing in Wallaroo booking results — Wallaroo Holiday Park and Wallaroo Marina Apartments — both covered in the snapshot above. For travellers who prefer a house to a hotel room, Travelocity’s Wallaroo listings include Protea Cottage, a coastal miners cottage built around 1870 and described as within walking distance of the town, the beach, pubs, a distillery, cafes, a grocery store and a bottle shop; the same listing set shows BIG4 Port Hughes Holiday Park at 4.4/5 from 229 reviews for travellers willing to look beyond Wallaroo itself.
Pros and cons at a glance
- Wallaroo Hotel (the WALLY) — Pros: central Alexander Street pub stay; counter meals and bar under the same roof; part of the town’s nightlife-and-marina scene. Cons: no room rate or menu in the sources reviewed; call (08) 8823 2444 to confirm prices.
- Sonbern Lodge Motel — Pros: 9.2/10 listed guest score; from US$42 on Booking.com; short walk to shops, bars, cafes and a supermarket. Cons: the score rests on 20 reviews; a sample one-night rate of about AU$156 appears in one snapshot.
- The Cornucopia Hotel — Pros: two-storey pub in the heart of Wallaroo, metres from the shopping district and cafes. Cons: no rate, menu or contact details in the reviewed sources.
The bottom line: the Wallaroo Hotel carries the pub-and-marina atmosphere, Sonbern Lodge Motel carries the strongest reviewed score and the lowest listed rate, and the Cornucopia Hotel carries the most central position.
What Is the Wallaroo Hotel Menu and Prices?
The direct answer: no Wallaroo Hotel menu or price list appears in the organic results or booking listings reviewed for this article. The pub’s phone line, (08) 8823 2444, is the reliable route to current menu items, counter-meal specials and room prices.
Is the Wallaroo Hotel menu available online?
Not in the sources checked. The reviewed results contain no menu document or price list for the pub at 26 Alexander Street. The Coolatai location is the only one with a food mention in the sources: the Gwydir Shire tourism site lists counter meals for the Wallaroo Hotel Coolatai.
What does the Wallaroo Hotel pub and restaurant offer?
The hotel’s positioning is pub-style accommodation with counter meals, and its Yelp listing shows a Monday opening time of 10:00 am. For today’s menu and prices, call (08) 8823 2444.
What is the menu and price at Anglers Inn Wallaroo?
Anglers Inn Wallaroo is a different business from the Wallaroo Hotel, and none of the sources reviewed for this article contain its menu or prices. Wallaroo has more than one pub, but only the WALLY’s own phone line can confirm the WALLY’s prices.
What this means: the menu question cannot be answered from published listings; the phone line is the source of truth for both Wallaroo Hotel locations.
What Is Wallaroo Famous For?
Wallaroo is a coastal town in South Australia, and what surfaces in the reviewed sources centres on the beach, the marina and the cluster of historic-looking hotels in the town centre — including the two-storey Cornucopia Hotel.
Can you swim in Wallaroo beach?
The reviewed sources reference Wallaroo’s beach in search questions and in accommodation listings — Wallaroo Holiday Park is marketed as near the beach — but none of them state whether swimming is safe at Wallaroo. Local council or surf-safety information is the right check before swimming.
What is the largest town on the Yorke Peninsula?
The sources reviewed for this article do not answer that question. Kadina appears in the booking results as a nearby town with its own motor inn, but nothing in the supplied material states which Yorke Peninsula town is the largest.
What to watch: hotel listings confirm Wallaroo’s coastal and pub-hotel character; swimming safety and town statistics require council or state sources, not booking pages.
Is Wallaroo a Good Place to Live?
The strongest signal in the reviewed sources is walkability: Wallaroo’s main shopping street, bars, cafes and a supermarket sit within walking distance of the local motels, and listing descriptions point to a compact town centre. That is a liveability clue, not a verdict on relocating.
How many people live in Wallaroo?
The supplied sources do not include a population figure for Wallaroo. No census number appears in the reviewed material, so any figure found online should be checked against the Australian Bureau of Statistics before repeating it.
The pattern: the sources describe a compact, walkable town with the essentials close together — useful for planning a stay, but the reviewed material does not extend to census data.
Why Is Wallaroo Called Wallaroo?
The word “wallaroo” comes from an Aboriginal Australian language and refers to a large kangaroo-like species. The hotel’s “WALLY” nickname is a separate, modern layer.
What does Wallaroo mean in Aboriginal?
The name refers to the wallaroo, a large kangaroo-like species; the hotel’s “WALLY” nickname is modern shorthand and unrelated to the original meaning.
