Blanket Bay

Look, I’ve stayed at plenty of fancy places, but Blanket Bay honestly made me understand what all the fuss is about with New Zealand’s luxury lodge scene. The drive out to Glenorchy alone is worth it – you know that winding road along Lake Wakatipu where you keep pulling over for photos? Well, Blanket Bay sits right at the end of that journey, tucked into this impossibly perfect spot where the lake meets these dramatic mountains that look like they were carved yesterday.

What gets me about this place is how they’ve managed to make something so polished feel completely unstudied. The main lodge has these floor-to-ceiling windows that basically turn the entire Southern Alps into your living room wallpaper, and honestly, I spent way too much time just sitting there with coffee watching the light change on the peaks. The rooms – well, they’re more like private retreats really – each have their own character, but what I loved was how quiet everything is. No road noise, no neighboring rooms through thin walls, just the occasional bird call and maybe some wind through the beech trees. The staff somehow appears exactly when you need them and vanishes when you don’t, which is this magical hospitality thing that’s harder to pull off than it looks. They clearly know the area inside and out too – our guide for the helicopter trip knew exactly where to find those hidden waterfalls that don’t show up in any guidebook.

I mean, you’re paying serious money here (let’s be real about that), but it’s one of those places where you actually feel like you’re getting something you can’t find anywhere else. The location puts you right in the middle of some of the best hiking and scenery in the South Island, but you’re coming back to proper luxury instead of a DOC hut. The restaurant sources everything locally – and I mean properly locally, not just “New Zealand lamb” but actual Otago region stuff – and the wine list leans heavily into Central Otago pinots that pair ridiculously well with those mountain views at sunset. If you’re doing one of those once-in-a-lifetime New Zealand trips, this is where you want to splurge. Just book way ahead because there aren’t many rooms, and honestly, once people discover this place they tend to come back.