Rainforest Retreat

Rainforest Retreat - Franz Josef Glacier

Rainforest Retreat

Franz Josef Glacier

4.4 272 reviews

Photos

Information

Rainforest Retreat

Experience true nature in style......

Immerse yourself in the spectacular mountains and bush of New Zealand’s West Coast. Rainforest Retreat is a unique destination with varied options to suit the budgets and needs of all travellers.

Nestled amongst native bush and lush Punga groves in Franz Josef Village, Rainforest Retreat offers a varied range of accommodation, all built to embrace the natural environment. Whatever the season, you can explore the South Island’s glacier country and West Coast region from Rainforest Retreat. More than just accomodation, it’s a captivating experience.

Accommodations

Details

Feature Value Info

Organisation

Rainforest Holiday Park

Commercial organisation

Location

South IslandWest CoastCron street

Categories

  • Activity__camping_grounds_holiday_parksCamping Grounds
  • Activity__dump_stationDump Station

Operating Season And Hours

7am - 8pm

Directions

To Coordinates

Coordinates

-43.3857760460045

170.183436870575

Latitude
-43.3857760460045
Longitude
170.183436870575

Websites

Reviews

    • Very good facilities and tour rates.

      Icon__personChris Ashton

    • Felt like living in a rainforest.

      Icon__personIan Ling

    • Really cool location.

      Icon__personBex & Jake

    • Happy hour till nine.

      Icon__personMike and Sue Clark

    • Top! Also great restaurant.

      Icon__personSimone Pickert

    4.4 272 Reviews Analysis
  • Love the saina

    Reviewed 25 days ago

    Kari Flanagan's avatar

    Kari Flanagan

    Customer

  • Supenice place!

    Reviewed 15 days ago

    Per Kindgren's avatar

    Per Kindgren

    Customer

  • Great

    Reviewed 9 days ago

    John Bamforth's avatar

    John Bamforth

    Customer

  • Great site and location was walkable to everything we needed including the walk to the Glacier view.

    The only issue was the lack of WiFi.

    Reviewed 13 days ago

    Dave Jordan's avatar

    Dave Jordan

    Customer

  • Wow. Stunning place to stay with bush sites, bush walks through the campground, friendly staff, warm restaurant with hearty food to suit everyone and a free hot tub and sauna.

    Walking distance to kiwi and tuatara centre. Kids super impressed. Worth a trip to the coast just to stay here.

    Reviewed 8 months ago

    Ch's avatar

    Ch

    Customer

  • I stayed on a powered site for a couple of nights.

    The camper sites are at the back of the site in the trees which was nice and quiet. There are tables around each site although they are old and dirty.

    It’s generally a nice site but some buildings and parts of it are looking a little tired.

    There is a free sauna and spa pool which is nice but the pool is cracked and peeling too.

    It’s an easy walk into the village and there is a bar at the front of the site but even that there was no one behind the bar when I went in and couldn’t get served!

    It’s nice enough place to stay, just needs a bit of an uplift in certain areas.

    Reviewed 7 months ago

    Rich's avatar

    Rich

    Customer

  • Really recommend this place!

    The kitchen and toilet was clean and the environment is amazing. :) best holiday park for us so far!

    Reviewed about 1 year ago

    Joel Palage's avatar

    Joel Palage

    Customer

  • We paid 70 NZD for 2 people on a powered site (there were no unpowered ones).

    The place is nice, it has hot showers, kitchen, lounge area, outside hot tub, and sauna. It also has laundry, but it stops working when the internet is lost.

    Reviewed about 1 year ago and experienced in December 2024

    Mladen Savov's avatar

    Mladen Savov

    Customer

  • Pricey but you get what you pay for.

    We looked at the Franz Josef Campervan Park on the way here, really small & basic but a bit closer to town.

    Rainforest Retreat has free (and good!) wifi, washing machines you can use with a credit card, & hot hot untimed showers.

    We were able to get a powered site that backed onto the tiny creek with forest up the back so we woke up surrounded by trees, running water & birdsong.

