One of the best places I've stayed in my three trips to New Zealand…read more Decent room with en-suite shower and toilet. Enormous lounge with a beautiful view of Mt. Cook Deck with two barbecues Large kitchen with lots of pots, pans, and utensils and three different fridges Quiet at night Good value for money, if you book ahead.

The Lodge offers no-frills, rustic (i.e. outdated) accommodations. Our room on the 2nd floor was…read morefairly small and most of the extra space was taken up by bunk beds. We did have a great view of Mt Cook. Staff was friendly. Tip: There are not a lot of options for food in the area. If you bring your own, you can take advantage of the large common kitchen with multiple fridges, cooktops and plenty of plates/utensils.

Well where to start ... it is a very big hostel and during my stay it was crowded. The facilities…read morewere not really clean but this is just a result of ignorant guests that don't care about others. Kitchen is big and offers multiple ovens and places to cook with gas or electric. Free WI-FI Towels just 1$ donation Really beautiful location Inter City Bus drop & pick up at hostel Nice staff and good value for money

My review comes with some fine print... I arrived at 12:15am after a 13 hour drive from Picton (the…read moremain highway to Franz Josef was closed due to a rock / land slide). We were exhausted and just wanted to sleep. The address in google maps will point you too far down the road FYI! So we wandered around in the dark a bit... Once we found it? It was a huge relief. They had provided us a door code earlier in the day to enter for after-hours check-in and it was super easy to get our key and find our room. Granted, everyone was in their rooms so that probably helped it seem more quiet and clean but I was still surprised with just HOW quiet and clean it was... the room was small (2 twin beds and a small set of drawers w/ towels and extra blanket), but it served its purpose. The bathroom was just down the hall and was very clean and bright and spacious. We only walked by the kitchen a couple of times but it seemed very big and welcoming and clean. If I visited Franz Josef again, I would definitely stay here. Everything (heli / hikes, cafe, short hikes) are within walking distance too.

The staff at this hotel (especially Abbey) are amazing. We got stranded in the area because our…read more electric rental car ran out of batteries. Abbey made sure that we were taken care of, got us a room last minute, and helped us get our car to a charging station. The dedication and kindness we experienced here is second to none!! She saved our trip, and made sure that we had a safe place to spend the night! I would 100% recommend this place to anyone!

We were planning our trip to the area about three weeks in advance, and all we could find was one…read moreof the basic cabins with five bunkbeds! Even though there were two of us. It was a very basic room with a toilet and sink. The showers and bathrooms were kept clean and Checked frequently. There is a nice big kitchen. You can use to cook food and lots of camping spaces. It can get pretty windy in this location so I was glad we were not in a tent. They have a very nice café with delicious baked goods and drinks and friendly stuff. This was the last room in the whole area for rent for the Saturday night. We were there in February. I would have liked to have stayed closer to Mount Cook and would if there had been a room available.

I didn't think much of it upon arrival, but it quickly became clear that this was the best choice…read more I came here with a large school group which were spread across four cabins all suited with 5 bunk beds and it was perfect. The rooms were spacious enough to house all our items and for us to move around easily. Although the beds were all quite squeaky, it didn't bother us too much. The sinks are not in the same room as the toilet which was odd but they both worked well and were fully equipped. The beds also had fitted sheets and excellent pillows. The shower block was a bit small but worked well even between a school group, there was also hot water which is nice. The lake is less than a five minute walk and has absolutely stunning views - especially at sunset. The communal kitchens were not that busy and could fit many people, it was also fully equipped with cutlery, rice cookers etc. There was also lots of room for tents and campers. The dining hall was quite spacious and had plenty of seats for campers.

Went on a flight with them and some of my coworkers and we had a great time. Tim was our pilot and…read morehe took us over MT Cook, and several of the glaciers and glacier lakes of the area. It was a fantastic experience and one of the highlights of my NZ trip.

