The Lindis: what to know before you go

The Lindis is a lodge of eight rooms in the centre of the Ahuriri Valley, a little over two hours from Queenstown and at the end of 25 minutes of gravel road. Its timber roof follows the line of the valley so closely that you can look straight at it and miss it. It holds Two Michelin Keys, a New Zealand Architecture Award and a World Architecture Festival prize, and it stands on a working sheep station beside a river of wild trout.

Where is The Lindis?

In the high country between Queenstown and Aoraki / Mount Cook. From Queenstown, you drive over the Lindis Pass on State Highway 8, one of the roads in our guide to New Zealand's most scenic drives, then turn up Birchwood Road and follow the valley into the mountains. Omarama, the nearest town, with its clay cliffs, is half an hour away. Somewhere along the gravel your phone goes quiet.

The lodge is on Ben Avon Station, around 2,600 hectares (6,500 acres) that still carry around 3,000 merino sheep and 100 Angus cattle. Next door is the Ahuriri Conservation Park, about 49,000 hectares (121,000 acres) of mountain, tussock, wetland and beech forest. The station's woolshed, just past the lodge gate, was built in the 1870s. Wānaka is an hour and a half away, Christchurch four and a half, and a helicopter can land on the lodge's own pad.

What is the building?

It was designed by Christopher Kelly of Architecture Workshop in Wellington and opened in November 2018. The roof is a long shell of spotted gum timber that rises and falls like the ground around it. Beneath it are bluestone walls and windows from floor to ceiling. The regional jury of the New Zealand Institute of Architects said it showed how a place like this could be occupied "almost by stealth". In 2019 it won the national architecture award for hospitality and the hotel and leisure prize at the World Architecture Festival in Amsterdam.

At its centre is the Great Hall, where guests gather for drinks and for dinner, with the valley in every window.

Where do you stay?

• Master Suites. Two, of about 65 square metres (700 sq ft), with a bath and views of the river and the valley.
• Lodge Suites. Three, of about 50 square metres (540 sq ft), under the same roof.
• Pods. Three small rooms of mirrored glass, a short walk from the lodge, each with a private deck and an outdoor bath.

The suites are named for the stations of the valley: Ben Avon, Longslip, Dalrachney, Ribbonwood and Birchwood. A stay includes breakfast, lunch at the lodge or packed for the day, pre-dinner drinks and a multi-course dinner. Guests are twelve and over, and the minimum stay is two nights.

What is the food like?

Seasonal, from close by, and cooked by a kitchen that Cuisine magazine named Luxury Lodge Chefs of the Year in 2025. Herbs and greens come from the garden outside. The evening's menu is shared each morning, dinner is in the Great Hall, and there is no table to book. You sit down when you are ready.

Out on the station is the Black Diamond, the lodge's private dining hideaway, with nothing in front of it but the valley. Lunch there is a barbecue, and at sundown it can be champagne and caviar.

What do you do there?

The valley is the reason to come, and most of what the lodge offers is a way of being out in it.

Fly fishing. The Ahuriri is a short walk from the door and holds wild brown and rainbow trout. Since 1990 the river has been protected by a national Water Conservation Order, which names its fisheries and its angling as outstanding. The lodge's guides fish it from November to April and will take a beginner as readily as an expert.

Riding. There are stables on the station and twelve horses. A private guide takes you across the paddocks, through the river and up into the hills for one, two or three hours, at whatever level you ride.

Gliding. At Omarama, where national and international gliding records have been set. One passenger goes up in each glider, in silence, over lakes and ridgelines, from mid-October to April.

By helicopter. The pad is at the lodge. One flight goes to Aoraki / Mount Cook and lands on New Zealand's longest glacier, where a guide fits your crampons and walks you among the ice. Our piece on flying over the Southern Alps describes that country. From mid-June to mid-October there is heli-skiing on the Tasman Glacier.

The night sky. The valley is far from any town, and the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve lies to the north. A private astronomer brings a telescope after dinner, at ten in summer and eight in winter.

On foot. Trails leave from the lodge, and a guide can take you from the open flats up onto the ridgelines. The hot tub looks out over the valley and is there when you get back.

When should you go?

Down the valley, Omarama is some of the driest country in New Zealand, with about 500 millimetres (20in) of rain a year. Summer days run from 20 to 30°C (68 to 86°F) with cool evenings, and that is the season for the river and the gliders. Winter is −5 to 8°C (23 to 46°F), with snow on the tops, mulled wine by the fire pit and the stars out by eight. Our guide to New Zealand weather by season sets it against the rest of the country.

How does it fit in a journey?

The Masterpiece and The Epicurean each spend two nights here. The Masterpiece arrives through the old wine country of Bannockburn and goes on to Queenstown. The Epicurean comes the other way, from Queenstown, and carries on north through the Mackenzie. On both, the full day is yours to choose, with heli-hiking and horse trekking among the options.

The Lindis is one of ten New Zealand properties with Two Michelin Keys, listed in our guide to Michelin Key lodges and hotels, and it appears on our Central Otago page.

On the last morning, walk out onto the grass and look back. The roof is one more fold in the valley floor.