Punakaiki Beach Camp — Hotel in South Island

This is the 4th and final year we have camped with a group at this campsite. Booking has always been difficult as staff members forget bookings, payments and site requests but we persevered given the location is gorgeous. However year on year the facilities have had more and more issues such as washing machines and dryers breaking down or leaving marks on clothes, sites flooding during rain, showers/hot water not working, gardens being overgrown into sites and a site map that doesn't reflect the actual layout of the camping areas. Because of the location you could brush off one or two of these issues but when they are the same each visit it shows a lack of maintenance from the management. Particularly that these things are happening in peak season. The facilities are also overloaded as so many campers arrive meaning long lines for toilets and showers. Prices have recently been raised however no effort has been made to improve the experience to reflect this. Usually when you book year on year with a Campground you build a rapport with the staff but we along with others received service that made us feel that our booking was a hassle for them more than anything else. Our group have been accused of blocking access, ignoring rules and not following camp rules after the face and online. These issues were entirely unknown to us and have never had it raised during a stay or after. We have never blocked access to other sites only our own to keep kids safe from the driving areas. As far as we were aware we also haven't broken any rules, if issues had been raised we of course would have complied. The only issue I am aware of was this year being questioned about another campers vehicle being somewhere it shouldn't.

I love the location and there is a lot to do in the area but the Beach camp is expensive for its outdated/overloaded facilities and the management leaves a lot...

We had read reviews before booking two nights at the Punakaiki Beach Camp so had a fair idea of what it would be like. The location is amazing as others have said. The ocean on one side, the river/lagoon on the other. Big cliffs at the back as well as the Pororari Riber track and other beautiful walks. Punakaiki pancake rocks just down the road, the Punakaiki Rocks Tavern around the corner. We booked one cabin and one tent site. The cabin was a family cabin which had two rooms with two bunk beds in one and a double bed, mini fridge and table in the other room. It also had an electric kettle and some mugs (but no water in the room). We loved the little deck out the back and ate our meals there. Overall the cabin was fine, definitely a rustic kiwi bach style . The camp site was good and as per our request was close to the cabin and the toilets which was great. |The camp was very busy, there were loads of people staying. The facilities (kitchen, bathrooms) were very very busy during peak hours and people tended to sit at the tables in the kitchen area (very cramped space) which didn’t leave much room to get past to use the sinks etc. The showers were hot but you had to push the button every 20 seconds to keep the water flowing. The facilities are not really up to the number of people staying at the camp, if they renovated the facilities it would be a huge improvement. |The lady at the desk was rude upon arrival unfortunately. If you go there expecting it it’s still very disappointing but not as shocking (as it would have been if we hadn’t read reviews). Since we’d read reviews we knew some people had experienced rudeness from the staff but didn’t expect our very first interaction to be rude! I also witnessed the lady speaking with young tourists and being rude to them as well.|So a very...

I really wanted to rate as a 5. The punakaiki beach camp has location, location, location. 5 minute walk to pancake rocks, couple minutes walk to pororari river walk. Lagoon and river for swimming, paddling hire on site. But there are 80 campsites, plus cabins and 3 womens showers and 4 toilets in the whole campground public facilities. Two days i went to have a shower and all showers in use and 4 people waiting. The showers have a push button which you have to push every 20 seconds or so which is so annoying. Went to use toilet in the morning and i was fifth in the line waiting for the toilets.||Its in a stunning location, beautiful beachfront - its just needs more facilities to cope with the summer guest numbers. ||The other issue is the campsite boundaries arent marked. we arrived to our site to have the neighbours huge family tent, then trailer and then vehicle taking up most of our site as well. Then we basically had a campervan in our outdoor area on the other side. The next day the people in the site next to us left and the new neighbours arrived at 11pm at night banging car doors, talking and banging tent pegs in. the nest morning i woke up and they had two tents, two vehicles and there vehicle was parked less than 50cm from our campervan. |neighbour opposite us had a massive caravan, ute and took up most of the shared space - then put up a big family tent and another ute arrived and they took over the bay and blocked one vehicle access. Then the music started pumping - and its not pleasant for everyone else who has to listen to old music.||The punakaiki rocks tavern is fantastic. Its a wonderful place. Just needs more facilities for the number of people. And would be good to have some management to...