The 100 Best Places in New Zealand

The glass tasting pod suspended above the working winery is a good sign that Cloudy Bay takes its visitors as seriously as its wine. This Marlborough estate, ranked 26th on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list, is where New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc effectively got its reputation, and the cellar experience leans into that history without getting musty about it. Private yacht tastings on the Marlborough Sounds are also on offer, which seems excessive and yet somehow right.

Rippon's vines sit right at the edge of Lake Wānaka with the Southern Alps behind them, which makes visiting feel less like a winery tour and more like someone accidentally built a postcard. The Mills family has been farming this land for generations, growing biodynamic, largely ungrafted Pinot Noir in one of New Zealand's most extreme climates. Tastings at the cellar door are free, run by appointment, and capped at six people. It ranks at number 44 on The World's 50 Best Vineyards list.

Ben Bayly's fine dining room sits above Commercial Bay with harbour light flooding through the windows and a menu built almost entirely from New Zealand produce, some of it grown in his own kitchen garden. Māori techniques like hāngi share the menu with Japanese-inflected ideas, which sounds like a manifesto but eats like a meal. It holds a Michelin star, and the room feels like it knows that without making it your problem.

A 19-seat brass counter wraps around an open kitchen where everything on the menu is designed to be shared, the name being Māori for exactly that. This is fine dining in Christchurch, Michelin-starred, but run with the warmth of a dinner party at someone's house, which is the point. The chef did time at Claridge's; his wife runs the room. Regulars come back as much for her as for the food.

The word "tala" means story, and a Michelin-starred multi-course tasting menu in Parnell is the format the chef uses to tell his. Henry Onesemo's cooking centers on Samoan tradition, rendered with a precision that makes the heritage feel expansive rather than museumified. Counter seats put you closest to the kitchen, and the team narrates each dish with the ease of people who have explained it a hundred times and still mean it.

Perched on the edge of Lake Wakatipu with the Remarkables stacking up behind it, Rosewood Matakauri is a luxury alpine lodge about ten minutes from Queenstown. Cedarwood saunas and heated plunge pools handle the wellness crowd, while the surrounding terrain keeps the heli-skiing and whitewater rafting contingent equally occupied. Inside, rooms lean heavily into the view, which does most of the decorating.

Greystone sits in the Waipara Valley making cool-climate organic wines, with a chardonnay that keeps getting mentioned in the same breath as the South Island's best. The winery restaurant pairs seasonal dishes with the estate's own bottles, and there's a "Trust the Chef" option if you'd rather hand the whole decision over, which, given the wines, is not a bad instinct. It holds a spot on The World's 50 Best Vineyards list.

The cellar door at this family-run Auckland winery has been quietly stewarded by the same matriarch for longer than most wine regions have had a reputation. The Chardonnays draw comparisons to Burgundy, which sounds like marketing until you taste them. Michael Brajkovich, New Zealand's first Master of Wine, oversees production across 30 hand-harvested hectares. The winery appears on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list, which tells you the pilgrimage is not an eccentric one.

Eight kitchens cooking eight cuisines on demand in a single restaurant gives you a sense of the ambition at Cordis, a large upscale hotel sitting above the central city with views stretching to the harbor and a handful of dormant volcanoes. The Chuan Spa keeps things serene, high tea in The Chandelier Lounge has become a local ritual, and the Pinnacle Tower addition means the property can handle serious group size without the atmosphere collapsing under the weight.

Handmade bricks and salvaged timber frame this boutique hotel on the Auckland waterfront, where the eco credentials show up in the materials rather than the mood. Rooms are quietly luxurious and suites properly lavish, with harbor and skyline views doing the heavy lifting on atmosphere. The Libraries offer a place to sink into a sofa, and the all-day restaurant, kingi, leans into sustainability without making you feel virtuous about it. The Michelin Guide awarded it one Key.

A seven-storey atrium open to natural light sets the tone at this harbourside luxury hotel on Waitematā. Conran and Partners did the interiors, and the industrial-luxe concrete-and-glass aesthetic reads a little like the Tate Modern relocated to Auckland, which makes the Māori tukutuku panels and woven pieces scattered throughout feel like a considered argument rather than decoration. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Key.

Perched above the Waikato River near the thundering Huka Falls, this intimate lodge has been a trout fisherman's retreat forever and quietly evolved into something rather more. Twenty-five suites and two private cottages sit on 17 acres, each room with heated floors and a fireplace for when you come back damp. Days run from fly fishing to vintage Aston Martins on a nearby track. A Forbes Four Star property and ranked on the World's 50 Best Hotels list.

