Charming Hotel Garda Lake

Queenstown: New hotels open up 'other side' of Wakatipu

Queenstown is home to just twenty thousand permanent residents, but each year it welcomes more than two million tourists through its stunning doors. Tourism is the true lifeblood of this vibrant town and the international contingent of adventure-seeking travellers who visit each year.

There is something special about wandering through the many lanes, along the lakefront or lingering at one of the wineries just out of town, all the while being entertained by the sing song of accents from all over the world.

I was back in the town this time for the opening of the Hilton Queenstown and its sister property, the Kawarau Hotel .

In all my years of coming to Queenstown, I can't recall spending any time on 'the other side' of Lake Wakatipu; the area around Kelvin Heights at the foothills of the Remarkables.

The opening of these two stunning hotels is the first step in establishing Kawarau Village, which will also house retail stores, cafes, bars restaurants, and other accommodation options.

Destination Queenstown CEO Tony Everitt says the new development is an essential expansion of the town.

"It was natural evolution," he said. "There is only so much land in central Queenstown and this makes use of the key feature of our town, Lake Wakatipu".

The hotel chain - one of the world's most recognisable brands in luxury accommodation - says it identified Queenstown as a "strategically significant location", building on its portfolio of New Zealand properties, which already includes Taupo and Auckland.

The hotels are being run by Australian Marlene Poynder, lured to New Zealand after being general manager of Sydney's wonderful Park Hyatt hotel.

Poynder says she has been most struck by the tranquillity of the site.

"It is just so peaceful and quiet, when you go to sleep at night you don't hear a thing and the scenery from this end of the lake is truly stunning."

Poynder says she has been hugely impressed with how the development has been embraced by the locals - during peak season the hotels will be employing more than 180 people, many of whom will be expected to work across a number of different roles.

The Hilton Queenstown is certainly luxurious, but also incredibly warm and welcoming. The rooms all feature gas fires and breathtaking views and the hotel also boasts an extraordinary collection of New Zealand and Pacific art and photography.

It is also home to Queenstown's largest spa, Eforea, which is fitted out with a 25-metre lap pool, steam room and sauna.

Ireland's Ballyfin: A World-Class Country-House Hotel Opens Its ...

Recently opened following a 10-year, multi-million-dollar renovation, the former private Georgian estate and, later, boarding school was completed in 1826 by Sir Charles Coote, a baronet and one of the wealthiest men in Regency Ireland. Coote was a collector of antiquities, which appear throught the house in the form of a tessera mosaic floor from the time of the Caesars, a 2,000-year-old bathtub in a guest room, and ancient statuary throughout.

There are only 15 bedrooms, all large, some with views of a lake and forest, others overlooking a manmade cascade and faux Greek temple. My favorite; the out-of-the-way Little Library, with a wall full of books, two (nonworking) fireplaces, and a balcony above a charming private courtyard.

Guests can enjoy spa treatments, swim in a 45-foot-long indoor pool, work out in the gym, or explore the estate’s 600 acres of typical Irish emerald countryside. Don’t miss the 19th-century follies, especially the grotto (Coote may or may not have hired a hermit to lend added authenticity) and the medieval tower, whose views extend to the Slieve Bloom Mountains in one direction and the Wicklow Mountains in the other.

The visionary owner and moneyman behind the project is Chicago businessman Fred Krehbiel. The restoration of the house (which had nearly become a ruin by the 1990s) was carried out by Jim Reynolds, an archaeologist, garden designer (the Merrion Hotel, Dublin), and general Renaissance man. The attention to detail involved even relocating a massive stone fountain three feeet to the south to correct a mistake made while Coote was away in England some 180 years ago.

The all-inclusive pricing of the accommodations (from app. $1,375 per night for two people) includes three meals daily prepared by chef Fred Cordonnier, former chef de cuisine of the Saddle Room at Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel. A recent dinner started with black pudding cappuccino and was followed by pan-fried West Cork scallops with carrot, orange blossom, yogurt, and pistachio; roast breast of duck accompanied by garden spinach, burlat cherries, and elderflower; and ice cream of rosemary, yuzu, apricot, and almond and rosemary sponge. Much of the table’s bounty derives from the estate’s six-acre walled garden, which you are welcome to tour.

Located one hour and 10 minutes from Dublin Airport, Ballyfin hopes to rival such other celebrated country-house hotels as Twin Farms in Vermont, La Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in Oxfordshire, England, and Villa Feltrinelli on Lake Garda, Italy. I wouldn’t hesitate to put down even money that Ballyfin’s lofty goals may soon come to pass.

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