    The attached restaurant & bar is worth a visit if like us you are ready to treat yourself to something other than camping food.

    Reviewed over 1 year ago

    Jen's avatar

    Jen

    Customer

  • Propre et calme mais 74$ la nuit en mode "power".

    Propre mais pas grand chose d'extra pour ce prix, mis à part la proximité des activités à Franz Joseph

    Reviewed 2 months ago

  • Beautiful caravan park.

    Clean toilets hot showers. Great value for $. Was very nice.

    Reviewed over 1 year ago

    Walvins's avatar

    Walvins

    Customer

  • Based on value for money this was the best park we stayed at during our trip.

    Wifi worked well, the facilities (laundry and shower were decent). The lodge and shared room was fantastic, BBQs didn't work however not a major. The bar at the park was lovely and the hot tub was free so thats a win.

    Reviewed over 1 year ago

    Dean's avatar

    Dean

    Customer

  • 21April24.

    2 adults. Powered site $48. Nice place as others have said. I would only say the number of toilets and showers are low for the number of pitches.

    Watch out for the large rocks by the pitches. One jumped out and ripped off the end of the waste water outlet! Ouch

    Reviewed almost 2 years ago

    Mike Fricker's avatar

    Mike Fricker

    Customer

  • Very lovely site and reception staff gave us the warmest welcome.

    Beware - the tour groups stay here and so there were so quite rowdy G Adventures Tweenies running around screaming in the area and hot tub.

    The kitchen facilities were locked at 11.30pm which sucked as we couldn’t get any water….. not sure why and this was the first time we had experienced that and frankly, I don’t think it’s acceptable.

    Reviewed almost 2 years ago

    Unhappy camper 's avatar

    Unhappy camper

    Customer

  • Cramped and disorganized.

    Reviewed 24 days ago

    Andrew Lester's avatar

    Andrew Lester

    Customer

  • Great

    Reviewed 9 days ago

    John Bamforth's avatar

    John Bamforth

    Customer

  • Great site and location was walkable to everything we needed including the walk to the Glacier view.

    The only issue was the lack of WiFi.

    Reviewed 13 days ago

    Dave Jordan's avatar

    Dave Jordan

    Customer

  • Supenice place!

    Reviewed 15 days ago

    Per Kindgren's avatar

    Per Kindgren

    Customer

  • Cramped and disorganized.

    Reviewed 24 days ago

    Andrew Lester's avatar

    Andrew Lester

    Customer

  • Love the saina

    Reviewed 25 days ago

    Kari Flanagan's avatar

    Kari Flanagan

    Customer

  • Propre et calme mais 74$ la nuit en mode "power".

    Propre mais pas grand chose d'extra pour ce prix, mis à part la proximité des activités à Franz Joseph

    Reviewed 2 months ago

  • I stayed on a powered site for a couple of nights.

    The camper sites are at the back of the site in the trees which was nice and quiet. There are tables around each site although they are old and dirty.

    It’s generally a nice site but some buildings and parts of it are looking a little tired.

    There is a free sauna and spa pool which is nice but the pool is cracked and peeling too.

    It’s an easy walk into the village and there is a bar at the front of the site but even that there was no one behind the bar when I went in and couldn’t get served!

    It’s nice enough place to stay, just needs a bit of an uplift in certain areas.

    Reviewed 7 months ago

    Rich's avatar

    Rich

    Customer

  • Wow. Stunning place to stay with bush sites, bush walks through the campground, friendly staff, warm restaurant with hearty food to suit everyone and a free hot tub and sauna.

    Walking distance to kiwi and tuatara centre. Kids super impressed. Worth a trip to the coast just to stay here.

    Reviewed 8 months ago

    Ch's avatar

    Ch

    Customer

  • The campsite is fine, toilets are clean, there is a kitchen and barbecue, WiFi is OK.

    But I was quite disappointed in the kitchen; half the gas burner weren't working, no proper oven (only a small microwave-sized one), no tools, machines or utensils. Previous campsites at the same price point have been vastly better equipped.