Perched on cliffs above the Pacific, this Rosewood resort on New Zealand's North Island doubles as a working sheep farm, so the view from your lodge might include a flock being herded below. A resident astronomer leads stargazing tours after dark, and the Cape Kidnappers gannet colony is a short walk along the headland. Hawke's Bay wine country sits practically at the gate. Forbes Four Star.

The lodge is shaped like a Maori fish hook cascading down a hillside above Owhanake Bay, which is either a design choice or a very confident metaphor. This intimate retreat on Waiheke Island holds just six units across suites, a villa, and an apartment, so the ratio of infinity pool to guest is refreshingly high. The ferry from Auckland takes 35 minutes, and the island's vineyards and beaches take considerably longer to leave.

Perched above the North Island's Pacific coast where waves work the stony shoreline constantly, this Rosewood resort arranges its suites and villas so that wall-to-wall windows and private terraces put the ocean front and center. Golf, guided bush hikes, and helicopter runs along the cliffs fill the days; the dining room leans on line-caught seafood and locally foraged produce; the spa does hot stone work within earshot of the sea.

A thirty-foot beam ceiling and a fireplace you could park a car in anchor the Great Room of this remote lodge hotel on Lake Wakatipu, with the Humboldt mountains filling the windows behind it. An Idaho architect built it as a love letter to the lodges of the American West, which makes it slightly absurd and completely comfortable. Eight rooms, plus suites and private chalets. The Michelin Guide awarded it 2 Keys. No children under 13, which tells you the clientele.

Ten rooms inside a restored Ponsonby villa, so the vibe is closer to staying at a very tasteful friend's house than checking into a hotel. Underfloor-heated bathrooms and breakfast in bed keep things firmly in boutique territory, while afternoon drinks and small bites arrive without you having to ask. Ponsonby Road's cafés and galleries are a short walk, and the Michelin Guide awarded it one Key.

Five suites on the shore of Lake Wakatipu, each with a wood-burning fireplace and possum-skin throws on the beds, and views that make the price tag feel like a reasonable argument. Eichardt's is a boutique luxury hotel that's been around forever, though it took a flood and a gutsy renovation to become the place it is now. The Remarkables for winter skiing, the lake for summer, and a Michelin Key for the rooms themselves.

A 3,000-acre working sheep farm above the cliffs of Palliser Bay, this country estate lodge earns its Michelin two Keys by doing very little, very well. Freestanding cottage suites come with open fires, exposed beams, and the kind of sea-and-pasture views that make you cancel plans. Horses, quad bikes, and local Pinot fill the days; dinner leans heavily on the estate itself. The Wairarapa wine country does the rest.

Nine freestanding villas perched above Lake Wakatipu with the Remarkables filling every window, Azur is the kind of small lodge that makes you feel vaguely guilty about booking a normal hotel. Spa tubs face the panorama, fireplaces run hard through ski season, and breakfast arrives in-suite if you'd rather not put on shoes. A Michelin Key property, and close enough to Queenstown that complimentary transfers make skipping the rental car a reasonable argument.

Meat cleavers double as door handles, which sets the tone before you've ordered a drink. This cocktail bar sits inside a lakefront steakhouse in Queenstown, dressed up in plush contemporary style despite looking like a colonial cottage from the outside. The lake views do a lot of the heavy lifting in summer, and the crowd skews toward people who've had a good day on the slopes and don't mind showing it.

Stone walls, arched windows, and a homestead that's been around forever anchor this lodge near Queenstown, where a local family spent decades turning a sheep paddock into something that reads more like a European château than rural New Zealand. Suites and cottages open onto formal gardens with the Remarkables behind them, and a chapel, wine cellar, and hot tubs fill in whatever gaps the scenery leaves. The Michelin Guide awarded it one Key.

A casual pasta spot on Cuba Street where everything comes from fresh in-house dough made with free-range eggs and South Island semolina. The menu is short, the Bolognese is generous enough to silence the table, and a weekly special keeps regulars coming back. A long communal table makes you friends whether you planned on it or not. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, which in this case means good food without the performance.

