White Horse Hill Campground
Hooker Valley - Aoraki/Mount / Mt Cook
4.5 284 reviews
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Cymen Crick
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Book early
Book early
This is DOC’s busiest Campsite. If you haven’t booked already, then I’d book now. Their refund policy is very forgiving and you can always cancel after you’ve checked the weather forecast closer to the time. They refund 80% if you cancel at least 4 days out. It’s a $20 p/p cost, and if you get this place on, it’s such a cheap spend. If you do miss out, keep an eye on it as when others cancel, more spots open up.
Also, being the same parking spot for many of the popular walks in the area, you’ll often find vehicles for 1km+ down the road to access these walks. Just another reason to book and get your spot early. This is why you're in a Campervan, stay in nature and get the edge over everyone else :)
I would recommend parking closer to the entrance as you tend to get better views of Mt Sefton. The toilets at this end of the site are much busier and tend to have queues during the day. Walk a few minutes up to the far end of the campsite and you'll find a small hidden toilet in the bushes, away from view and not shown on Google Maps, where you rarely need to wait.
The special thing about these mountains is (in the big scheme of things anyway) they’re freshly uplifted. They go straight up to the sky. You're camped directly underneath Mt Sefton, a beast of a massif with multiple glaciers. You're safe of course, but I find it a little imposing and lucky to be here at the same time. You'll likely hear the odd avalanche too. Adds to the hugeness of it all.
And then there's the dark sky.
The most ideal night night has no moon and clear viz. It's then you realise how many sparkles actually exist. I feel small.
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Information
White Horse Hill Campground
Camp beneath magnificent alpine scenery including Mt Sefton. Enjoy a variety of walks from the valley floor to mountain tops.
Facilities are basic but the views are top notch.
The White Horse Hill campsite is also the start point of many popular walks.
The Aoraki/Mount Cook Village has a visitor centre, guided activities, shops and restaurants.
Getting there:
2.5 km from Aoraki/Mt Cook Village at the end of Hooker Valley Rd off SH 80.
Accommodation
DOC Campsite Pricing
White Horse Hill Campsite is categorised as a DOC Standard Campsite. The following pricing indicates usual pricing. Prices vary for some campsites and may include seasonal pricing. Visit the DOC website for exact pricing.
DOC Standard Campsite
Standard campsites have a more limited range of facilities and services than Serviced campsites. These campsites have toilets, a water supply that could be treated or untreated tap water, or from a stream or lake, and vehicle or boat access. Bring your own soap for washing hands. Untreated water should be boiled before use to ensure it's safe. Wood BBQs and fireplaces, cold showers, picnic tables, a cooking shelter and rubbish bins may be provided; this will vary from site to site.
| Feature | Value | Value |
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| Unpowered Site | Adult | $15.00 to $20.00 per night |
| Unpowered Site | Child | $7.50 to $10.00 per night |
| Unpowered Site | Infant | $0.00 per night |
Adults are 18+ years, children are 5-17 years, infants are 0-4 years.
Details
| Feature | Value | Info |
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Organisation |
DOC CanterburyCentral government organisation |
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Location |
South Island ▷ Mount Cook - MacKenzie ▷ Mount Cook |
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Basic Camping
Google Maps
Reviews
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RATING FOR TENTS!!!
Baptiste -
Great walks, fantastic scenery.
Dave McLeish -
Clean, expensive, lots of other travellers.
Marius Hoffmann -
This site is wonderful. ☺
Sharon -
Great spot.
Vincent S.
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Beautiful place and incredible view.
Reservations are necessary. Because it fills up quickly. Three facilities with toilets and one shelter where you can wash dishes. Possibility to refill drinking water here. Many trash cans. Clean toilets. One bar 4G reception.
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Brilliant DOC campsite with fantastic views and excellent walks into the National Park.
Great facilities too - cooking shelter with large sinks, flushing toilets, treated drinking water, good phone service, rubbish and recycling. The perfect spot, loved it.
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An absolutely beautiful spot, even with a night full of rain.
Lots of space for plenty of campers. Toilets are still closed ‘for the winter’ which is a little awkward. There are big bins at the toilet block to drop rubbish. Views are epic, and it’s quiet. Very close to lots of walks. Would absolutely stay again.
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Impressive setting for this campsite.
Toilets clean, Hooker Valley trail was mostly closed when we were there but we walked a different track. Prepay if you can and remember your booking number so you can register your arrival at the booth. No staff visible until the next morning.
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Great campsite with a view of the glaciers!
Potable water, cell signal, recycling and rubbish, and a shelter for cooking. It can get windy, but it's right at the start of the Hooker Valley Track and the track to Mueller Hut and Sealy Tarns, which is really convenient. No showers, but the public shelter down in the village has two.
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Incredible.
