This holiday home has just been voted Australia's best

There's just something about turrets. A building can be beautiful, but add a turret and it becomes magical, fantastical, romantic. You really can't call your home a castle unless it has one. Our home for the weekend is most definitely a castle. Its sundrenched walls and arches soar skywards, surrounded by lush palms and tropical flowers. Lancet windows frame a dramatic portico entrance, where the gracious timber double doors even have little face-height hatches so you (or your guards) can peep out at visitors.

Swan-white against sapphire sky, "Mykonos" channels the Greek Isles on a royal scale, as if a modern-day fairy godmother waved a wand and brought to life a European summer palace here on the Sunshine Coast.

It's easy to understand why the four-bedroom, three-level paradise has just won the annual Stayz Holiday Home of the Year award, beating many of Australia's most magnificent residences. It was the special "Mediterranean castle aura" that clinched Mykonos the top gong, says Stayz Travel Expert Darren Finch. "It offers Aussies a glimpse of a Euro summer, but without the added expense or long flight."

And then there's that splendid turret. Perched up on the rooftop like a sugar-icing crown, it lifts this remarkable building from fabulous to fairytale.

My daughter and I want to climb up there immediately. She's 11 and I'm feeling even younger as we step inside to explore and the house begins to cast its spell.

A grand circular staircase makes a spectacular centrepiece for the two-floor foyer. You can imagine gliding up and down in a gown - but you'd kick your glass slippers off first, because Mykonos is very much a place for barefoot luxury. If a princess lived here, she'd have a surfboard rather than a carriage and pack her bathers for the ball. An outdoor shower by the front door and boogie boards to borrow remind you that Sunshine Beach, with its white sand and great breaks, is just 200 metres away.

All four bedrooms boast bathrooms large enough to accommodate a small cocktail party, and the beds are swathed in butter-soft linens in soothing hues. Deep rugs caress your toes, and billowy curtains filter the sunlight bathing every surface. A palette of light earth and ocean tones - terracotta, mist, sand, moss - warms the white backdrop. Nothing jars. The whole place feels like a gentle exhale.

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As we wander through airy spaces, we find little vignettes of eye-candy objects artfully grouped in the wall recesses and on the designer furniture. We ooh and ah over vases, dishes, ornaments and paintings, and take photos to teach ourselves how to expertly arrange nice things. The kitchen is a triumph of form and function. Bowls, mugs, tea towels, knives - even the humblest implements seem gallery-worthy.

At last we find the stone staircase leading up to the top-floor turret. It's a cosy circular hideaway, lined with daybeds and cushions, books on a coffee table and the beginnings of sunset pouring in through little windows. Two portholes give the sense of a lighthouse.

Step out onto the rooftop and you'll see why; beyond the palms, ocean vistas unfold. We settle into a comfy couch and watch the Coral Sea and sky turn from rose to dusk, until the night's first stars twinkle overhead.

I have a prince already, but if I was in the market for one, this turret would seal the deal - especially if he was the sort of prince who loved to rustle up a barbecue banquet in a deluxe open-air rooftop kitchen, with aperitifs served around an outdoor fireplace. He'd probably ride in a white Tesla, like Brandon from Tesla Transfers, who whisked us here away from the real world earlier.

Next morning, we address the important question of where to spend the morning. This refers only to the house, which has so many different areas we could fill our weekend simply moving from floor to floor.

Mykonos sleeps eight, and a group that size could very easily disperse throughout the various spaces, then converge for a barbecue on the roof. And with that many people chipping in, Mykonos becomes an affordable family fortress.

"We really should go out," I say, because beyond our castle doors there's a splendid kingdom: Noosa, with all its tempting boutiques and cafes. But then we find that Sunshine Beach, on our doorstep, has plenty to keep us within a stroll: a cluster of gift and homewares stores and some excellent eating options, from beachfront Sunshine Beach Surf Life Saving Club to locals' favourite Italian restaurant Fratellini, where the seafood linguine is super-fresh and delicious.

Next day we venture a few kilometres further, to Noosa's beachside shopping avenue, Hastings Street. Beware: if Mykonos is your gateway drug to a craving for gorgeous, beach-inspired objects, Hastings Street will spiral you into full-blown addiction. Bristling with luxe boutiques, handcrafted goodies, art and fashion, it's an easy place to empty your wallet. We splurge on souvenirs. We're princesses, after all. We need treasure.

Our knight in a white Tesla arrives, and it's time to return to reality. But we'll be back - next time with the entire royal family.

Getting there: Mykonos is a 30-minute drive from Sunshine Coast Airport.

Staying there: Mykonos sleeps eight. Book with Stayz, average $1157 per night. See stayz.com.au

More of the best holiday homes: Mykonos beat stiff competition from some of Australia's most magnificent residences to win Holiday Home of the Year. Silver went to Sinclair's of Berry, an eight-bedroom, nine-bathroom luxury farm in Berry, NSW. Birdwood Estate, a four-bedroom chateau in stunning grounds near Wilyabrup, Margaret River, WA won bronze.

The writer was a guest of Stayz.