    Reviewed 11 months ago

    Danish Camper's avatar

    Danish Camper

    Customer

  • Overpriced for small powered sites.

    I can reach out my window and shake hands with the caravan next to me. Showers were clean.

    Laundry was expensive. It’s 6, unless you want warm water. That costs 8. Dryer 2 for 10 minutes.

    Reviewed 12 months ago

    Elvis's avatar

    Elvis

    Customer

  • We paid 70 NZD for 2 people on a powered site (there were no unpowered ones).

    The place is nice, it has hot showers, kitchen, lounge area, outside hot tub, and sauna. It also has laundry, but it stops working when the internet is lost.

    Reviewed about 1 year ago and experienced in December 2024

    Mladen Savov's avatar

    Mladen Savov

    Customer

  • Really recommend this place!

    The kitchen and toilet was clean and the environment is amazing. :) best holiday park for us so far!

    Reviewed about 1 year ago

    Joel Palage's avatar

    Joel Palage

    Customer

  • They forced us to book 2 nights (160$ for a powered site) because that is the minimum stay they accept.

    Disappointed for the price…

    Showers were not clean, there is no soap or paper towels in the bathroom. Sites are very small and packed up. There was a horrible smell at our site, coming for standing water right next to it. It’s also full of muskitos and sandflies. Laundry is 18$ for washer + dryer, and it’s outside, there are only a couple of machines and one of them leaks.

    I trusted the reviews and booked 2 nights but regretted it. They clearly spend all their money on rooms and not on cleaning up the campsite.

    Reviewed about 1 year ago

    Sophie's avatar

    Sophie

    Customer

  • Pricey but you get what you pay for.

    We looked at the Franz Josef Campervan Park on the way here, really small & basic but a bit closer to town.

    Rainforest Retreat has free (and good!) wifi, washing machines you can use with a credit card, & hot hot untimed showers.

    We were able to get a powered site that backed onto the tiny creek with forest up the back so we woke up surrounded by trees, running water & birdsong.

    The attached restaurant & bar is worth a visit if like us you are ready to treat yourself to something other than camping food.

    Reviewed over 1 year ago

    Jen's avatar

    Jen

    Customer

  • Beautiful caravan park.

    Clean toilets hot showers. Great value for $. Was very nice.

    Reviewed over 1 year ago

    Walvins's avatar

    Walvins

    Customer

  • Based on value for money this was the best park we stayed at during our trip.

    Wifi worked well, the facilities (laundry and shower were decent). The lodge and shared room was fantastic, BBQs didn't work however not a major. The bar at the park was lovely and the hot tub was free so thats a win.

    Reviewed over 1 year ago

    Dean's avatar

    Dean

    Customer

  • Very lovely site and reception staff gave us the warmest welcome.

    Beware - the tour groups stay here and so there were so quite rowdy G Adventures Tweenies running around screaming in the area and hot tub.

    The kitchen facilities were locked at 11.30pm which sucked as we couldn’t get any water….. not sure why and this was the first time we had experienced that and frankly, I don’t think it’s acceptable.

    Reviewed almost 2 years ago

    Unhappy camper 's avatar

    Unhappy camper

    Customer

  • 21April24.

    2 adults. Powered site $48. Nice place as others have said. I would only say the number of toilets and showers are low for the number of pitches.

    Watch out for the large rocks by the pitches. One jumped out and ripped off the end of the waste water outlet! Ouch

    Reviewed almost 2 years ago

    Mike Fricker's avatar

    Mike Fricker

    Customer

  • Great spot, free hot tub and sauna.

    Great value for money staff clearly work very hard to keep the place clean.

    Reviewed over 2 years ago

    Joe's avatar

    Joe

    Customer

  • We had a lovely time here.

    Everything was clean and the spot is just perfect for a walk to the wild life center. There is a bar/restaurant in site that is really good.

    Reviewed over 2 years ago and experienced in September 2023

    Chloe's avatar

    Chloe

    Customer