Summer meets the city at this elegant beach-side hotel

This seaside hotel is a terrific spot for a sand-in-your-toes summer holiday.

This iconic hotel is on the site of the former Oceanic Hotel, a storied 1920s-era landmark that was demolished in the late 1980s to make way for its nine-storey, L-shaped replacement. Part of the IHG Hotels and Resorts group, the Crowne Plaza Sydney Coogee Beach unveiled phase one of a multimillion-dollar refurbishment, including half of its 209 rooms and the bar and dining areas, just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020. Phase two, which will see the rest of the rooms and the pool deck redone, is awaiting a start date.

A dominant feature on beach-front Arden Street in the historic eastern Sydney suburb of Coogee, the hotel is close to shops, restaurants, bars and, of course, the gorgeous Coogee Beach, which is just across the road. It's a terrific spot for a sand-in-your-toes summer beach holiday. You might be in Australia's biggest city, but it just doesn't feel like it.

From the yellow-striped shirts worn by staff to the minty green and pastel blue shades of the lobby's bar and dining areas, it feels like a breezy summer day in here. You want to grab a cocktail and slip into a booth-seat ASAP, looking out across Arden Street to the big Coogee blue. Beach-side chic, nailed.

Our king room with a balcony delivers on its ocean-view promise, although naturally the coastal views get more sweeping the further up you go (and as long as you're on the right side of the hotel; there are cheaper "village view" rooms as well). The seaside vibe is captured in a carpet design that reminds of cresting waves, blonde wood finishes and beach photography on the walls. In addition to rooms, the hotel has a range of one-bedroom suites with brand-new bathrooms and everything oriented towards the magic panorama. The movies are free and our room had a handy desk area, cleverly squeezed in between the bed and the bathroom.

Bathed in dappled sunlight, Shutters restaurant is where we eat breakfast, the full spread including pastries baked fresh and delivered warm to the buffet. Dinner is at the hotel's street-level Estate seafood restaurant. The share-plate dining at this US West Coast-inspired eatery is seriously good, the menu bursting with lip-smacking flavour combos: we eat grilled king prawns with cajun butter and charred lime, baked scallop with ginger gel and jalapeno; yellow fin tuna with black garlic mustard and yuzu ... you get the idea.

The hotel has a tennis court and pool deck but, really, the action you want to get into is all along the coastline. In one direction, the six-kilometre clifftop walk takes you all the way to Bondi; and in the other, classic ocean baths are like a time machine back to the 1900s and even earlier - McIver's Ladies Baths were built in 1886, and the National Trust-listed Wylie's Baths, where a boardwalk soars on stilts above the rock and concrete swimming pool, dates to 1907. You'll want a swim, of course, whether in pools or the ocean proper - and the Justin Hemmes' pleasure palace Coogee Pavilion is another must-do.

The sliding door to our balcony may be shut for the night, but as we drift off to sleep we can still hear the waves breaking on the Coogee shore. Sweet dreams guaranteed.

Where: Crowne Plaza Sydney Coogee Beach, 242 Arden Street, Coogee, NSW.

How much: Weekend stays start from $289 a night.

Sarah Maguire was a guest of Crowne Plaza Coogee Beach