White Horse Hill Campground — Attraction in South Island

The views here? Absolutely unbeatable! Picture this: you're cozy in your campervan, gazing at the majestic Mt. Cook as you drift off to sleep, and waking up to those jaw-dropping panoramas. Pure magic! For what you pay, it’s a steal—those premium views make every penny worth it.

A tip for booking: The website can get fully booked, but don’t worry too much! We found a spot after checking ahead—they open up spaces for campervans once day visitors leave. For payment, there’s a cash dropbox, but be warned: the service charge is pretty steep. 💸 If you’re looking to save, book online ahead of time. But even if you don’t, space-wise, you’re likely to find a spot.

Pro tip? Arrive early to snag a parking spot with the best mountain views—you won’t regret it.

The only downside? The toilets. During the day, they’re heavily used by visitors, and it shows—they can get quite dirty. DOC could really help out by building a separate set of toilets further up for campervans, especially since campers are paying for their stay. That small improvement would make a world...

Superbly positioned campsite for walking the Mt Cook area - Hooker Valley, Kea Point and Mueller Hut hikes literally start right from the camp ground. This camp site has toilets and sinks with clean drinking water. There is a shelter building with picnic benches in which would be very useful in severe weather (wind/rain/snow etc). There are also bins at the shelter. There are no showers however (showers would be a great addition to this campsite).

There are showers in Mt Cook village 3km away or so. These are $2 coin for a hot shower or a cold shower is free. At Mt Cook village there is the Sir Edmund Hilary Alpine Center. The gift shop there has some (very) basic food items available (tins of spaghetti, jam, peanut butter, biscuits). There is also the Edmund Hilary cafe/bar there and the "Snowline bar" which have great views of Mt Cook and are good if you want a break from...

Clean toilets and drinking water available. No showers. Non powered sites.

We pre booked but spaces are not allocated or reserved and it filled up pretty quickly and we arrived at the designated 2pm time. It was the Easter school holiday period so it was busy.

Easy access to lots of good hiking tracks and the Kea Point walk was awesome and very easy offering great views of the mountains. See photos.

You can take a short 1.5km walk to the Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine centre which has a great cafe bar and restaurant and super clean facilities.

The drive in from the turn off is spectacular as well so allow plenty of time to stop at the many pull over points along the way.

Visit the salmon shop 800m from the turn off for amazing fresh and...