Read skier and snowboarder-submitted reviews on Cardrona Alpine Resort that rank the ski resort and mountain town on a scale of one to five stars for attributes such as terrain, nightlife and family friendliness. See how Cardrona Alpine Resort stacks up in the reviews, on and off the slopes, from skiing and family activities to the après scene. Read up on pros, cons and other comments in reviews left by fellow skiers and riders. Don't forget to submit your own Cardrona Alpine Resort review! Scroll to the bottom of this page to let other travelers know about your skiing and resort experience.
Reviews for Cardrona Alpine Resort
Total (2.9)
A ski resort's overall star rating displayed here is not calculated based on a simple average but takes several factors, including the age of a review, into account.
a great mountain for everyone to enjoy. Cardrona got a lot of bad press during the NZ & Aussie school holidays. What added to the problem of extra long queue waits was the fact that all the other ski fields around the area were closed due to lack of snow.. This shows that Cardrona is the best field for consistent snow fall. Being a local a can always get a really fun day skiing at Cardrona and I'm an advanced skier who jumps off whatever I can find.
Chris Miller
We decided to have a skiing / snowboarding holiday in New Zealand and decided on Queenstown as our destination. We flu to Christchurch and drove the 7 long hours across the Southern Alps to reach Queenstown. The drive in its self was a challenge with snow blizzards and black ice on the roads. We had to stop a few times to fit wheel chains to the car, but it added to the adventure.
Queenstown itself is an excellent town to stay; our group stayed in the Oak Shores Apartments looking onto Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables mountain range.
Ski resorts in New Zealand are different to the ones in Europe in the way that you have to drive to the ski fields. Cardrona is about 60 – 100 mins drive from Queenstown depending on road conditions. The drive has some spectacular views so remember to bring the camera along!
When I arrived at Cardrona ski field, I parked up the car in one of the car parks at the foot of the resort. 4x4 jeeps with trailers were waiting for you to give you a lift to the base station. Basically, you squeeze into the uncovered trailer and get dropped off at the ticketing office (make sure you hold on!!!)
The resort has a more European feel to it and also has ski in / out accommodation. It also consists of a café / restaurant, ski hire shop and toilets.
Directly in front of you is a slow quad lift to the top of the mountain or you could ski down a short blue slope to a quad express. You also had another Quad express (Captains Quad) which was only accessible from skiing down from the top of the mountain.
There is also Captains Café which was a great place to meet and grab some food. It wasn’t as busy as the base station café and offered some nice food.
Cardrona has a massive snow park with jumps and a half pipe to keep you occupied.
I really enjoyed skiing here. It has terrain for everyone. In my group we had beginners to advanced and we all found runs / jumps to keep us occupied all day.
The only major down side to Cardrona was the queues for the chair lifts. On average, we were awiting 15-25 mins to get on.
What I liked about Cardrona was the wide open mountain runs and all the natural jumps. I spent all day skiing, finding my own fun. I would advise not to stick to the mapped runs and just do your own thing.
Good family friendly feild with a great terrain park but for more experienced riders I would recomend coronet peak or treblecone
I liked this mountain a lot and had the best diversity of freeride and freestyle. Definitely pick here if you can only go to one mountain in NZ. I went to about seven different ones during a 2 week trip. ~Stacey from Boston
Cardrona is a great place to ski, a real family resort . My family and I spent 1 week. We all took lessons the kids had a great time my wife and myself took a great 2 day lesson with Mark Hill. He took us on some great runs, fun bumps . Make sure you check out the ski school.
Cardrona is a family and snowboarder friendly resort in the Crown Ranges half way between Wanaka and Queenstown on the South Island of New Zealand.
A well designed ski resort with an exceptional program for kids with day care, kids club and ski school.
The runs are wide and groomed, true ego skiing but they are short so you will spend a lot of time going up and down. Good transition between the skier levels and the resort has dedicated a lot of terrain to rails, jumps and pipes for the freestyle skier and boarder.
On mountain catering is good with noodle bars, pizza restaurants, Japanese and more and the mountain has some accommodation though there's nothing to do once the resort closes for the day.
The Cardrona Hotel sits close to the access road and is an institution for mulled wine around the fire in the garden at the end of a good ski day.
Stay in nearby Wanaka or Queenstown.
Rate this Resort
Share your experience at resort Cardrona Alpine Resort to help other skiers.
