Manapouri Holiday Park

The lakeview room was perfect for our family to unwind from our Doubtful Sound excursion and nearby hikes. I loved the common BBQ. We had been using a camping stove for most of the trip, so it was a luxury to use a nice BBQ again. There’s also a nearby beach (a little rocky, but walking distance if you find the path in the trees). Great place to watch the sunsets over the mountains also! The workers were also very helpful and responsive if we had any issues or questions. Would stay here again :)

Stunning location with spectacular views. great amenities when traveling with a camper van. Staff friendly and helpful. Easy walk to catch the Doubtful Sound cruise or to go to the Church for fish and chips. Walking trail just across the street makes for a beautiful way to explore the shoreline. Highly recommend.

We were paying $80 a night for four people for an unpowered campsite. I (perhaps wrongly) expected that there would be allotted spaces since some were powered sites, but when you get there it is just choose your own site AKA messy chaos when it’s Christmas/New year. There are junky cars all over the place which I guess are supposed to be charming and part of the history of the park/area but realistically they were just annoying and cluttered up already difficult areas to find a site without hemming anyone else in and cutting off car access to all sorts of other campers; part of the park is literally just a dump. As it was we had to take down someone’s washing line just to drive back to our site because it had turned into a disorganised warren since we first parked up. There is a dodgy playground with a dangerous broken old trampoline so that’s kind of a bummer when you have kids. The kitchen is decent but pretty small for the amount of campers that the park was hosting; we had to come back several times to try and get a sink to wash dishes in and there is no zip hot water just one kettle that was in hot demand so we had to wait a while to get hot water. There were no tea towels at one point and no staff to notify so I had to sneak into the utility room myself to restock them. There was a tiny lounge area attached to the kitchen, just a weird windowless room packed full of people. The toilets and showers were same as the kitchens, decent but quite congested with the amount of people booked in to stay and they were always running out of paper. All in all I don’t really know if the open-concept idea is the best for a busy holiday park really! The little chalets and Swiss alps themed buildings were really cute though I did love them.

The unpowered sites are lovely, surrounded by trees. The facilities are a bit old and not big enough for the amount of people there. We stayed just after Christmas, probably one of the busiest times of the year, and the kitchen was so full all the time you had to queue to cook your food. Also, there was only one kettle. Queues for tea as well in the morning. Not enough fridge space and no hot water in the showers at busy times. The WiFi is pretty poor as well. Other than that, the location is very pretty, walking distance to the lake that is as cold as the showers so we ended up jumping in there instead. 😆

Really nice campsite, very close to the lake and near Te Anau. Competent and attentive staff. Large green spaces for pitching your tent or parked your campervan. The communal kitchen is great. Beautiful spot for sunset also. I recommend it!

We came here because it was good value. I stayed on extra days because of the wide open park like grounds for camping were we could spread out. Its an old school camp ground and it took me back to my childhood. There are so many great photo ops here with the huge collection of classic cars and rustic buildings. You won't find another campground like this in nz. My vote for nz's coolest campground!!

We showed up at 10pm after booking the site only an hour prior, and Sam was there to help us almost immediately after clicking the ring at the reception house. He was extremely helpful and made transitioning from a long 2-day backpacking trip to a comfortable and relaxing stay in their beautiful cottage. He also made checking out extremely easy. I highly recommend Manapouri Holiday Park for anyone looking to stay in the area!

Our stay in Manapouri started off a bit odd. There was no one at reception and when we pressed the Ring doorbell to call a staff member, they pulled up in their car to check us in then drove off right after they had given us the keys. The cabin we stayed at was pretty spacious and had its own dining table and sink. Since this was a holiday park type hostel, the bathrooms and kitchen were a short walk from our cabin. The kitchen was fairly large and had a few fridges available for use and there was a decent amount of dry storage space. Parking was available close to the cabin which was nice. The vibes at the holiday park felt a bit odd as there were old cars laying around the property—I think it’s meant to fit the holiday park’s aesthetic. The one that was a little bit creepy was the mannequin with a drawn on face sitting inside one of the old cars, which we encountered each time we needed to leave our cabin. The bathrooms were decent. No towels are offered, and the linens didn’t feel *completely* clean (as compared to other hostels I’ve stayed at). The price to stay here was pretty low, so you get what you pay for.