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We provide four luxury villa accommodation options: Each villa is 165 sq m with 2 bedrooms, a central drawing room, and private hot tub. The Villas are private and romantic and set in one of the world's most picturesque locations. A garden to plate 3 course meal prepared by our chefs is included each night and fresh breakfast provisions each day. Stargazing in our onsite wine cellar observatory is available and we offer massage, yoga, and cooking demonstrations with chef. The Retreat is spread over 66ha of rural land next to Lake Pukaki, and overlooking Aoraki Mt Cook, NZ's highest mountain. Experience the best in warm kiwi hospitality.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Qualmark.
HOTEL STYLE
Lake View
Languages Spoken
English
Location
86 Mount Cook Rd Lake Pukaki, Pukaki 7944 New Zealand
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Where to start? Everything was superb. We stayed for 3 nights and also had our wedding there. We stayed in the 2 new villas, not the Ashley Mackenzie. The location is breathtaking, whether your villa looks out over the lake or the Mackenzie basin, you will not be disappointed with the spectacular views. 8 of us stayed in 2 villas, both very well appointed and spacious, wet rooms with amazing views, huge bedrooms and a roomy but comfortable and cosy communal and dining area. Outdoor hot tubs also with outrageous views! The food was outrageously good - breakfast was tasty and filling, but the evening meals took my breath away. All freshly prepared and locally sourced, Tom obviously takes great pride in his craft, and did not disappoint. Outstanding. Despite this, it is the staff that made it all so special for us. Luke and Kaye have made such a fantastic place, and are very 'hands on', Anna organised everything for us and made sure our wedding - and the rest of our stay - went smoothly. Nothing was too much trouble. The other staff were friendly and helpful without being intrusive, and Tom is a very gifted chef who is also very friendly and happy to chat about the food, but also to accommodate any special needs or requests. Our children have a cows milk protein allergy, but were still able to eat like royalty. Finally, try the star gazing in the wine cellar. Unbelievable.
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Date of stay: February 2020
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Kaye Paardekooper, Owner at Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat
Responded 18 Nov 2020
Thank you! We loved having you to stay and celebrate your wedding at the Retreat. We aim to provide an authentic luxury experience and so pleased we achieved this for you all. Three nights is a good amount of time to experience everything that the Retreat has to offer. Thank you Nga Mihi, Kaye, Luke, Tom and the team.
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Our stay at the retreat was memorable and the hi light of our 5 week trip to Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
The views from our villa were breathtaking of the surrounding mountains and on the walks in the grounds there were beautiful vistas of Lake Pukaki and Mt Cook.
The retreat has everything, luxurious accommodation, beautifully designed and furnished interiors and your private hot tub for gazing at the stars. Kaye, Luke and all their staff were a delight, nothing was too much trouble. You can dine in the luxury of your own accommodation or enjoy dinner hosted and entertained with other guests in a baronial dining room.
A choice of home grown food was available for breakfast and dinner-from the garden, with meat and fish sourced locally and cooked exquisitely by their chef.
A hidden treat was the observatory Luke has built in the grounds with the opportunity to gaze at the the night sky totally unpolluted by electric light . Should we return to New Zealand, this retreat will be top of our list for places to stay
Kelvin and Susan Dean
London
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Date of stay: January 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Kaye_Luke, Owner at Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat
Responded 18 Feb 2020
Thanks for your wonderful review Kelvin and Susan, it was lovely to meet you both. We especially enjoyed the dining with you and other guests at Moraine Lodge. We look forward to your return. Thanks so much Kaye and Luke Owners, Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat
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Mt. Cook Lakeside Retreat was a beautiful place to stay! We went there on a trip to New Zealand with another couple , and spent two nights. We arrived in the evening, hungry and tired, and were greeted by a gorgeous living room with beautiful furnishings and a roaring fire in the fireplace. Each couple had a separate bedroom and bathroom, with a floor to ceiling window and spectacular views. Less than an hour after we arrived, a delicious meal was delivered to our suite, every ingredient from the garden on-site or from nearby farms. We slept so well on the comfortable beds, and the next morning had a delicious breakfast that was left for us in the kitchen. After a day of hiking, we came back and made use of the hot tub on the back porch. The next night we were treated to dinner with the other guests and delightful owners int the main lodge, another amazing feast with delicious wines. Our gracious host Luke invited us to his private observatory, where he treated us to drinks and gave us a lesson on astronomy. Overall we had a lovely time and felt it was a unique experience, well worth the price. We would go back there again if we ever are fortunate enough to go back to this beautiful country!