Northern Italian cooking in a gold-rush town feels like it shouldn't work, yet here we are. Aosta is a sit-down restaurant in historic Arrowtown built around the produce of Central Otago, with Ben Bayly as executive chef and a menu that runs the full Italian structure from cicchetti through to dolci. The Michelin Guide gave it a Bib Gourmand, which tracks for a room that takes the food seriously without making you feel underdressed for it.

Goat's cheese croquettes and sausages charged by length: this French-leaning wine bar on K Road operates on its own cheerful logic. The Michelin Bib Gourmand goes to a room where the person running the floor will ask about your mood before recommending a glass, and the blackboard menu changes with whatever the kitchen feels like doing. Neighborhoody in the way that most neighborhoods are not lucky enough to have.

Hunting trophies line the walls, and the menu at this Dominion Road restaurant makes that decor feel like a mission statement rather than decoration. It's a meat-forward dinner spot built around sustainable animals butchered and aged on site, from house-cured charcuterie through to wild venison. The Feast menu is the move if you want the full tour. A Michelin Bib Gourmand, and quail on the specials board is a good night to show up.

Focaccia baked in-house and charred on the grill is a good sign, and at Earl it sets the tone for the rest of the menu. This bright, open-kitchen bistro on Lichfield Street runs on seasonal local produce handled in a quietly European way, with sharing plates and the kind of warmth that makes you stay longer than planned. The Michelin Guide gave it a Bib Gourmand, and the booth regulars look entirely unsurprised.

The arcade tables outside belong to the café across the way until evening, when this tiny Lebanese spot claims them back and spreads a family-style feast across the borrowed furniture. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, and the food earns the fuss: homemade pide, hummus that's properly creamy, and chicken thighs that drip. The sharing format and the keen prices make the whole thing feel less like a meal out and more like someone's mother is feeding you.

Three tables, a few counter seats, and a short menu that changes often: Londo is a compact wine bar in Merivale where the chef runs things with enough enthusiasm to make the room feel twice its size. The dishes are meant for sharing and tend toward the generous end of small-plates logic. A Michelin Bib Gourmand, and easy to see why when the food hits the table. Local natural wines, cocktails, and craft beers cover the drinks side.

Akaroa salmon and Lumina lamb anchor a sharing-plates menu that moves between Andalusia and the Middle East, with most of the produce pulled from the Canterbury region. Odeon is a relaxed Mediterranean restaurant on a block thick with competition, and the "Just Feed Me" option hands the choices to the kitchen if you'd rather not decide. The wine list leans organic and biodynamic, and it holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand.

A 1930s church moved to the Frankton countryside and turned into a wood-fired pizza restaurant, which is a sentence that earns its own pause. The sprawling terrace handles summer crowds; a covered pavilion steps in when Queenstown winters arrive. The menu leans Italian, with cacio e pepe alongside the pizzas, and the pecorino churros exist in defiance of category. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand.

A former bar that found its calling as a dining room, The Monday Room sits inside a heritage building on High Street and runs on the logic that food is better shared. The chef leans on seasonal local produce to reimagine European classics, and the menu scales up from a set menu to a full banquet. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, and the format rewards groups willing to surrender the ordering to the kitchen.

A 79-room boutique hotel inside a lovingly restored Art Deco tower on lower Queen Street, Fable reportedly drew its color palette from Wallis Simpson's jewelry collection, which explains why the headboards come in aquamarine and amethyst rather than the usual beige. Curving staircases and a three-tiered chandelier survived the renovation intact. Cooke's, the ground-floor brasserie, revives the name of the building's original eatery. The Michelin Guide has it among its selected hotels.

The wildly patterned carpets alone will stop you mid-lobby, which is very much the point. Hotel DeBrett sits on High Street, the scruffier, more interesting street running parallel to Auckland's main drag, and the building's Art Deco bones now wear mid-century modern furniture like they were always meant to. A cocktail bar, an atrium restaurant, and an upscale pub keep things lively, and the crowd leans creative, the way the neighborhood does.

The taupe glass tower that once housed touring rock bands between Auckland gigs has had a thorough rethink. This five-star hotel now runs to Urbanaut craft beer in the minibar and mindfulness sessions on the TV, which feels about right for the distance traveled. The fourth-floor pool and gym face the city through floor-to-ceiling glass, and the restaurant downstairs draws on Japanese, Korean, and Polynesian techniques in roughly equal measure.

