Where You Stay · New Zealand
Character Stays
The finest night of a journey is not always a lodge.
Chosen for Character
Some places earn their night not with scale but with character — a host who pours the first drink, a stone courtyard from the gold-rush years, a bed under canvas with the Waikato hills all around it.
These are the smaller places we return to between the grand ones: owner-hosted lodges, private villas and houses with a story. They suit travellers who would rather be known by name than by room number, and journeys that need a change of pace between big days.
As with everything we place you in, there are no rates here and nothing to book. Where you stay is a decision about the whole journey, and that is a conversation. For the superlodges and high-country stations, see Luxury Lodges.
Lodge
Acacia Cliffs Lodge
Taupō, North Island
The owner-hosted alternative to Taupō’s larger lodges: four bedrooms, lake views and a relaxed pace, with the hosts looking after you themselves.
Lodge
Olivers
Clyde, Central Otago
A run of restored 1860s gold-rush buildings in Clyde, at the heart of Central Otago’s wine country: schist walls, big Central reds, and breakfast in what was the general store.
Glamping
Wild Canvas
Waitomo, Waikato
Wild Canvas puts a proper bed, a hot shower and a firepit under the Waikato stars — the very comfortable kind of camping.
Tell us how you like to stay
Grand or small, hosted or entirely alone, we will match each night to the journey, not the other way around.
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