I've stayed twice at the YHA Lake Tekapo, first in October 2019 and then again in June 2020. The…read moreworld's changed in that time, but the YHA has maintained its friendly staff, affordable prices, and clean rooms. This YHA is interesting in that it has a full-service restaurant on site. It's worth it to sign up for a YHA membership if you plan on travelling around New Zealand and staying at other YHA locations. The membership will pay for itself rather quickly. This YHA sits on some of the most expensive real estate imaginable. It's right on the lakefront. It's next door to the Dark Sky Project, which runs nightly tours up to the University of Canterbury's Mt. John Observatory. The YHA is also walking distance to the Church of the Good Shepherd, perhaps the most-photographed church in the area.

We have stayed here multiple times and it's great! Beautiful spot, new and modern facilities, great…read moreprice. The lakeside private rooms are a little more pricey but totally worth waking up in the morning next to the lake. People outside can see in though!

Pros: -nice views of Aoraki from the property…read more-hiking/walking trails of a variety of difficulty levels (15 min and flat up to 4-5 hours with 1000m of gain) -staff are nice and very patient -road to get there from eastern side is well maintained Cons: -Expensive for middling quality accomodations. It's cheaper than the other hotel (Hermitage) on the property but at ~$270/night it's not cheap. Examples of quality issues include.... -"King" bed is actually two twin beds pushed together. They put a pad (more like a cloth? About the thickness of a kitchen mitt) to cover the gap but you could definitely still feel it -Forgot to take a picture, sadly, but the top sheet of the bed had what appeared to be a dirty blackish grey bird footprint(?!) on it upon arrival -Toilet leaked water extensively from the base when you flushed or used the shower (see photo). Presumably this was clean water due to a faulty O ring but it was gross nonetheless -Breakfast is not included. Cheapest breakfast option on the property is $40 for the breakfast buffet. At a cheap motel I could see not having breakfast included, but for $270 a night this was a bit much. The kicker is that breakfast is not actually in the Lodge itself either - you have to walk 400m or so outside over to the Hermitage. They have a captive audience so they can charge whatever they want I suppose

The Mt. Cook Lodge is a 1-2 star motel in a five star location! Beautiful views surround the lodge,…read morewhich provides all the basics required after a day spent exploring the area - fresh simple towels, functional hard beds, wifi ($5.00 per day), beer, and simple food menu in a cafeteria type atmosphere. Free parking is also offered with plenty of spaces. The private room itself is simple (see photos), and fine for the $100.00 price. They also have several different dorm rooms, cannot imagine them being much more basic than the private room. The private room was very dated, felt dirty, and in much need of some TLC. However, it served is purpose for our one night in Mt. Cook. Staff was friendly upon check in and throughout our interaction. Decent pub menu with pricey options such as pizza ($22.00), steaks ($30.00+), salad ($18.00), fish n chips ($22.50), burgers ($22.50). We arrived around nine and they refused to serve us, claiming the kitchen was closed while others were able to sneak in orders. Luckily we were able to grab a couple pints before heading offer to bed, though the draft offerings are limited to some of new Zealand's lower quality beers (Macs & Speights). While I would much prefer staying somewhere a little more updates and clean, I would have no problem staying here for a couple of nights whilst exploring the area. Just understand what you are getting.

Such a nice stay in Franz Josef! The room was decorated beautifully with everything we needed for…read moreour short visit. The rooms can be challenging to find, as the place has lots of twisty roads leading to different cottages, but once you're there it feels like your own private treehouse. The Monsoon Restaurant was too busy for us to get dinner there, but we did go for breakfast. Food was very good but service was INCREDIBLY slow. Don't go if you're in a hurry. But good food and a nice place to relax if you've got plenty of time.

We absolutely loved our stay at Rainforest Retreat! We were only in Franz Josef Glacier for one…read morenight, but I wish we had longer in these amazing accommodations. We were in a Gecko Cottage, which was in it's own little area with a few other cottages. We had a hot tub that was only for the cottages, so it was basically like we had it all to ourselves. Our room had a king bed, a little living space, and a bathroom. It was perfect for the 2 of us. And the location is great! Everything we needed was in walking distance, including a grocery store. There is also a restaurant as part of the resort, so it's easy to go get a meal and some cocktails without having to drive anywhere. We would happily return if in New Zealand again.