The basement spa used to be the Reserve Bank's gold bullion vault, and the walls are still thick enough to kill your phone signal. As a hotel, SO/ Auckland goes full theatrical everywhere else too: all-black lobby, red armchairs, a Marcel Wanders chandelier, interiors by local fashion label WORLD. Rooms lean into Auckland's volcanic palette, and some face the harbour with double-wide tubs to match.

Bar Albert sits on the 38th floor, making it the highest rooftop bar in Auckland, which isn't nothing in a city that spends most of its energy pointing people toward the countryside. The hotel itself is a boutique property in a downtown tower, with harbor views that stretch well past the skyline. Beds are made from recycled materials, there's a bikeshare partnership for the restless, and an Italian trattoria handles dinner on the lower floors.

Five suites and a handful of freestanding Pods sit so quietly in the Ahuriri Valley that the South Island tussock grasslands barely notice they're there. The Lindis is a lodge where the architecture is unapologetically angular and modern, which somehow makes the landscape look wilder by contrast. Hiking, stargazing, and river fishing fill the days, and the kitchen leans on its own gardens. The Michelin Guide awarded it two Keys.

A skybridge connects this luxury boutique hotel directly to SkyCity's casino, restaurants, and the All Blacks Experience, which is either very convenient or a mild threat to your credit card. Rooms lean into New Zealand's landscape and culture in the design, comfort levels are unambiguously plush, and the staff manages to be warm without being performative about it. The Michelin Guide has it on their hotel selection.

Mid-century furnishings and Kiwiana artwork set the tone at this boutique hotel just off Viaduct Harbour, where the owner spent years sourcing every piece personally. Vinyl-stocked record players sit in suites alongside standalone baths and balconies, while book collections turn the communal areas into somewhere you'd actually linger. One-button touch screens replace the lobby phone ritual. The ground-floor Pantry runs from barista coffee through late-night snacks, and a pool, spa, and sauna occupy the upper floors.

A gilded ceiling, marble floors, and oversized botanical canvases set the tone in the lobby of this large, upscale hotel inside Auckland's SkyCity entertainment complex. West-facing rooms catch harbor bridge sunsets and the occasional bungee jumper mid-leap from the Sky Tower next door. Six restaurants sit under the same roof, including Cassia and Metita, two names worth seeking out on their own. The theatre district is a five-minute walk.

Pod hotel on Cook Street, a short walk from K' Road and Ponsonby, designed around the idea that a room is mostly for sleeping. Most pods are windowless by intention, fitted with charging points, storage nets, and a personal locker, with twin and queen ensuites available for anyone who'd rather have a door. A communal kitchen handles late-night noodle emergencies, and Miss Lucy's downstairs covers breakfast through pizza without leaving the building.

Video art loops in the lobby while salvaged maritime hardware fills the corridors, which is one way to tell guests they're not at a Marriott. This Viaduct Harbour hotel runs from standard rooms up to Junior Suites where the freestanding tub sits inside the bedroom with no wall between it and you. Esther handles Mediterranean and North African cooking downstairs, and the rooftop bar swaps egg whites for aquafaba and runs DJs on weekends.

Two glass wings extend out over the Viaduct Harbour marina, which tells you everything about how this luxury hotel positions itself in Auckland. Rooms are crisp and modern with a quietly Asian-inflected aesthetic, full-length windows, and actual balconies with sliding doors, a small mercy in an era of sealed air. The spa covers the basics well for a hotel this size, and a couple of stylish restaurants and lounges keep you from having to go far.

A riot of floral prints hits you at reception before you've even found the lift, which is either a warning or a promise, depending on your relationship with maximalism. This boutique hotel on Cuba Street backs the bold lobby with rooms that are quieter but not by much, layering color, texture, and genuinely luxurious linens. Double-glazed windows keep the city out. Lola Rouge handles pan-Asian food and high tea; the Grand Bar handles everything after.

A giant Alice in Wonderland flower sculpture greets you in the lobby, which sets the tone for this design hotel on Wellington's liveliest street. The Edwardian facade hints at restraint the interior ignores entirely: expect jewel-toned rooms with hand-painted headboards, a floor-to-ceiling red restaurant, and high tea served in an emerald parlor modeled on a Parisian conservatory. Cuba Street's galleries and bars are right outside.

A hotel on Wellington's harbor that skips the tramping-boot aesthetic most New Zealand properties lean into, QT Wellington is a loud, colorful tribute to the capital's arts scene instead. Rooms run to murals, bold prints, Bose speakers, and Nespresso machines, keeping one foot in quiet luxury. The indoor pool sits in a sunlit atrium, and the social center is the Hippopotamus Restaurant and Cocktail Bar downstairs.

