Larnach Lodge — Hotel in South Island

Well this hotel was a real treat and a big highlight for us, during a month long road trip around NZ with so many daily highlights! We thought it would be nice but it exceeded expectations over our 2 night stay. |To start with, we were allocated room 20 - the honeymoon suite! It was stunningly located in the corner of the Lodge with a balcony around 2 sides and with far reaching views over the grounds, across the bay and down the Otago Peninsula. We could have sat all day watching the light change over the water and listening to the birds. Heavenly. |The room itself was very comfortable and we belatedly discovered that the very cold tiled bathroom floor actually had underfloor heating if you switched a switch (advised by a fellow guest at the Castle dinner - it would have been good to have had this pointed out when we were shown the room as it made a big difference). |There is guest parking by the Lodge and also behind the Lodge if that's full, as opposed to the daytime visitors parking area on the driveway into the castle. |Breakfast is served on the ground floor of the Stables, across the courtyard parking area. They've kept it looking like stables too, which is fun. Breakfast consisted off a buffet of cold items plus a menu of hot dishes. Our only issue was that the room was very cold. There were a couple of heaters but its a big space and they seemed ineffective.|The Castle dinner was a highlight as well as our room. This is served at 7pm each night and you need to let them know by early evening if you wish to dine in. On the night we booked in for it, it transpired that Pink was in concert in Dunedin and virtually all the other guests were heading off to that, so the communal meal in the Castle's dining room, which we were told was usually at least a dozen people, and sometimes required the use of several dining rooms, turned out to be just us and one lady on her own from Christchurch who was visiting on business! It was lovely to talk to her though about the country. The food was excellent, a 4 course meal with a glass of wine included in the rate and more available to order (chargeable). We had scallops with risotto to start, beef chimichurri on polenta, lamb with vegetables and potato bake and a very nice cold mousse type dessert. Everything was very tasty indeed and well presented. All evening we were served by one young waitress/hostess called Jess who was very entertaining with her personal stories about the castle and she also offered a tour afterwards (but we'd been around in the daytime so didn't take this up). Big thank you Jess, especially as you missed out on the concert as you were minding the castle:-) |To note that there aren't many other dining options on the peninsula. The other night of our stay we stopped off for fish and chips in Portobello village (it closes very early so check opening times) further along and ate them in the car before heading to the end of the peninsula to see the blue penguins come in at dusk. |The castle itself is interesting to walk around and you could read all about the family who owned it and head up to the tower for more of those stunning views, as well as looking around the lovely gardens. There's also a good gift shop and cafe where we had tea and cake (note you need to pre book if you'd like a proper full afternoon tea on a traditional stand). |A stay here is definitely worth the room rate if you would...

I was looking forward for this week end with my partner, especially after all those beautiful reviews. He organized everything for me and we had the biggest disappointment. ||We stayed in stables ( couldn't get a room in a lodge as it was fully booked but wanted to come anyway!) and the room wasnt very clean, hair in the sink, stains on sheets and the windows fixture had big holes and the cold was coming though it..||My partner booked the dinner and again, terrible experience. The food was blend, dry and very very light ( $80/pp). The worst was actually the staff, I don't know if something happened during the day, but no greetings when we arrived, leaving us at the bottom of the stairs of the castle in the cold. The service was terrible, no smiles, very stressed for only 25 guests, didn't get any explanations about the food, it was barely possible to roder drinks as the staff was missing.||We hoped that during the diner we would have some stories about the Castle to entertain but Alex ( our host for the evening) looked like he just arrived. He didn't know a thing about what he was talking about, he looked like he was in a rush to going home leaving us panting for some stories about the place. If you visit an historic place, you want to know what is special about it. ||We were very disappointed about this week end. It's really not worth the money. I don't know who is managing the place but you definetly need to train this staff as our stay ( and others guests too) was definetly a big fail.||I hope someone will read this, you cant ask people paying that kind of money and get that kind...

There were three of us staying in the stables family room. The downstairs area was the dining area with a family room on the side and still looked like a stable. The rooms were upstairs. The room was fairly large and had a TV and kettle. Shared bathrooms and shower facilities which were all clean. There was also a shared fridge with water and milk. We also did the dinner at the castle which was an experience. The food was alright but being able to dine in the rooms was quite an experience. Dinner was booked when getting the rooms to get a 10% discount. We ordered the meals, which needed to be done before 1700 that day when checking in so it was really convenient. The beds came with breakfast, both a cooked and continental breakfast. Breakfast was just in the lower stables area. It was easy to book online and we just checked in at the lodge area after being directed there by the person at the gate. Rooms (and the building in general) were all warm and clean. It was also nice to walk around the grounds in the fading light to get a different view of the place. The accommodation also included entry into the castle (we did ours the next day) along with an audio guide. Quite a nice experience particularly if you need a spare nights accommodation. A bit pricey but also a...