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Date of stay: February 2020
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Kaye Paardekooper, Owner at Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat
Responded 14 Dec 2020
Wow, thank you for this wonderful review. We are so pleased that you enjoyed the Moraine Villas and the comfort that they have to offer. We love to meet our guests and share a meal together and Moraine Lodge is a beautiful space to do this. We aim to provide a unique adn authentic luxury experience where you can feel pampered and come away revived and relaxed. We would love to welcome you back. Warm wishes, Kaye and Luke and the team
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We stayed in the Ashley Mackenzie Villa for 2 nights towards the end of our trip in New Zealand. The villa has been done up beautifully, was very comfortable and had the most stunning view over Lake Pukaki. The dinners in the villa were delicious and the fridge was full of things for breakfast. Our only criticism is that on arrival we were asked if we would like to do the star gazing on our first evening - it was presented in such a way that we assumed it would be complimentary. In reality it is charged at NZ$120 per person. Sadly the stars that night were hidden by cloud so Luke only charged us NZ$50 each. Apart from that we loved our stay in this piece of paradise which might not suit everyone if they want constant pampering!
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Date of stay: February 2020
Room Tip:Â If you want the incredible view of Lake Pukaki with Mount Cook in the distance book the Ashely...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Kaye_Luke, Owner at Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat
Responded 19 Feb 2020
Thank you for your great review Kilntravelers, we are so pleased that you enjoyed the cuisine, comfort and beauty of the Retreat, we agree, it is a piece of paradise. The Mackenzie Basin, is an outstanding natural landscape which recognises the beauty of Lake Pukaki and the surrounding landscape and we love sharing this. We appreciate your feedback about the stars and have taken this on board. We do have the brochure in the villas about stargazing at the Observatory but will make sure that we highlight to people on their arrival that there is a cost for this experience. Thanks for coming, we loved meeting you. Nga Mihi, kind regards Kaye and Luke
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Wow wow wow... totally agree with all the other reviews. This place is magical and there are so many thoughtful touches provided such as the complementary bubbles, scotch and gin. You won’t starve as there is plenty of food. Nothing was an issue and we even asked the chef if he could cook us an Asian fusion meal one night. We stayed 3 nights with another couple and we each had a 2 bedroom villa. They locked off one of the bedrooms but it was so lovely having the entire villa to yourself. The villas are huge, as was the bathroom and bedroom ... totally decadent. We rotated having dinners at each other’s villa and the chef would also drop off freshly baked bread and croissants at dinner. We also asked for bagels and salmon and poached eggs for breakfast and again this was no issue. There was no TV but plenty of magazines, jigsaw puzzles and games were provided. We absolutely loved our time here and would definitely return. It was the perfect location to do Mt Cook and Lake Tekapo and if you needed anything else, Twizel was only 7 mins drive away and they had a liquor store and mini supermarket. You could walk around the property which we did and there are some magical views of the lake. Personally I loved our villas which were side by side and had views of the mountain. It was so cool sitting in the spa watching the sun set ... that was the highlight our stay as well as the open wood fire in the lodge which made it so cozy and warm.
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Date of stay: May 2021Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Kaye Paardekooper, Owner at Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat
Responded 30 May 2021
Thank you for your wonderful review, we appreciate you taking time to do this. We agree, Moraine Villas are ideal for couples or family traveling together, and yes those hot tubs are are stunning at sunset. Our services are personalised, and our team loved making your stay a Wow experience. Nga Mihi, warm regards Kaye and Luke and the team.
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Staying in the Ashley Mackenzie Villa at Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat was the perfect way to end our 2-week trip around the South Island. The accommodations were superb including a very spacious dining / relaxing area with beautiful views of Lake Pukaki and the Mt Cook area mountains. We dined en suite with the retreat chef providing a sumptuous customized meal. Dinner was delicious as was the breakfast we enjoyed while taking in the beautiful sunrise over the lake and mountains. We cannot recommend this retreat highly enough. It is a uniquely spectacular and sensory experience.
