Punga Cove Resort — Hotel in South Island

I really don't think this place warrants its price tag. On the accommodation side of things, it would be fine at 40% of the price, aside from the shower, which was so derisory in both pressure and temperature as to be perhaps the worst shower of my life. Water may be scarce in such a location, but at least the temperature could be higher. The bathroom (in nearly $400/night accommodation) has no heat source! One of our party struggled with the extremely spongy mattresses, but firmness can be a matter of preference. Food-wise the restaurant is fine, but with mains running to almost $50 for some dishes, you expect fireworks. Instead, while contemplating a limited menu one listens to an incongruously up-tempo playlist quite ill-suited to a fine dining establishment, punctuated with regular adverts for Kentucky Fried Chicken and offers to upgrade to Spotify Premium - "no ads, only $15" - (and at breakfast the alarm clock of whoever's smartphone is used for this malarkey), while being served by staff who, while lovely people, have been two weeks in the job, are not from the area (or indeed the country) and don't know anything about the wines. There are no specials. Two portions of linguine alle vongole are served where almost all of the clams are to be found in one of the servings, complete with a number of small crabs that are sometimes found inside diamond shell clams but which are usually removed in a dish such as this where the diner might crunch a few unexpectedly... sigh... This might all be fine, nay even charming in a "get a funny story out of it" sort of way at half the price, but this place charges like a wounded bull, and expectations are commensurately sky high. With so many different (and elementary) problems, this can't just be a case of visiting on a bad day. Prices need to go down, and/or quality needs to go up. Significantly. It was outclassed by both Furneaux Lodge the day before and the dilapidated but making-a-real-effort Portage Hotel the day after. While both are expensive (welcome to modern NZ), the two combined are still cheaper than Punga, which you should avoid.

Update: owner's response offers an "under new management" explanation. Ownership changed in November 2018, my stay was March 2019. The new owner has had all summer to cough up the $15 necessary to avoid playing KFC ads and people's alarm clocks in the restaurant, to pop down to Mitre10 for a couple of basic heaters, and to turn up the shower temperature ten degrees, to say nothing of just halving the prices. If "new management" was the solution, most of these problems would be gone already. Truth is there are very few accommodation and food providers in a region inundated with tourists. This price-gouging is probably here to stay. I've lowered my rating...

We stayed at Punga Cove for one night during our recent Sounds trip, as it's conveniently located within walking distance of Furneaux Lodge. I’ve stayed here before—over 20 years ago—and it hasn’t changed much. There are some newer accommodation areas, but the overall feel remains the same.| |There were four of us in a two-bedroom unit, which felt quite dated. While the beds were very comfortable and the views were lovely, the unit itself was tired. We appreciated the easy access to the spa pool—a great way to unwind after a long day’s walk—but several aspects of the unit were disappointing:|• The bathroom door wouldn’t close properly.|• The frying pan needed replacing.|• The jug was tiny, only boiling enough water for two cups of tea—odd, considering the unit sleeps four.|• The bathroom, although spacious and recently renovated, had a small heated towel rail that barely warmed and could only hold one or two towels. There’s ample space for a larger heated & unheated towel rails and additional hooks. There were tiny boxes on the wall which added no real value.|• There was no hand towel provided, and with towels used in the evening and again in the morning, proper drying space is essential.|• In the twin bedroom, the power board glowed brightly at night, which was disruptive. Hopefully, they’ll replace it with one that doesn’t emit light, as it’s needed for bedside lighting and charging devices.|• The hallway cupboard had mud on the floor, which hadn’t been cleaned.| |At $650 per night, we expected a higher standard of accommodation.| |The restaurant, perched high on the hill, offers stunning views, with an awesome team, but the food was aimed more at fine dining, expensive and portion sizes were small:|• 3 tiny arancini balls for $29|• 6 small garlic prawns for $34|• A side dish with just two slivers of carrot and four small pieces of broccolini for $15|• A soy latte cost $11| |Unfortunately, the café at the waterfront, which operates only in fine weather, was closed both days we were there. It offers pizza, burgers, and other more affordable meals, but closes at 5pm—so guests hoping to dine there in the evening miss out. ||The luggage service is great. We organised Courgar Line to pick and deliver our large bags to next destination and we walked with our day packs. The bags were delivered to our unit and collected the next morning so we did not have to lug them...

We stayed here for one night while walking the Queen Charlotte Track (a double room and also a 6 bed 2 bedroom suite). We had a really lovely stay and would gladly come back again.

Only a couple of negatives for us: The rooms were getting a bit tired, especially the 2 bedroom suite (Unit 9) – the bathroom/shower in particular and the fold-out double bed in the lounge was incredibly uncomfortable. The path from the unit along to the restaurant was really badly lit at night time making it a precarious walk, especially for my elderly father.

Those negatives aside, everything else was just excellent: The setting/location was just wonderful and nice to be able to walk straight in off the Queen Charlotte Track one day and then leave the next morning by walking directly out from the restaurant after breakfast to carry on up the track. The staff were incredibly professional, helpful and competent – all of them, no exceptions. When we left the restaurant after dinner they even called up the golf-cart buggy to drive my elderly father back along the track to our room (so nice of them) The configurations of the rooms were really good. The 2 bedroom suite we had was excellent with a separate dining table area and living space. The other booking we had was for a double-room with a shared bathroom/kitchen/living area with other guests, but it was really nicely done and so you got a lot for what you paid. The restaurant was top quality. We eat out a lot and are familiar with fine-dining and these guys nailed it. The salmon sashimi entrée was just excellent (with some lovely little extras added to it), likewise the baked blue cheese stuffed mushrooms were excellent. All of our mains were excellent (lamb cutlets, duck breast and fish of the day) and all cooked perfectly. We weren’t going to have desserts but due to the high quality of the rest of the meal we decided we would and we weren’t disappointed as the lemon meringue tart and the chocolate mousse trio ended up being highlights of the meal. Well done Punga Cove!

Thank you for a...