Nelson, New Zealand

Te Koi The Lodge at Bronte

Price per night from$1,380.52

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (NZD2,304.35), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Heroically hospitable

Setting

Edge of Waimea estuary

Expect the warmest of Waimea welcomes at Te Koi the Lodge at Bronte, thanks to husband-and-wife owners, Ian and Ali: a former restaurateur and a professional chef. (Yup, you’re in very safe hands.) Mother Nature has been kind here, endowing the Bronte Peninsula with views of the Waimea estuary and surrounding greenery. More than just a pretty face, the local landscapes hint at days spent exploring the Abel Tasman national park, the bucolic winelands and South Island’s dazzling beaches. Factor in a sparkling pool, unassumingly stylish interior design, knock-your-socks-off cuisine and heartfelt hospitality, and you’ve arrived at our kind of Kiwi paradise.

Smith Extra

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A bottle of local wine

Facilities

Photos Te Koi The Lodge at Bronte facilities

Need to know

Rooms

Five, including two suites.

Check–Out

10am. Earliest check-in, 2pm.

Prices

Double rooms from £1257.42 (NZ$2,650), including tax at 15 per cent.

More details

Rates usually include à la carte breakfast.

Hotel closed

Te Koi the Lodge closes its doors annually between 1 May and 1 October.

At the hotel

Gourmet kitchen; five-acre grounds with a lawn and veggie gardens; helipad; free WiFi throughout. In rooms: TV, iPod dock, desk, Nellie Tier bath products, air-conditioning, minibar, free bottled water, tea--making kit, coffee machine, and a kitchenette with an oven, hob, microwave, dishwasher, sink and washing machine.

Our favourite rooms

Opt for a private, romantic Villa to enjoy maximum space. Additional perks include the king-size bed, the spacious living room, the huge bathroom with a tub and shower, and the veranda overlooking the estuary.

Poolside

Notch up laps in the shimmering saltwater infinity pool, which is heated using solar power and beautifully maintained by the handy ‘Dolphin Cleaner’.

Packing tips

Bring your appetite for Ali’s meals and your sociable side for dinners with fellow guests.

Also

One of the bedrooms is wheelchair-accessible, with a modified shower.

Children

Little Smiths are welcome, but the hotel is best suited to teens and adults. Children under two stay for free. The two-bedroom Residence accommodates groups.

Sustainability efforts

This green-hearted hotel favours local, organic produce and wine, sources its eggs from a local farm and uses eco-friendly cleaning products and natural bath products starring Kiwi botanical extracts.

Food and Drink

Photos Te Koi The Lodge at Bronte food and drink

Top Table

Meals are served at the communal table in the dining room; private meals can be arranged with notice. Dinner can also be served on the deck or in the gardens, weather permitting.

Dress Code

Whatever you fancy wearing in your (on-loan) Kiwi dream home.

Hotel restaurant

You know you’re in safe hands when the owners are a culinary dream team: professional chef plus former restaurateur. Co-owner Ali rustles up seasonal cuisine that shines a spotlight on edible local heroes, with produce sourced from the Lodge’s garden and the nearby markets. Breakfast options include poached fruit from the orchard, locally produced yoghurt, just-baked brioche and muffins. Lunch platters starring cheese and antipasti are available on request. Dinner is the main event: a three-course extravaganza that kicks off with drinks and canapés. Here’s a previous menu to whet your appetite: parsnip-and-carrot fritters with minted goat’s cheese; tomato soup made from home-grown tomatoes, served with herb pesto, bocconcini, local olives and warm focaccia; smoked Marlborough salmon on ginger mash with tomato and chilli jam; and raspberry soufflé with home-made ice-cream in a kataifi nest.

Hotel bar

There’s no bar as such, but pre-dinner drinks are served daily and there’s plenty of wine to accompany dinner. Each room is kitted out with its own honesty bar, stocked with a tempting selection of local wines.

Last orders

Breakfast is available between 8am and 10am (or earlier or later, on departure days); with sufficient notice, lunch can be served on the deck from 12pm. Dinner begins sociably with canapés and drinks at 7.15pm.

Room service

The obliging owners can arrange for cheese or meat platters to be delivered to your room or terrace during the day.

Location

Photos Te Koi The Lodge at Bronte location
Address
Te Koi The Lodge at Bronte
133 Bronte Road East, Bronte
Nelson
7173
New Zealand

Te Koi the Lodge at Bronte is positioned at the tip of the Bronte Peninsula on the South Island, overlooking the Waimea Estuary. The town of Nelson is less than an hour’s drive away and prime Kiwi winelands are also within easy reach.

