The Hermitage and Aoraki Mount Cook Village

Image Credits: Te Papa; The Hermitage, Mount Cook, circa 1880s, Dunedin, by Burton Brothers studio, maker unknown, Mount Cook, 1875, by William Hodgkins. View of Mount Cook, circa 1930, New Zealand, by Margaret Stoddart. Purchased 1945. Te Papa (1945-0005-1) From the Ball Hut - Margaret Stoddart

Set right in the mountains this has been the base for visitors to Mt Cook since the first hotel was built in 1884. R L Wigley was one of the pioneers of Mount Cook tourism. In 1955 his son H R Wigley initiated glacier flights with aircraft fitted with retractable skis leading to the popular tourist pursuit of skiing down the glacier. The Hermitage is now an upmarket hotel and controls many of the activities in the village.

However the camping ground and YHA are independent of the Hermitage if you want to be economical or you could stay in Twizel or Lake Tekapo and make the long commute (80-120km one way). Three hour trips, leaving at different times through the day, travel by bus up the Tasman Valley and then by boat on the Tasman Glacier Terminal Lake to view the ever changng glacier face.

The DOC Information Centre with information on walks is open daily. Fitting in well to the mountain landscape, the present hotel by architects Hall & MacKenzie was completed in 1958. There is a statute of Edmund Hillary looking towards the mountains outside the entrance.

BOOK YOUR STAY AT THE HERMITAGE HISTORIC RESORT AORAKI MOUNT COOK