For the April 2025 issue of the Hideaway Report, we visited one of our favorite countries in the world, New Zealand. We began the trip in Auckland, staying four nights to test out two luxury hotels on the downtown waterfront. While there, we also experienced the vibrant dining scene and toured beautiful Waiheke Island.

After flying to the South Island, we visited luxury properties in the countryside: two lodges at the gateway of Fiordland National Park (only one of which earned a recommendation), a wine hotel outside Queenstown, an ecolodge in the Ahuriri Valley and a hotel ensconced on a historic sheep station near Arthur’s Pass.

We rode bikes along a wine trail, boarded ferryboats to the fjords and waterfalls of Doubtful Sound, and went on subterranean tours of glowworm caves. It was an exhilarating, adventure-filled two weeks.