Mt Aspiring Holiday Park — Attraction in South Island

Nowhere near the usual Top 10 standard, and the dearest of our 4 x Top 10 trip . We are two people , but booked only a few days ahead so accepted that there was only a three-bed unit, with sc kitchen available for approx $140 per night. On arrival , reception was grim and not at all helpful, and we found our front door mat was covered in duck poop, the carpet was stained quite noticeably and the dishcloth so grey I would hesitate to use it as a floor rag. We figured we could work around this with this, and the first night was quite peaceful. On the second evening however, management booked a family group of 14 tourists into the two units beside us, despite many vacancies amongst the cabins. Whilst the adults cooked up pungent curries at 11pm, with a lot of pot banging and door slamming etc, their young children shrieked and squealed at out door. We telephoned management but our three calls went to answerphone. At 11.30 I asked the family to quieten down and this happened sometime after midnight. At 6.30 am there was a repeat performance. . I then hopped in the shower to find no hot water. The cleaning girl suggested I use the communal showers. There were two in the block - one in use at the time. The pressure in my shower was barely enough to wet me. We expected some response to our phone messages of the night before, or an explanation/apology for the hot water situation, but heard from no-one. When we checked out our door mat was still covered in duck poop. ( Please keep the ducks, but upskill your cleaners.) We would not recommend. And no, we will not visit again.

Further to your reply , just to let you know that that was me sitting less than 2 metres from you as you made your phone call to the electrician, re the hot water situation. You made it from your cell phone in the doorway of the unit next to ours - the one which was in use as a cleaning/storeroom. It must've been pretty obvious to you that we had not checked out. I was sitting there and our car had all doors open. There had been no lovely people living in that cleaning unit to comment ( as you have stated ) about the hot water situation . ( The Indian family of 14 were next door on the other side. ) You saw me as you walked in there and I waited for you to end your phone call and come to talk to me about the phone messages but you strode off quickly in the opposite direction without looking my way at all. Really, your service was extremely poor and you need to address that, rather than make excuses. You need to up your game to meet the standard of every other Top 10 we have stayed in. ( For less $$$$s) You did not address the stained carpet , or the filthy dish cloth, or the abysmal water pressure in the communal shower, but talked about warning us to "be wary". Really?...

We spent 7 weeks living here during the COVID lockdown. The site is incredibly situated with stunning views, great access to Wanaka town, Glendhu bay, and the national park. The facilities are very good, and the management are amazing. We began by staying in a van on a powered pitch for 4 weeks, then in a self contained apartment for 3 weeks.

Our stay was not in typical circumstances, but we did spend longer here than most travellers do so hopefully this review is still useful. There were only a handful of people staying when we did, so it was wonderfully peaceful and we had the facilities to ourselves, though I imagine it is normally busy.

The park looks out over Rippon Vineyard, across Lake Wanaka to Mt Burke and Mt Gold in the distance, with Mt Iron and the town time side, and the distant towers of the Alps to the left. The views from some of the pitches are just spectacular.

The powered pitches are really nice, and the self contained apartment was very spacious, well laid out, clean and well equipped.

It is a 15 minute walk to the Lake, either at Waterfall Creek to join the stunning Glendhu Bay walk, or to the watersports centre from which a few more minutes take you into town along the water.

The site sits underneath Roy's Peak, so it is a short trip to the base of the main track. It is also not far to go into the National Park for walking, climbing or just amazing scenery.

Most importantly, the management are truly wonderful. They were so kind and friendly, looking after us so well.

I recommend the Mt Aspiring Holiday Park...

It's a fine enough place if you don't come with standards. We had a self-contained room for 6 and a small cabin with 4 beds, and it was definitely lacking in storage, space, and ventilation.

The camp is nice, wasn't bothered by any road sounds. There's not a crazy view, but it's peaceful in the winter the lake is a 3 minute drive away. I can imagine it's a very pleasant place in the summer!

For the winter, thankfully the places are heated quickly with electric heaters, however it's an old holiday park and it shows: no double glazing (yikes in winter!) Also no sound insulation. only a small 2-hob electric stove in the self-contained unit. bathroom small, floor gets wet into the winter from condensation. It's a generally ick bathroom.

The communal kitchen stank of disinfectant and were generally unpleasant and cold. The kitchenette in the unit was fine and had all the untensils we needed :)

You get 100mb WiFi free per day. This seems to have been shared between the 8 of us, so it ran out in about 30 minutes. Not that we were in Wanaka to use internet, but I'm sure that in 2020, it's possible to get more internet.

You also can't use the electric kettle and toaster at the same time without cutting power to the whole unit. Not an ideal situation...

All in all, this place seems dated and in real need of a renovation, but it's also just fine for a couple of days of glorified camping while we spend the days outside. Thankfully it's at least one of the rare decently priced...