Aoraki Alpine Lodge

It's 1-min walk from the visitor centre, 2-min walk from the Mountaineer cafe, 10-min walk from the restaurant at the lodge down the hill. The room is clean, warm and cosy. There's a microwave and a sink in the room for simple meal, so that there is no need to fight for the communal kitchen, very convenient. Highly recommend the room with mountain view. The view of the mountain and the starry night from the patio was magnificent.

Aoraki Alpine Lodge is a fantastic place to stay, with stunning views that really make the experience special. The room was very comfortable, and the wifi/reception was excellent - perfect for rainy or windy weather (very common unfortunately) when you can simply relax indoors, turn on Netflix, and unwind. I highly recommend staying a minimum of two nights if you want to fully enjoy Mt Cook and have time to do the Hooker Valley Track without feeling rushed or missing out because of the weather. Waking up to the views from our room was a highlight (attached photos to show exactly what we could see). A great base for exploring the area and a relaxing stay overall.

Very bad experience: Poor soundproofing, unstable hot water, and minimal service made this stay disappointing despite good reviews. I’m honestly surprised by how many positive reviews this place has, which is exactly why I’m leaving mine. I booked based on those reviews, but my experience was quite disappointing. I had relatively low expectations going in, given that this is a lodge rather than a full-service hotel, but the stay still fell short. The soundproofing is extremely poor—I could clearly hear conversations from the room next door, and opening or closing their bathroom door was very loud. I was woke up during late night and early morning because of those noise. The shower was another major issue. Hot water ran out after just a few minutes, briefly came back, and then turned completely cold. A basic expectation for any hotel or lodge is a quiet room and a steady supply of hot water, neither of which was met. Additionally, the staff appear to be temporary seasonal workers. Check-in and check-out were handled, but beyond that, don’t expect much service or interaction.

Chose to stay at Mt Cook for stargazing, but it turns out it was cloudy both in the day and night, with a windstorm happening at night.. That said, the view was still decent and within 10 minutes drive to the various tracks. ⏰ perhaps because it was a rather peak period in late September, we couldn’t check in early and had to wait till the said check in timing of 3pm 🔑 our room was right beside the communal area, which didn’t help with the noises from other folks walking past our door, opening and closing the doors - especially early in the morning. The room also had a pee stink smell when we entered, which we thought could be due to the chemicals they used to clean the room. Cleanliness is good, didn’t find any surface which was dusty as we wiped down most things. In general, still a great place to stay when looking for an accommodation in Mt Cook.

The location is perfect—everything is within walking distance, making it so convenient to explore. The hotel itself is an ideal place to relax, unwind, and take in the stunning alpine scenery. Truly a peaceful getaway spot where you can enjoy both comfort and nature. Highly recommended! ☺️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Small but cosy hotel that was very clean and comfortable. Great for a quiet stay. Only downside is there’s no on-site restaurant, so you’ll need to head to a nearby hotel for food. Still, it’s a nice, simple place to rest before heading out to the glaciers.

This is NOT a 4-star hotel. The rooms were clean and the location is great. All very basic with a common area for cooking and hanging out.

If you booked and if you planned to cook make sure to bring your groceries with you They have a nice kitchen! Photo uploaded are taken from the kitchen/common area! Beds are comfortable too! 😍

One of the best places I've stayed in my three trips to New Zealand. Decent room with en-suite shower and toilet. Enormous lounge with a beautiful view of Mt. Cook Deck with two barbecues Large kitchen with lots of pots, pans, and utensils and three different fridges Quiet at night Good value for money, if you book ahead.

The Lodge offers no-frills, rustic (i.e. outdated) accommodations. Our room on the 2nd floor was fairly small and most of the extra space was taken up by bunk beds. We did have a great view of Mt Cook. Staff was friendly. Tip: There are not a lot of options for food in the area. If you bring your own, you can take advantage of the large common kitchen with multiple fridges, cooktops and plenty of plates/utensils.

A small lodge, with a quite large shared cooking and lounge area on the second floor with a nice deck with 2 grills and outdoor seating looking out onto Mount Cook (when it is not socked in by clouds.) This room has 5 couches with seating for 12 to 15, two smaller two person seating areas, three large six top tables with chairs, one large screen TV with about 30 Sky TV channels and a wood burning stove. Cooking area has two separate four burner electric ranges, two sinks, a long peninsula for meal prep, plenty of glassware, plates, utensils and cooking vessels, a large toaster and two refrigerators to store guests food. Quite the "commune" feel but it was very orderly as we saw guests cook, eat and clean up after themselves. Almost asked a family if we could buy a small plate of their tasty smelling Asian dishes! Rooms are decent size but modest with regards to furnishings (no closet - just a wheeled wardrobe with four metal hangers, but there are two nightstands with small lamps) and front (mountain facing) rooms have a view of Mt Cook with two chairs and a small round table at a large picture window. Small TV in upper corner of room with only 8 channels. Our ensuite bath/shower floor is one continuous surface with drain in far corner. Toilet is way too close to the bathroom door - very awkward. Hair dryer in nightstand is nice and powerfully hot! Front desk offers basic food (butter, jam, instant ramen, canned items) and toiletries (toothpaste etc) for sale as there is no grocery within 70 km or so. Wifi is limited to 1GB per room and difficult to connect to unless you turn your iPhone off and back on after you arrive. (We had to use their house phone to call their internet service provider after reception could not help us much and kept saying it was our phone settings that were wrong. Now they know to suggest a phone reboot to alleviate the problem.) This is not the cheapest or most expensive place around the Mt Cook village and you do certainly pay for the location and views, however it was quite comfortable and easy to book online. They do, as many places seem to do in NZ, charge 2% if you pay with a credit card.