Luxury Lodges · The Head of the Lake
Blanket Bay
Glenorchy, Queenstown Lakes
Forty-five minutes past Queenstown, and a full century further from it.
The Lodge
Blanket Bay is the lodge at the head of Lake Wakatipu, all schist stone and reclaimed timber under the Humboldt Mountains, forty-five minutes beyond Queenstown on the road to Glenorchy. Of all the southern lodges it is the one that most feels built from its own landscape.
The great room is the heart of it: a fireplace you could stand in, lake the colour of gunmetal through cathedral windows, and the mountains doing something different with the light every hour.
This is the piece of Queenstown country people imagine when they say Queenstown — and it sits far enough from town that you keep none of the traffic and all of the scenery. The paradox suits our guests well.
The Lodge, In Pictures
The great room at Blanket Bay
The Practicalities, Honestly
The Nights It Deserves
Three. The lodge rewards a day you give entirely to the lake, and most people only realise that on day two.
Who It Suits
Couples and small family groups who want the South Island’s drama without a town attached. Riders, walkers and anyone happy in a helicopter.
When To Go
December to March for long evenings on the terrace; June to August for snow on the Humboldts, fires and the lake to yourself.
Getting There
Forty-five minutes by car from Queenstown airport, or fifteen by helicopter, landing on the front lawn.
From Our Notes
What twenty-five years of placing guests here has taught us
01
The Chalet Suites justify their name — separate from the main lodge, with outdoor tubs and the better angle on the lake. For a family or two couples travelling together, ask us about the Villa before anything else.
02
The front lawn is a licensed helipad, which changes what a stay here means: Fiordland, the Dart Valley and Mount Aspiring’s glaciers are all inside a morning’s flying. We design at least one long heli-day into almost every Blanket Bay stay.
03
Glenorchy village, ten minutes up the road, is worth an unhurried afternoon. The Routeburn’s day-walkable first hours start just beyond it. You do not need the full track to understand why people cross the world for it.
How We Place It
Blanket Bay anchors the southern lakes: we pair it with Fiordland by helicopter, Wānaka over the Crown Range, or Central Otago’s vineyards an hour east. It also hands over beautifully to Fiordland Lodge when a journey runs deeper south.
Blanket Bay, placed properly
A lodge is only ever one piece of a journey. Tell us what drew you here and we will design the days around it: the right nights, the right season, the right hands.
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