Looking for a fun place to visit this holidays or a Swan Hill caravan park? Big 4 Swan Hill could be your anwer!
This holiday park is located in Swan Hill which is just under four hours northwest of Melbourne on the Murray River. It’s straightforward to reach and full of great facilities, especially for familes. There’s a pool, splash park, jumping pillow and more.
Swan Hill itself is an historic town with some worthy attractions and there’s plenty to do in the area when you aren’t hanging out at the park.
If you are wondering if the Big 4 caravan park Swan Hill is right for you, keep reading as we cover absolutely everything about this park below from where it is located to the accommodation and all of its facilities. It’s lots of fun!
Click here to see the latest prices for Big4 Swan Hill now.
Note that if you are looking for a Swan Hill Big 4, there are two of them. One is this park, Big 4 Swan Hill, and the other is Big 4 Riverside Swan Hill. This article is only about Big 4 Swan Hill caravan park. We picked this park over the Riverside one as it had better facilities for our family.
Contents
Big4 Swan Hill Review
I visited the Big 4 holiday park Swan Hill with two of my kids aged 6 and 10 at the time.
They offer a contactless check-in which I opted in for and gave them the information they wanted. They were then meant to message me the cabin number when it was ready which didn’t happen and I ended up having to go to the reception anyway. This wasn’t a big deal and it was quick checking in, especially as they already had my information.
Location
Address: 186 Murray Valley Highway, Swan Hill
The Big4 caravan park Swan Hill is located on the edge of town. As the town is quite small, this means you are only a few minutes drive to the centre of things. It would be an awkward place to be without a car.
Rooms
There are a range of cabin options and if you have a RV or tent, you can also rent a site instead.
The cabins range from studio options for two people up to three bedroom/eight person options, perfect for bigger families. They all come with air conditioning, heating, bathrooms and fully equipped kitchens so you’ll be set for your stay whatever you choose.
You can pay more for better presented and roomier cabins or for extras like a spa or being next to the pool. Linen is provided.
Two Bedroom Villa
We stayed in a two bedroom villa which suited the three of us well.
It was a bit confusing where to park when we first arrived. At reception on check-in, they had given me a map and drawn a line to our cabin, but when I drove there, I found the cabin but also lots of no parking signs. I ended up having to reverse out (not fun with so many kids around) and tried to work out which was mine from behind to park there.
Later, I realise there is a nearby parking lot – I wish this had been told to me and saved me some confusion.
On entry to the cabin, we found the combined living, dining and kitchen. The kitchen was well equipped with fridge, stove, oven and microwave. The downside was that it wasn’t as clean as I would like, and some thing were missing like a knife better than a butter knife.
The fridge and freezer were gross and needed a good clean. Once I went to cook, I found the pots and pans also needed cleaning and there were many small dirty areas in the kitchen – like the knobs on the oven. It’s a shame as it really let down the place.
There also wasn’t a bin which I found strange and annoying.
There was a couch as well as a big table and six chairs, flatscreen TV with DVD player and a split cycle air conditoner/heater. This was well positioned in the middle of the cabin, and it kept the whole cabin cool in the very hot weather we had when we visited.
The bathroom was next to the kitchen and had a toilet, shower and basin. There was a hair dryer and soap. Unfortunately, the toilet seat was broken.
The two bedrooms were comfortable. One had a queen sized bed and the other, a double bed. This room type can also have the second room having two bunk beds so could work for bigger families.
Both bedrooms had cupboards and the main bedroom had a television as well.
The cabin was comfortable and quiet. It’s just a shame about the cleanliness.
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Big4 Swan Hill Splash Park
One of the big plusses of this Big 4 Swan Hill accommodation is the splash park. It’s why we picked this holiday park, actually, as they are quite rare in Victoria accommodation.
This is like a water playground with two water slides, a huge splash tipping bucket and lots of different spraying equipment including cannons.
We were disappointed the find the Splash Park was really only suitable for toddlers and preschoolers – the two advertised slides were very small and it was really just one slide.
My kids were disappointed and only played here once for about five minutes.
Facilities
In addition to the Splash Park, there are tons of fun facilities here.
You won’t want to miss the solar heated swimming pool. There is also a toddler pool. This pool goes up to 1.8 metres deep and works for all ages. It can definitely get crowded in the later afternoon though.
On the hot hot hot day we were there, a park employee/owner came round and gave us all free zooper doopers which definitely helped with the heat and to feel like this is an awesome place to be.
There is the standard Big4 jumping pillow (under a shade cloth thankfully) and adventure playground as well as the pedal go-karts and a track to ride them. The playground was a little young for my kids too, unfortunately.
There is also an 18-hole mini golf course (for an extra charge) and a “sensory and toddler” indoor play room which sounds more impressive than it was.
There is a games room with air hockey and other games. We were a little disappointed by this when the first game we played was car racing and the wheel was broken. $2 gone and it turned us off.
In addition to all these fun facilities, there’s also male and female amenity blocks and three private family bathrooms. Laundry facilities are available as well as three different BBQ areas which are free. The camp kitchen has a fridge and a television.
There are many more services and offerings and the list really goes on and on. The reception area is also a shop where you can buy a cold drink, ice cream and a few other things. You can also hire board games and DVDs among other things.
An extra bonus for us was the school holiday program. This changes daily and includes craft activities, the facilities at the park and family fun nights with live music, food vans and games. There are also outdoor movie nights and pancake breakfasts.
I must admit that this was another thing that sounded more impressive on their website than in reality as its only one activity a day plus a movie. We were only able to attend one thing with our three nights there and I had hoped there would be at least one thing a day we could do as we spent most of this time at the park.
In general, things were a little run down. But overall, the park is well presented. We visited not long after the Swan Hill was flooded so hopefully, things improve.
Dining
There are no restaurants at this park but you can get some snacks at the on-site convenience store.
During the school holiday programs, there are some dining options if you are lucky enough to hit an activity with food – like the one activity we were able to go to was a pancake breakfast.
Final Words
Overall, we had a great stay here. There was a lot we enjoyed, like when we spent an evening out the front of our cabin with all the kids having an ad hoc cricket game out the front. Just priceless. Or the free zooper doopers by the pool.
The only real problem was the cleanliness in the cabin and some broken things – like the toilet seat and the arcade game.
It’s all understandable after the impacts of the pandemic and flooding, but it seems like such a shame as it wouldn’t take much for it to be a lot better.
I also felt like the site paints this great park full of things to do and while nothing was incorrect, most facilities just weren’t as good as they sounded or were for younger kids than my 6 and 10 year olds.
Still, we had a lot of fun and I would return – but I’d definitely pay for a better cabin and have more realistic expectations.
I feel like this review may have come across overly negative, but I am being picky. It also doesn’t take into account that I only paid $200 a night which is a fantastic bargain in mid January for a family at a park with these types of facilities.
So I do recommend this Big4 Swan Hill. Just pay for a better cabin and have realistic expectations :)
Click here for the latest prices and to make a booking.
Looking for things to do while you are in Swan Hill? You can find our full guide to things to do in Swan Hill here and all our guides to Victoria here.
