Mud Hut Motel Coober Pedy review | SA’s Great Travel Planner

The logical stopping point on the first night of a trip to the Far North of South Australia is Coober Pedy, a nine-hour drive from Adelaide. It’s hard to go past the Mud Hut Motel.

As you journey into the Outback, the body relaxes as the peaceful environment takes over. By day the region is alive with travellers; the Stuart Highway from Port Augusta to Coober Pedy highlights the tourism interest, as convoys of caravans and four-wheel-drive vehicles cruise the area.

Surrounding us in the South Australian Outback, on a latitude roughly north of Port Augusta, lies 625,000sq km or about 63 per cent of the state. It is an area about two-and-a-half times larger than Victoria or the United Kingdom.

While only about 4500 people live in this vast area, for many the Outback remains the heartland of the nation; it is a never-never land, without boundaries or exact definition, but with a special place in their hearts and minds.

The battle for the frontier these days is about winning the hearts and minds of the rush of Australian and international visitors seeking a place to rest for the night.

As we hurtle along the Stuart Highway, past the Oz Minerals turn-off to the right and then past turns to Mount Eba, The Twins and Ingomar stations, the traffic has dimmed significantly by nightfall.

The logical stopping point on the first night of a trip to the Far North of South Australia is Coober Pedy, a nine-hour drive from Adelaide.

The town’s lights shine brightly from afar. A sign to the right points to William Creek, pilot Trevor Wright’s famous bush inn and outback beacon to hordes of visitors from Australia and overseas.

In Coober Pedy, the choice of the night’s resting place is plentiful, from hotels and motels to at least five underground stays including the Desert Cave Hotel, another beacon in the desert. But for personal service, ease and a name for quality and value, it’s hard to go past the Mud Hut Motel. Built of rammed earth in a style sympathetic to the Australian outback, it has long been the motel of choice for those seeking quality.

The Mud Hut Motel, Coober Pedy. Picture: Matt Turner

The Mud Hut is among the standouts in Cooper Pedy for its clean, well decorated, quiet and comfortable rooms. Its rammed earth exterior blends with the outback environment of the opal mining town.

The small independent, owner-operated motel includes 24 motel rooms and four spacious two-bedroom apartments with cooking facilities and large lounge areas.

The facilities making it a real oasis in the desert include airconditioning and heating, comfortable beds, free unlimited wireless broadband internet and off-street parking, close to rooms in an enclosed compound. The staff are very helpful and give old-fashioned country service in a modern complex, which also has laundry facilities and a restaurant on site.

The Mud Hut Motel, Coober Pedy, has clean, quiet and comfortable rooms. Picture: Matt Turner

Dinner at a local favourite, Tom & Mary’s Greek Taverna, is off due to maintenance, but John’s Pizza Bar & Restaurant offers a surprising choice of sumptuous, wholesome food on a Sunday night, decrying its humble appearance.

Build it and they will come – as long as the food and wine is half reasonable – is the recipe for success for outback tourism operators. And sticking out in this vast, mostly uninhabited landscape, Coober Pedy is a fascinating, enjoyable place to visit. And while you’re there, the Mud Hut is an ideal base from which to explore the old town’s wonders.

Reviews are unannounced and paid for by SAWeekend.

This review was first published in September 2015 and details updated in March 2021.

• Lot 102 St Nicholas St, Coober Pedy
• [phone]
• mudhuthotel.com.au
• [e-mail]
• LOCATION Coober Pedy, 850km northwest of Adelaide on the Stuart Highway.
• ACCOMMODATION The small owner-operated Mud Hut Motel offers hotel rooms with ensuite or four spacious apartments with two bedrooms, cooking facilities and lounge.
• FACILITIES Hotel room includes a queen-sized bed, but rate is for a single person only. Free wireless internet, flat-screen television, airconditioning, tea and coffee making facilities, fridge, four-person table setting, lounge suite, restaurant on site.
• PRICE $135 a night for a single motel room.