Why this matters: the town name carries the older meaning tied to the animal, while the pub nickname is modern local idiom — and search results for “Wallaroo Hotel” mix both layers.
What do Wallaroo stays actually cost?
Snapshot rates in the reviewed bookings split into three rough bands. The lowest entry is from US$42 per night for Sonbern Lodge Motel on Booking.com. Mid-range examples run from about AU$126 to about AU$210: Moonta Bay Accommodation around AU$126, Kadina Gateway Motor Inn around AU$143, Sonbern Lodge Motel around AU$156 in one sample, and Wallaroo Marina Apartments between about AU$132 and AU$209 in two separate results. At the top end, larger North Beach holiday homes reached above AU$500 in the comparison snapshots.
The trade-off: Wallaroo’s cheapest beds sit in the motel and holiday-park segment, while the waterfront apartments and larger holiday homes carry the premium in the reviewed snapshots.
Where is the Wallaroo Hotel — and how do the alternatives sit?
Wallaroo is a coastal town in South Australia. The Wallaroo Hotel stands at 26 Alexander Street in the older part of town — the pub-style building behind the “WALLY” nickname. Sonbern Lodge Motel is at 18 John Terrace, a short walk from the main shopping street, bars, cafes and a supermarket. The Cornucopia Hotel is the two-storey pub in the heart of town, metres from the main shopping district and local cafes. Wallaroo Holiday Park sits at 1 Pamir Court near the beach, and Wallaroo Marina Apartments is the waterfront, marina-oriented option in the set.
Water views, sunsets, and seeing the ferry arrive and depart.
Guest review presented on the Wallaroo Holiday Park listing
The search area also extends beyond Wallaroo. Hotels.com Australia’s Wallaroo accommodation results include Port Broughton Hotel Motel as a regional alternative, and the snapshot above notes Kadina Gateway Motor Inn, which sits outside Wallaroo.
The Wallaroo pick: which stay fits your trip
For most first-time visitors, the pick is Sonbern Lodge Motel. It pairs the strongest listed guest score in this set (9.2/10) with the lowest listed rate (from US$42 on Booking.com) and a walkable position near the main shopping street.
For pub-goers and counter-meal hunters, the WALLY is the draw. The Wallaroo Hotel at 26 Alexander Street keeps you inside the town’s pub-and-marina scene; call (08) 8823 2444 for current room rates and menu prices, since neither is published in the sources reviewed.
For families, Wallaroo Holiday Park answers first. The beach-adjacent park at 1 Pamir Court lists a playground, games room, laundry, barbecue grills and bike hire, with a 9.0/10 score from 56 reviews.
For a waterfront room, Wallaroo Marina Apartments is the option. It is positioned as a marina-oriented property with spa facilities and carries an 8.8/10 score on the same listing page.
Wallaroo Hotel — frequently asked questions
Where is the Wallaroo Hotel located?
The Wallaroo Hotel is at 26 Alexander Street, Wallaroo, South Australia 5556.
What is the phone number for the Wallaroo Hotel?
The Wallaroo Hotel’s phone number is (08) 8823 2444.
What time does the Wallaroo Hotel open?
Its Yelp listing shows Monday hours from 10:00 am to 11:59 pm; other weekday hours were not shown in the sources reviewed.
Does the Wallaroo Hotel have another location?
Yes — Wallaroo Hotel Coolatai, at 14-16 Warialda Road, Coolatai NSW 2402, phone 0456 721 557.
Does the Wallaroo Hotel Coolatai serve food?
Yes — the Gwydir Shire tourism site lists counter meals at the Wallaroo Hotel Coolatai.
What is the cheapest hotel rate in Wallaroo?
The lowest listed hotel rate in the reviewed sources is from US$42 per night for Sonbern Lodge Motel on Booking.com.
How close is the Cornucopia Hotel to the main shopping district?
The Cornucopia Hotel sits only metres from Wallaroo’s main shopping district and local cafes, per Gday Pubs.
Sources
- TripAdvisor Australia — Hotels in Wallaroo, South Australia
- trivago — Hotels in Wallaroo, Australia
- Expedia — Wallaroo Holiday Park listing
- Expedia Australia — Wallaroo accommodation and cottages guide
- HotelsCombined — Sonbern Lodge Motel
- Travelocity — Character-filled cottage in Wallaroo (Protea Cottage) listing
- Hotels.com Australia — Wallaroo accommodation
- Expedia Australia — Wallaroo hotels destination guide