Heaven in Eichardts

You need to be seriously cashed up to stay at Eichardt’s Private Hotel in Queenstown, the snow capital of the South Island of New Zealand. Eichardt’s has reclaimed the elegance of its Gold Rush days, but with a modern, comfortable twist. Downstairs, the cheery bar is the kind you wish existed more often, (great for the lunch and, in the evening, for sampling fine local Pinot Noirs). Then, after lounging by the roaring fire in your suite, enjoying the bottle of after-dinner port, Otago dried fruits and the platter of cheese set up on a little table overlooking the view, you can retire to the most comfortable big bed anywhere, slung with a possum fur rug. Eichardt’s costs more but it’s worth it. Our favourite hotel ON EARTH is not a cheap night, but with gracious warm service, it’s where you want to come “home” to when you return from the snow. There’s only five rooms so be sure to ask for one of those facing Lake Wakatipu.

Eichardts Private Hotel, Marine Parade, PO Box 1340, Queenstown, New Zealand. + 64 3 441 0450; http://www.eichardts.co.nz/