The South Island of New Zealand is not a fly-and-flop destination, and Wānaka least of all. If you’re planning a significant trip together, a honeymoon or a milestone anniversary or simply the kind of holiday you’ve been putting off long enough that now’s the time, then the default templates of a beach resort, city break, or overwater bungalow, don’t quite account for a place like this. The landscape is too large and too varied. The things to do together are too different from anything on offer elsewhere.

What Wānaka offers, specifically, is the combination of a private base and a region that has almost too much going on around it. A private home on the lake, with the Buchanan Peaks across the water and a hot tub on the deck, is the kind of accommodation that changes the pace of a trip from the first morning. But it’s

Keep reading this article on A Luxury Travel Blog.