Wānaka’s biggest advantage as a South Island base is not just what you can do lakeside, but what sits within day-trip range. Mount Aspiring National Park begins on Wānaka’s western edge and quickly turns into a landscape of long river valleys, waterfalls, glaciers, and beech and podocarp forest. Conditions can change quickly here, so a […]
New Zealand’s Southern Lakes: A luxury playground worth slowing down for
If you have ever looked at a map of the South Island and wondered where the scenery turns from beautiful to completely unreal, the answer is the Southern Lakes. Queenstown might be the draw card that brings you to the Southern Lakes, but let it also be the launchpad for discovering what the locals commonly […]
Wānaka: Your South Island base
On the shores of New Zealand’s fourth largest lake, surrounded by the Southern Alps and with a national park almost at the end of the street, Wānaka looks like a classic vacation town. In practice, it works far better as a base – somewhere you unpack once and then sprawl from the door into vineyards, […]
Spring in New Zealand’s South Island
New Zealand’s South Island provides an exceptional winter playground that rivals the world’s most exclusive alpine destinations. Spring in the Southern Hemisphere – from September through November – presents discerning travellers with an extraordinary opportunity to experience premier skiing and snowboarding in one of the globe’s most spectacular settings. The South Island’s dramatic tapestry of […]