Literally at the base of the mountains. At the start of the Hooker Valley track, as well as some other shorter trackers or longer tracks. Great indoor cooking shelter which offered us much appreciated protection from the cold and wind. Lots of picnic tables too.
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Only doc camping in the area so pretty crowded but there is plenty of space.
We had bad weather the first day but the shelter allows you to cook and eat in a dry space with gets really nice while chatting with other campers. The toilets are clean and there are many of them throughout the camp area. There are public showers not far from the camping as well. So perfect. There are a few walk which actually start from the camping ground. Would recommend!
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Came here spontaneously at 7pm even though online it was fully booked.
Still lots of space available. The honesty box is actually 18$ pp, keep that in mind if you’re coming with cash. Gets very crowded in the morning from 8am. Beautiful scenery to wake up to!
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Great location for walking .
Handy having loos, sinks ,water and rubbish disposal BUT crazy busy ( 2nd week of March). Vans squished in , people parked on either side of the road for half a mile as public car park also chokka and the walks ... we did Sealy Tarns and hooker valley along with the world and his wife. Don't expect mountain peace and solitude unless off season!
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Fantastic place to watch the stars!
Big DOC place with rather clean facilities. No shared kitchen or whatsoever but a great choice if you want to see Mt. Cook and do the Hooker trail!
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Perfect location.
It’s nice that there are facilities. Pretty barebones. Perfect. I arrived in the dark and it was packed but I was able to squeeze in. I felt lucky to have slept in the hiking car park because it gets overflowed very quickly in the morning.
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The only advantage of this place is its location.
Beautiful mountains around, and picturesque route that leads to it. The camp has no shower or kitchen but a common place to sit. There are hundreds of people, and everyone is sitting on top of each other. As a result, toilets can get quite dirty, there is also no lights in them (meaning you’ll need a flashlight to move around). Cars keep arriving till 11 pm and start leaving at 5. With this amount of cars, it can be very noisy too.
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Stayed 31/12/24.
$15 pp unpowered, DOC.
I had pre-booked but arrived late due to a cruise and very nearly didn't get a spot! Sites are not reserved and this is a very busy campground.
Extremely friendly (and physically close-by) neighbours on either side.
Flushing toilets which ran out of toilet paper overnight.
No showers, but potable water with outdoor sinks and bins.
Lots of people up early to go on walks etc.
People were very quiet and respectful at night, even on new year's.
BRILLIANT views.
Sandflies...
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Basic car park with quite a bit of space, conveniently located at Hooker Valley trailhead and near the park village.
Surrounded by incredible views of the peaks (on a clear day) and some great mossy, wooded areas to explore nearby. Great amenities—clean restrooms, shelter with picnic tables to cook and eat in and showers close to the visitor center.
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Absolutely stunning scenic site.
I took a chance and turned up at 7pm to find a space and there was loads. Honesty box on site as well. Views were amazing unfortunately bad weather meant no stargazing. Start of the hooker trail only minutes away. Facilties were clean and plentiful. Highly recommend booking in future to avoid any stress
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We loved this place It was busy (early Feb), but what a fantastic spot.
We came early (recommended) and stayed 2 nights, so had three days to explore the Hooker Valley Track, the Sealy Tarns track and Tasman Glacier View track. The visitor center in Mt. Cook Village is definitely worth a visit. This is also a dark sky reserve and we were lucky to be here on clear nights which meant mind blowing stargazing. Well worth the DOC fee - remember to prepay online or pay in cash when you arrive.
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Booked online but absolutely rammed and if I hadn’t arrived early I’d have been out of luck.
No attendant/host despite heavy traffic, and utterly disgusting toilets. Compared with the other high profile/traffic DOC at Totaranui this is a fairly awful place, and disgraceful for such a jewel in the crown as Mt Cook imo. Three gents toilets plus two unisex (and three womens also I assume) for the entire camp and all hikers. Curtailing my stay and heading back to civilisation early.
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My favorite spot simply for the view of Mt Cook and the stars!
Go outside when the moon is not too bright and look at the milkyway! Cannot beat! The wind was extremely gusty at times but other than that no complaints!
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Beautiful place and incredible view.
Reservations are necessary. Because it fills up quickly. Three facilities with toilets and one shelter where you can wash dishes. Possibility to refill drinking water here. Many trash cans. Clean toilets. One bar 4G reception.
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Brilliant DOC campsite with fantastic views and excellent walks into the National Park.
Great facilities too - cooking shelter with large sinks, flushing toilets, treated drinking water, good phone service, rubbish and recycling. The perfect spot, loved it.
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An absolutely beautiful spot, even with a night full of rain.
Lots of space for plenty of campers. Toilets are still closed ‘for the winter’ which is a little awkward. There are big bins at the toilet block to drop rubbish. Views are epic, and it’s quiet. