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Stay A While: Why Wānaka Rewards Those Who Slow Down

Three men are sitting at an outdoor table overlooking the lake.
Story Wānaka
Those classic scenes: towering peaks, the tree, coffee by the lake. Wānaka's icons have earned their status, but this stunning corner of our country has a knack for revealing much more to those willing to stay a while. With over 750 kilometres of trails connecting townships, lakes, and high country, you could spend weeks here without retracing your steps, and without hardly making a mark as you go: two-wheeled or two-legged transportation is both highly encouraged and highly catered for in these parts.

Edgewater

Hotel building exterior with the pond in the foreground at Edgewater Hotel.
Place Wānaka
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Fitting seamlessly into the southern shoreline of Lake Wānaka, Edgewater is a classic, understated resort that proves working with the landscape is always the most elegant...

The Camp

A small cabin nestled in bushes.
Place Wānaka
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Aotearoa, land of the great outdoors, is unsurprisingly a land of a long list of incredibly scenic sites to spend a night, too.

Hāwea Hotel

Inside the restaurant where people are dining and looking out the windows over the lake.
Place Wānaka
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How do you like the idea of enjoying your morning coffee from a private balcony, with uninterrupted views of mountains encircling one of the country’s largest lakes?

Cardrona Hotel

Historic cream and maroon weatherboard frontage of Cardrona Hotel with a vintage cream 1968 Chrysler Model 62 parked in front.
Place Wānaka Editor's Pick
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Rumoured to be the most photographed building in the country, Cardrona Hotel was built in 1863 first and foremost as a place to stay for hardworking gold miners.