Planes

Nelson Airport is half an hour away by car. Air New Zealand flies multiple services daily between the Nelson Tasman region and the three main city centres of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch; Jetstar offers direct flights to and from Auckland and Wellington. The hotel can arrange transfers (NZ$90 one way).

Automobiles

It’s a 40-minute drive to the nearby town of Nelson; the hotel has plenty of free on-site parking for guests.

Other

Keen to arrive in style? Take advantage of the hotel’s helipad or private limo service.

Worth getting out of bed for

You could feasibly spend your entire time at the Lodge without venturing further afield, splashing about in the saltwater pool, admiring the hotel’s specially commissioned stash of art, playing tennis and spotting Kiwi paradise ducks bobbing in the little pond. But then you’d be missing out on all of the below…

Borrow bikes and encounter incredible landscapes (and very good food and drink) on the Great Taste Cycle Trail, which winds its way through Tasman Bay towns such as Nelson, Wakefield and Kaiteriteri. If you’d prefer to take to the waters, set off on a nautical-but-nice expedition in the coastal paradise of Abel Tasman, New Zealand’s smallest national park, with Sailing Adventures. On the way to Abel Tasman, pause at Bronte Road East for Bronte Gallery, which showcases the work of New Zealand artists Darryl Robertson and Lesley Jacka Robertson. Art-lovers will also appreciate a trip to Cool Store Gallery for its covetable collection of paintings, sculpture, ceramic art and handmade jewellery from artists all over New Zealand. For beach belles, Nelson’s main stretch of sand comes in the blue-and-gold form of Tahunanui Beach. Ali and Ian can arrange private charter tours by boat, chopper or chauffeur-driven car. You could sample local wine and delicacies, enjoy the seclusion of nearby beaches or fly high with magical vistas over the Tasman region. When in winelands, it’s pretty much illegal not to taste the grapes – so join a wine tour and explore Himmelsfeld, Five Rows and Richmond Plains wineries.

Local restaurants

Nelson is your best bet when it comes to local food and drink options. Not to be confused with the Kiwi reality TV show of the same name, The Kitchen on Nelson’s Bridge Street is a friendly café serving healthy dishes and reliably good coffee. You don’t have to love broccoli to love Broccoli Row, which rustles up delicious vegetarian and seafood dishes from its Collingwood Street perch. If you want to add cocktails to the seafood proposition, head to Cod & Lobster Brasserie on Trafalgar Street and pass the night in a heady blur of fish, crustaceans, gimlets and spritzes. Bivalve-addicts can get their fix at Urban Oyster Bar & Eatery on Hardy Street, which serves imaginative treats; ceviche tacos, anyone? Alternatively, cosy up on Trafalgar Street in Hopgood’s, which does a fine line in contemporary comfort food: braised beef short ribs, charred carrots, turnips and onions, for example, and sides of fried broccoli with anchovy cream or potatoes with caramelised onion, rosemary and cheddar. Yes, please.

Local bars

Sister to the aforementioned Cod & Lobster Brasserie, Kismet Cocktail Bar doffs its hat boozily to Lord Nelson and has a soft spot for whisky. Kick things off with a Lord Nelson’s Last Word, starring barrel-aged green Chartreuse, London Dry Gin, maraschino liqueur and lime juice, shaken and served with a maraschino cherry. There’s a small selection of nibbles – Moroccan lamb meatballs, truffle fries, baked Camembert, panko-crumbed prawns and the ilk – if you’re feeling peckish.

Reviews

Photos Te Koi The Lodge at Bronte reviews

Anonymous review

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this gourmet hotel in New Zealand and unpacked their Marlborough wines and swimwear, a full account of their island break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Te Koi the Lodge at Bronte in Nelson

Feast eyes, belly and soul at Te Koi the Lodge in Bronte, on New Zealand’s sun-kissed South Island. This handsomely hospitable stay sits in a fairy-tale-worthy patch of green-and-blue Kiwi scenery, at the tip of the historic Bronte Peninsula. Lashings of glass, peaceful decks and gorgeous grounds are your cues to sit and soak up the views of the glittering Waimea Estuary – the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, dontcha know. You’d think it would be hard to match the staggering natural beauty of this setting, but owners Ali and Ian do exactly that via first-class gourmet cuisine (Ali is a professional chef), delicious local wine (Ian is a former restaurateur), and the warmest of welcomes. Suites, villas and the two-bedroom Residence are styled with understated glamour: top-notch furniture and fittings plus soothing sand-and-cream hues, enlivened by local artworks from the owners’ private collection. Expect to arrive as guests and leave – very, very reluctantly – as friends. 

 
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Price per night from $1,380.52