Minaret Station | remote luxury

cabin at Minaret Station (c) 2019 by David Ourisman, all rights reserved

There are different kinds of luxury.  One type of luxury is about exquisite hotel rooms with the most comfortable mattresses and linens; gorgeous drapes and furnishings; bathrooms with marble counters, deep soaking tubs, and pulsating rainshowers; and panoramic views of alpine mountains or uninterrupted coastlines.

Another vision of luxury eschews being up-to-date in order to offer its guests a full immersion in the history and culture of the place to which they've traveled.

mountain stream (c) 2019 by David Ourisman, all rights reserved

And then there's Minaret Station — I've shown the wooden cabin where I spent one quite glorious day. This is the luxury of living in perfect comfort in a totally remote location entirely off the grid. A simple but comfortable cabin. Plain wooden floors. Spacious bedroom with views onto this mountain valley. A deck whose hot tub shared the same views. A living room with sofabed (if you bring your kids). A bathroom without a square inch of marble ... but dual vanities, a shower with plenty of hot water, and the best water pressure we experienced anywhere in New Zealand. Did I say we were off the grid? The resort generates its own hydroelectric power from a waterfall just behind where I was standing. Oh, and the food was wonderful!

I absolutely loved my much too-short one day at Minaret Station. Very remote, it's just a 45 minute helicopter ride from Queenstown, and getting there is half the fun. If you're an avid travel photographer, put this resort on your bucket list. Arriving at Minaret Station is like landing in a photographic paradise. See more photos in my two previous blog articles here and here.

copyright (c) 2019 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.