Visit
Getting here
118 Dyers Pass Road, Cashmere, Christchurch 8022, Canterbury, New Zealand. Fifteen minutes from Cathedral Square, twenty-two from the airport, and the last two of them are uphill.
By car
From the airport: Memorial Avenue, Deans Avenue, Moorhouse Avenue, then Colombo Street south and up. Twenty-two minutes, longer between 4.30 and 6. A shuttle costs NZ$34 for two and the desk books it.
From the city: Colombo Street south through Beckenham, right into Dyers Pass Road at the roundabout, then 1.4 km up. We are on the left, past the second bend, with a stone gatepost and a sign that is deliberately small because the council asked for it to be.
From Lyttelton: over Dyers Pass, eighteen minutes, and the view on the way down is the reason to take it rather than the tunnel.
Parking: sixty bays under the building and beside it, free, one per room and no booking needed. Two are charging bays for electric cars, free to guests, and both have been in use most nights since we put them in. Coaches drop at the front door and park on the flat.
Without a car
| Bus | The 28 runs from the Bus Interchange to the bottom of Dyers Pass Road, about every twenty minutes until seven in the evening. From the stop it is an eleven-minute walk up, or a NZ$12 taxi. The desk will collect you from the stop between 7am and 9pm if you telephone — no charge, we are going past anyway. |
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| Taxi and rideshare | NZ$28 to NZ$36 from the city centre. Both operate up here at any hour, though after midnight the wait is fifteen minutes rather than five. |
| Bike | The Little River rail trail and the Heathcote paths both connect to the bottom of the hill. There is a locked bike room off the car park, a stand, a track pump and a hose for eighteen bikes. |
| On foot | The Rapaki Track and the Bridle Path both start within fifteen minutes of the door. Victoria Park is a twelve-minute walk uphill, and the sign at our gate has the current track closures on it. |
| Airport transfer | NZ$34 for two, NZ$46 for four, booked at the desk with an hour’s notice. Cheaper than two taxis and it waits if the flight is late. |
What is worth doing
The desk books all of this and will say when something is not worth the money, which happens more often than you would expect.
| Christchurch Adventure Park | 2.4 km up Worsleys Road, five minutes. Chairlift, bike park and zipline. |
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| Victoria Park and the hill tracks | A twelve-minute walk up Dyers Pass Road, or two minutes in the car. |
| Cashmere shops and Barrington | 2.1 km down the hill, five minutes. |
| City centre and Cathedral Square | 7 km, about fifteen minutes. The 28 bus runs from the bottom of the road. |
| Hagley Park and the Botanic Gardens | 6 km, thirteen minutes. |
| Lyttelton | 11 km over Dyers Pass, eighteen minutes. Twenty-two through the tunnel. |
| Sumner beach | 12 km east, twenty minutes. |
| Christchurch Airport | 14 km, twenty-two minutes. Shuttle on request, NZ$34 for two. |
| Waipara wine country | 62 km north, fifty minutes. |
| Akaroa | 80 km, an hour and twenty. Hanmer Springs is an hour and forty-five. |
Season by season
December to February. Hot and dry, and the hill holds the heat until nine at night. The pools are busiest, the terrace is full from four, and the bike park runs until dusk.
March to May. The best riding and the best light. Waipara harvests through March and several of our wines come off the same trucks.
June to August. Cold, clear, and the city below is often under fog while the hotel is in sun — that happens perhaps fifteen mornings a winter and it is worth setting an alarm for. Sunday roast is on. The wood burners in Suites 24 and 26 are lit.
September to November. Wind. The nor’wester runs through Canterbury in spring and it will shut the chairlift, which is why the wet-weather plan for everything here is written before the day starts. Cup Week in the middle of November fills the hotel eight months out.
Reception holds a printed track map for the Port Hills, corrected whenever the council closes a line, which is more often than the applications notice. Ask for it at the desk rather than relying on a phone.
Arriving and leaving
Check-in from 3pm, checkout at 11am. Bags held either side at no charge and no ticket. A late arrival at any hour is fine and does not need to be warned about; someone is on the desk.
Late checkout to 2pm is NZ$45, free with the Heartwood Suites and the Long Weekend package, and free in Low season whenever the room is not going out again that night — ask at breakfast and the desk will know by then.
Contact
Front desk +64 3 337 4180, any hour.
Reservations +64 3 337 4166, 7am to 8pm.
[email protected] for a booking.
[email protected] for everything else.
118 Dyers Pass Road, Cashmere, Christchurch 8022, Canterbury, New Zealand
43°34′S 172°37′E