Gosford has long been a gateway town - but this hotel changes everything

The small NSW city of Gosford has never had a reputation for being flash. Rather, it's known as a commercial centre and a Sydney commuter hub; and, for travellers, as a gateway to more interesting places rather than a destination in its own right. The Voco Hotel, set within the $375 million Archibald development - two in-your-face towers that rise high above downtown - is part of big ambitions to change that. The hotel marked its opening (and intentions) last December with a glamorous rooftop party where Sneaky Sound System performed.

There's a buzz in the air on the afternoon we arrive - from our ninth-floor room we can see football fans filing from the train station, belting out team anthems as they go, to the Central Coast stadium for an A-League match. It feels like we can see all of Gosford from here, including Brisbane Water, the giant estuary on which Gosford and many other NSW Central Coast towns are located. At street level, the mall is a short stroll away, as is the waterfront.

Voco Gosford wanted to reflect the laid-back vibe and all-Aussie colours of its coastal location, and the lobby sets the scene here. It's a fresh and modern place to walk into, with a small army of rattan lighting hanging from the ceiling, a collection of stylish seating nooks and a gleaming lobby bar, where Scandi-style wooden sea birds are perched elegantly on the bar top. Striking photography of local scenes lines the corridors, so the walk to your room is never dull.

One measure of a hotel room's success is how much you'd like to make away with the furniture, or otherwise just make time to hang out in it for a while. In our king city suite with a balcony - one of 130 rooms - the very cute ice-cream-cart mini bar is in a fashionable shade of eucalypt green, as is the bedhead, above which hang works by local artists. The earthy-hued bathroom is a large and glamorous retreat, with a standalone tub and not-so-local toiletries from Brooklyn-based Apotheke.

From the hotel lobby, you walk into Archies, a vast pub-style space on the former site of the 1884 Union Hotel, which is eulogised in quotes along the walls. Some, like "Even in the roughest decade, when the street was dangerous, the Union stood tall," speak to Gosford's gritty reputation and leave me wanting to know more. But there is dinner at Ironbark to tuck into. It lives up to its "gastro pub" promise - we bypass the burger and schnitty classics for charred bone marrow with squid ink crumb and, from the charcoal oven, Mooloolaba king prawn with yuzu butter.

The menu informs that Ironbark "butchers in-house daily", but we go halvies in a striploin that's been dry-aged for 21 days and cooked, to medium-rare tenderness, over a wood-fired grill. The following night, we head for Archies' second restaurant, Paolo's, a cheery (and noisy) Italian affair where my casarecce egg pasta is handmade and topped with a delicious dollop of stracciatella and crunchy pangrattato.

There's a pool with a swim-up bar on the fifth floor, but our dip is in the ocean at Terrigal, a 20-minute drive east, where we're also keen to check out the new Terrigal Pavilion, a Gold Coast-inspired dining precinct. The Voco has staked Gosford's claim as a Central Coast base for travellers, and its dining is now destination-worthy, too, but there is still much to explore beyond.

Astra, a rooftop bar and Japanese-inspired restaurant on the 23rd floor, hums and sparkles with big-city energy. It makes the most of magnificent views, and is booked out both nights we are there, although there is room at the long bar for an after-dinner digestif.

The writer was a guest of Voco Gosford