The Wilderness Lodge
Legendary lodges, heli-access and the Southern Alps, kept for you.
- Nature · Private
- Ideal length: 6-8 days
- Best time: October through April, when the Southern Hemisphere summer opens the reef, the vineyards and the alpine trails all at once.
- Private guiding, access and transfers throughout
- From US$15,000 per traveler — a starting point, tailored to you
- Designed one-to-one by a Forest Travel advisor
- Virtuoso privileges at the finest luxury hotels
Legendary lodges, heli-access and the Southern Alps, kept for you.
Two nations at the edge of the world offer coral gardens, ancient rainforest, glacial peaks and some of the most remote luxury on earth.
When to go
October through April, when the Southern Hemisphere summer opens the reef, the vineyards and the alpine trails all at once. Your advisor times it to the light, the crowds and your own calendar.
The experiences
A sense of what this journey can hold — each one arranged privately and shaped to you:
- A stay at one of the finest luxury lodges, kept to yourselves for the season.
- A helicopter into the Southern Alps to a valley no road can reach.
- A private fly-fishing morning on a river the lodge holds for its guests.
- A guided walk to an alpine summit with lunch waiting where you arrive.
A sense of the rhythm
The South Island lodges set a rhythm of wild mornings and long, quiet evenings. You fly out to the peaks, fish the clear rivers, then return to a fire and a table that seems made only for you. The Southern Alps hold the days in stillness.
A lakeside lodge or a remote alpine retreat
A lakeside lodge keeps Queenstown and its comforts within easy reach. A remote alpine retreat trades all of that for silence, scale and true seclusion. The lake is the gentler choice; the mountains, the more elemental.
How to do it well
The counsel our advisors give travelers planning this journey:
- The great lodges are few and small; secure them well ahead.
- Heli-access opens country most travellers never glimpse.
- Ask us for a lodge with private river rights for the finest fishing.
- The shoulder seasons bring quiet and some of the clearest light.
What only your advisor can open
The difference between a good trip and an unrepeatable one is access — and access is a relationship, not a booking. Every guide, room and moment is chosen and sequenced for you.
Who it's for
Travelers who value privacy, time and doing it once — beautifully — and who would rather have one trusted advisor orchestrate every detail than assemble it themselves.
Estimated investment
From US$15,000 per traveler, based on double occupancy — scaled to your dates, party size and level of privacy. A starting point, not a final quote; confirmed once your advisor tailors the itinerary.
Designed entirely around you
Nothing here is a package. A Forest Travel advisor shapes the whole journey and stays one message away before and throughout your trip.
Your Virtuoso privileges
As a Virtuoso member, Forest Travel includes benefits reserved for Virtuoso guests at the finest luxury hotels, at no added cost: a room upgrade on arrival when available, daily breakfast for two, a property credit toward dining or spa, and early check-in with late check-out when the hotel allows.
Continue exploring Queenstown & the South Island
Part of our Queenstown & the South Island travel guide. Related private journeys:
Begin the conversation
Tell a Forest Travel advisor how you like to travel and they will design The Wilderness Lodge around you — privately, every Virtuoso privilege included. Request your private consultation →
Questions, answered.
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