With a five-star hotel, convention centre, and a raft of new attractions, Penrith is undergoing a makeover as the city’s west-facing gateway.
By the time the first passengers roll their suitcases out of Western Sydney International Airport in late 2026, looking for something to do, Penrith plans to be ready.
It’s a gamble. The number of flights and passengers who will come to the new $5.3 billion airport remains an unknown. Metro trains will arrive a year after the aeroplanes. And even then, they’ll only link up to St Marys, an outer suburb not known for anything much.
But at Penrith, 8km to the west, the region’s first five-star hotel, Pullman Sydney Penrith, was created on the Field of Dreams model: Build it and they will come.
“The airport changes everything,” explains Charlie Young, general manager of the of the hotel and the Western Sydney Convention Centre [WSCC] next door.
“We’re not competing against the ICC [International Convention Centre in central Sydney],” Young tells Forbes Australia. “We see ourselves competing against Adelaide and Perth and these other smaller cities. One of the big selling points is being right in the middle between the new airport and the Blue Mountains and close to Sydney Zoo.”
The hotel and conference centre are owned by Panthers Group, the community-owned entity that runs the licensed club behind the Penrith Panthers rugby league team, winners of the last four NRL premierships.
For decades, the Panthers Group quietly accumulated land—67 acres in total—buying and building around their rugby league roots. Now they’re spending it, investing in the 152-room five-star hotel, the convention centre, and a future that sees Penrith as Sydney’s new west-facing gateway.
They brought on Young’s employer, “white-label” hotel manager Trilogy Hotels, to run the Pullman.
“Turn left instead of right at the airport and you’re here,” Young tells Forbes Australia. That left turn is part of the bigger play.
Panthers was further broadening its entertainment empire of six licensed clubs while also playing landlord to the iFly indoor skydiving, Freak Virtual Reality and Cables ski park all in the same precinct.
“We’re changing perceptions,” says Jo Naumovski, WSCC director of sales and marketing. “People hear ‘Penrith’ and think it’s too far. But once they’re here, they’re surprised. The road infrastructure makes it easier than they expect. And when the airport opens, it’ll be 20 minutes away.”
But they’re not the only game in town. On the south-eastern fringe of the new airport, the NSW Government is pouring $1.2 billion into a new suburb, Bradfield, a 114-hectare mini-metropolis intended to lure aerospace, defence, and advanced manufacturing. The project aims to create 20,000 jobs, 10,000 homes and unlock $20 billion in private investment.
For Penrith, it all throws up the potential for more visitors, corporate events and tourists. But what has it got to offer? Forbes Australia went to check it out.
At Marcel Bar & Bistro inside the Pullman, chef John Giovanni Pugliano slides truffle shavings onto a confit duck and cheese ball at our table. His tattoos—a culinary riot of knives, mushrooms, and tomatoes—flash under the downlights as he slices. The truffles? Sourced from an old school friend of his who has a farm at Essington, just over the mountains.
Pugliano comes with quite a pedigree. He was chef de partie at London’s Nobu in the early 2000s, before holding executive chef positions at Langham’s Eaton Hotel in Hong Kong, and Fairmont Hotels and Resorts in the UAE.
His brilliant truffle menu is matched with wines chosen by food and beverage manager Dylan Sweep, who shrugs when asked about his selections. “I could say it’s years of training,” he jokes, “but really, it’s because I like drinking.”
The next day we walk across the road to iFly’s indoor skydiving, suiting up in orange overalls for two minutes of whirling wind tunnel flight. My partner is nervous but she ends up swooping 13 metres to the ceiling with the instructor’s steady hand guiding her, loving it. Then it’s VR zombies at Freak, where she lasts exactly one minute before leaving me to single-handedly save the world from a zombie apocalypse. Tick.
The next day, at Sydney Zoo, we’re feeding deer meat to Charlie, a 105kg Sumatran tiger. The keepers remind us—repeatedly—not to bend our fingers through the mesh. “The tongue is like sandpaper,” the guide says. “Give it half an hour, it could strip you to bone.” Needless to say, it’s teeth could do it faster on a bent pinkie.
Out the back, we meet the hyenas. Less scary than expected, but smellier and even more interesting. “They’re the most successful animals in Africa,” the keeper tells us, launching into a lesson on matriarchal societies, pseudopenises, and stomach acid potent enough to dissolve anthrax.
Unfortunately, high wind prevented us from getting on the roof of Scenic World’s cable car for a thrill seeking dusk experience out across the Jamison Valley. But Scenic World managing director, Anthea Hammon said more accommodation was needed across western Sydney and the Blue Mountains. But also more attractions. “My saying is, ‘more things for more people to do in more places’.
“The other thing that I would recommend is that suitable government land be made available on the fringes of the national park, or other natural areas that can be provided as long-term leases to have attractions put on them. This reduces the upfront cost of capital to get something started and brings in revenue for the government.”
All of it is part of the new Penrith pitch. Work. Stay. Play. No need to go back to the city.
There’s more coming. Australia’s first indoor snow centre, the $750 million Winter Sports World, is due to break ground on a paddock behind Panthers. It will also have its own hotel, with year-round views of the snow.
There’s talk of shuttles from the airport to the hotels. A refurbished BlueBet Stadium, formerly Penrith Park and Penrith Stadium, will open in two years.
But for now, the Pullman and its precinct are first out of the gate.
“We want people to be able to stay longer and put business and pleasure together,” says Naumovski. “You can come for the conference, then stay for the weekend.”