Ten rooms on Oriental Parade, each with a glass-walled bathroom and a two-person soaking tub, which tells you exactly the kind of boutique hotel this is. Mid-century modernist furniture is curated with genuine care, and the materials throughout feel chosen rather than specified. Owner-operated keeps the scale human and the welcome warm, without the cool remove that usually comes with this much design intent.

Gold accents, crystal chandeliers, and double spa baths in every room, a very Parisian move for a town more accustomed to ski lodges. This luxury hotel parks you steps from Lake Wakatipu with the Remarkables as a backdrop, then spends considerable energy making you forget the outdoors exist. The L'Occitane spa, the red-velvet gin bar stocked with Central Otago distillers, and a restaurant running French technique on New Zealand produce complete the case for staying in.

Ten rooms, private balconies, gas fireplaces, heated floors, deep tubs, and a pillow menu, which tells you everything about the register. The Spire is a small luxury hotel in the heart of Queenstown, dressed in a dramatic palette of reds, greys, and black with furniture by Eames and Philippe Starck. No ski-lodge kitsch anywhere. The staff, refreshingly, skips the boutique-hotel sulk. A good base for the slopes in winter or Lake Wakatipu in summer.

Eight rooms in a restored Victorian villa a short walk from Queenstown's center, and the place still feels like someone's very grand house, which is entirely the point. Patterned wallpaper, period furnishings, and views over the lake or garden fill the rooms. A pair of garden hot tubs, borrowed bikes, and a free town shuttle cover the practicalities. The Michelin Guide has it among its selected hotels.

A glass tower on Wellington's harbor, its upper floors framing Cook Strait and the hills that make this city impossible to grid. It's a full-service hotel in the center of town, 231 rooms in cream and dark wood, with harbor views kicking in as you move up the tiers. Two Grey, the attached café and wine bar, pulls an after-work crowd on its own terms. Te Papa and the waterfront are both walkable, which in Wellington's compact core means five minutes, not twenty.

Antique skis on the wall and bold plaid underfoot could have landed anywhere on the Alpine-lodge spectrum, but Naumi's maximalist instincts kept pulling things somewhere far more interesting. This 13-room boutique hotel occupies a century-old building that was once Queenstown's first general store, and the interiors balance Alpine-chic references with a riot of color and pattern. A complimentary evening happy hour runs in the lounge, and an outdoor Jacuzzi looks out over the rooftops.

Every one of the 19 rooms at this boutique hotel looks out at a mountain range called The Remarkables, which rather sets the tone. Timber, stone, and glass keep the exterior in quiet conversation with the landscape, while local designers softened the interiors into something genuinely livable, each room spilling onto its own terrace or patio. Complimentary canapes and wine arrive in the lounge before dinner, and gourmet picnic hampers go out for those who prefer their meal with altitude.

Fifteen suites, all of them facing Lake Wakatipu and The Remarkables, which means the mountain view is essentially the design brief. This is a small luxury hotel, quietly tucked away from Queenstown's busier streets, with freestanding tubs, fireplaces, and wide glass doors arranged around that panorama. Larger residences add outdoor fireplaces and balcony saunas. A house car runs guests into town when the view eventually loses the argument.

A century-old Spanish Mission convent a short drive from central Auckland, converted into a 22-room boutique hotel where the rooms are named things like Nun's Repose and Mother Superior. The latter is a two-bedroom apartment with a full kitchen, which feels appropriately abbess-level. Decor runs eclectic, with weathered surfaces and a mix of vintage and modernist furniture. On-site restaurant Ada does contemporary New Zealand cooking with an Italian lean.

The hot tub garden sits with a direct view of the Remarkables, which tells you most of what you need to know about this Queenstown hotel. It reads like a Swiss ski lodge that made a detour through a European city hotel, all alpine warmth with a sharper edge than most of the competition on the lake. Lombardi Bar draws locals alongside guests, and that's usually a reliable sign that a hotel has figured something out.

Perched above Lake Wakatipu with the Remarkables framing the window, QT Queenstown is a boutique hotel that leans hard into the chic-urban-in-a-ski-town contradiction and pulls it off. Rooms run plush enough to justify a full day horizontal after whatever the mountains did to you. The market-style Bazaar handles meals, and the whole place carries the kind of polish that makes guests quietly wonder why they booked anything else in town.