Grasmere Lodge — Hotel in South Island

Place was beautiful and rooms were very clean and comfortably decorated. We really enjoyed the rooms! Would have given the lodge 5 stars except felt quite annoyed with 2 things: the lady who checked us in talked way too much. We wish she should take a hint when we weren’t interested in chatting and would like to be left alone and into our rooms as soon as possible and she also interrupted our dinner conversation several times. Second, we felt super ripped off when they charged us $15-20 (whatever it was the price difference between 1 course and 2 course) for some fruit being cut up. Basically we asked before dinner if we could have ONE whole apple. They kindly said sure. Then when it came to desserts (we only ordered 2 for 3 people), they served us 2 desserts and one plate of fruit with some apple and other fruits cut up. It was presented very fancily but the amount of apple was probably one wedge. We thought they were providing exceptional service with the fancy fruit, but during the next day we were shocked to find they charged for 3 desserts instead of 2! We asked for one apple! If we knew they would charge a whole extra course for one wedge of apple plus other fruit we didn’t want, we wouldn’t have asked and would’ve just waited till breakfast the next day to get a free apple! Felt the charge was super dishonest. For those reading the review, accommodation is great and 5 star, but the service in those 2 aspects was a huge turn off. Felt like a fancy tourist trap trying to milk as much money from you as much as possible. Sad, I really did want to give this place a...

I can't praise enough how wonderful our stay was at Grasmere lodge. We only stayed for onew night at Riverview lodge which had the view of stunning mountains and Cass River. The rooms were enormous with attached bathrooms and had bath and separate shower and toilet. Even though it was a beautiful summer night we enjoyed wood fireplace and witnesses one of most beautiful full moon from the massive front glass panel window which you might see on one of the photos with river view. Rony was amazing. I have to give him 5 stars as I forgot my Bose headphones in the bed and only realized when I was almost in Christchurch. Rony kindly offered to drop it off to my hotel in Christchurch before I fly back to Wellington. It was 3 hours return car ride for him. We also manage to use laundry services on premises, but the dryer wasn't working so had to air dry the clothes. The other thing I love about this property is its massive and you get to experience farm life and pet little animals. It was a shot memorable experience which I will never...

The lodge is in a beautiful location out in the countryside away from the town of Arthur's Pass. It is a peaceful country retreat with wonderful views of the mountains. The common room is cozy and we loved sitting in front of the fireplace having wine, cheese and bread before our dinner. Did I mention dinner? On both nights that we stayed at the Grasmere Lodge, Chef Glen and his wife Tonya prepared delicious meals. After our first dinner, we did not even consider going anywhere else for dinner on our second night. Terrific meals were prepared both nights. Looking out at the countryside and mountains during breakfast was the perfect way to start the day. When we told Glen that we were going to be hiking all day, he offered to make us box lunches; and terrific lunches they were - pork buns, chicken, cheese, tomato sandwiches. Glen and Tonya are terrific hosts and it was a joy to stay at the Grasmere Lodge. We highly recommend...