Huka Lodge

Huka Lodge was originally built as a fishing lodge in the 1920's by Irishman Alan Pye. He realized the Waikato River was excellent for fly fishing and built the lodge to support the activity. It remained a rustic lodge until the mid 1980's when current owner, Alex van Heeren purchased the property and transformed it into a luxury lodge.

Today, it has 18 Junior Lodge suites, one Lodge suite, and two private cottages. Guests can borrow fishing equipment to fish the stunning water beside the lodge or enjoy various other amenities such as a pool, spa pools, tennis, croquet, petanque, a library, and study.

Huka Lodge is located just outside of Taupo and upstream of where the Huka Jet boat runs. If you have a chance, I highly, highly recommend the Huka Jet boat. It is a quicker ride, only about 30 minutes, and much more adventurous than I gave it credit at first glance (I have a pretty adventurous lifestyle, I thought it was going to be boring. It wasn't!)

The views from the property are stunning. The main lodge has on older design with a lot of little rooms. When we took our tour, they were running at capacity, so it felt a bit crowded at times. I loved the rooms, which are villa style and detached from the lodge and completely peaceful and serene. What is nice about all the rooms in the lodge is the abundant choices a guest has dining options, 21 total options. You can dine every day at a different location, including several outside choices, even with fireplaces.

Rates do include breakfast, pre-dinner drinks and canapes, and a five course dinner with the menu changing daily.

The property is gorgeous. I could have sat here all day and just enjoyed the views.






This was the best picture I took showing the lodge. It was from a scenic viewpoint up the road.


Some views from inside the main lodge:






And the wine cellar. It has 5,500 or so bottles of mostly New Zealand wine.


Activities on site:






And now the gorgeous rooms:




Every room has its own french doors, patio, and chairs with views of the river.




Onto the washroom:




There are two vanities in each washroom facing each other. They also had a stand alone shower and bath tub.


Lastly, a partial view of the closet:


I loved the rooms at Huka, but not the lodge itself. Coming from an isolated lodge with only a few rooms and visiting Huka at capacity, the main lodge felt crowded at times. That being said, for dining, they will spread out the guests so that issue won't be pressing.

Huka Lodge does some pretty sensational special events during May-Sept including guests chef's, themes like opera, wine, or the Art of Living.