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Date of stay: February 2020
Location
Service
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Kaye Paardekooper, Owner at Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat
Responded 14 Dec 2020
We loved having you to stay and thank you for your amazing review. The views are spectacular here and the colours deepen in the Autumn period when you stayed. We aim to create an authentic luxury experience, a chance to revive and be pampered by our team. We are so pleased you experienced this. We hope to see our American guests back again once the borders open, we are missing you! Nga Mihi, Kaye, Luke and the team
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Date of stay: February 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Kaye_Luke, Owner at Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat
Responded 19 Feb 2020
Thank you DaniK, what a superb review. We loved meeting you all and making sure you dietary requirements were taken care of. Thank you also for your comments on the decor of the villa, it is a beautiful space with a restful mountain view. We are pleased you took time to stay here and explore the grounds of the Retreat, we have 164 acres sprawled over ancient glacial moraine. This gives the landscape its particular rocky barren aspect and we have created budding oasis of green and native plantings around the villas. Thank you for appreciating this. Thanks for coming, we hope you will be back again one day Nga Mihi, kind regards Kaye and Luke
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Fantastic stay at Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat, High Country Estate & Luxury Villa Collection. We stayed in the prime villa, the Ashley Mackenzie villa which has clear unobstructed views overlooking Lake Pukaki and Mt Cook. The 2 bedroom villa was vast and very well appointed furnishings and fittings. This Villa has its own fully functioning kitchen if you want to be self contained however the food which is bought to your room each night is fantastic. No need to dress up and go out for dinner as it’ll be delivered right to your table. A full 3 delicious course meal made onsite with locally sourced produce. This villa also has two full en-suite and a massive dinning & open plan lounge area with commanding views of the lake and a big open fire. Breakfast is DIY but again the raw produce is delivered the night before. So bacon, fresh eggs, salmon, cream cheese, yoghurt, fresh croissants, bagels or homemade, muesli and bread are all there for you to munch on. You won’t go hungry! The drinks are part of the deal as are the yummy nuts and chocolates that appear daily. This villa not only has its own garden but it’s own gym, sauna, massage room and best of all outdoor hot tub to soak away the aches with a glass of the good stuff whilst watching the sun go down.
Once it’s down though checkout the stars and the Milkyway- either from the back terrace or through the big fitted telescope with your host. Rig up your camera and get some stunning photos of it too.
Plenty to do here, cycle or walk the property if you fancy a day closer to home or play a game or read a book plenty on offer.
Now go enjoy!
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Date of stay: August 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Kaye Paardekooper, Owner at Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat
Responded 9 Dec 2020
What a wonderful review, thank you. We are so pleased that you loved your stay at the Ashley Mackenzie Villa. The estate has 66ha so is perfect if you are looking to escape to the high country and just relax with fresh food, relaxing activities and beautiful surroundings. The observatory experience is 10 billion star!! Thanks for coming, and we hope you are able to return again one day. Nga Mihi, Kaye, Luke and the team.
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Our second stop of the New Zealand tour just kept getting better and better. Our Villa was felt like a home, very spacious with amazing views of the valley and mountain range. We had a jacuzzi and huge floor to ceiling window in the shower. Kaye got us bicycles and had us dropped off by the damm so we could ride bikes back to the Lodge on the A2O trail which I now know why its the best in the world! Every night, the chefs brought our meals himself to the Villa, went over what he had prepared using the best organic ingredients on site. You soon get to love not being around loud people, just yourselves surrounded by amazing honey like aromas outside, hawks coming in for the hunt in hopes of snatching one the hundreds of birds flying around. Definitely nice not having a tv and having no or limited internet service was a plus! We did a helicopter excursion to the Tasman Glacier and experienced a " Murlin Hole" , amazing! On of my favorites was waking up in the middle of the night and kissing the stars form the glorious window in the shower as they were the closest ever, reminded me of Atacama. Thank you Kaye and Luke for all you did for us and trying to get us the star gazing, even though the weather didn't cooperate one night, we got a good moment with them.
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Date of stay: January 2020
Rooms
Location
Room Tip:Â Depending on the view you want, I do not think you could go wrong.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Kaye_Luke, Owner at Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat
Responded 19 Feb 2020
Dear JosemD, thank you for a wonderful review of your stay with us. We are pleased that you felt at home here and enjoyed the beauty and benefits of our rural environment. We agree that the A2O and Tasman Glacier are amazing, and are just on our doorstep and the stars do seem to be very close. We love that you had an opportunity to Kiss the Stars, Nga Mihi, kind regards Kaye and Luke Owners
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I stayed in the Pukaki Homestead and had an awesome experience. Every aspect of my visit was impeccable - the location, scenery, food, facilities, and the warm welcome of the hosts. Luke and Kaye are lovely hosts and made me feel at home and catered for while also respecting my privacy. The accommodation itself is of the highest quality and set in one of the most picturesque places in NZ. 100% would recommend to anyone lucky enough to get the opportunity to stay here. Thank you Kaye and Luke!!
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Date of stay: January 2021
Rooms
Location
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Kaye Paardekooper, Owner at Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat
Responded 20 Jan 2021
We loved having you to stay George and thank you for your superb review. We agree, the Retreat is set in one of New Zealand's most picturesque places and we love sharing this with our guests. It was lovely sharing a meal together, we hope to see you back here one day. Nga Mihi Kaye and Luke
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There are more places to choose from in the Pukaki area.
PRICE RANGE
$1,331 - $2,617 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
FORMERLY KNOWN AS
Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat, High Country Estate and Luxury Villa Collection
LOCATION
New ZealandSouth IslandCanterbury RegionMackenzie DistrictPukaki
NUMBER OF ROOMS
4
Prices are provided by our partners for one room, with variable occupancy rules as provided by the property, and reflect total costs of the stay, including all taxes and fees known to our partners. Please see our partners for more details.
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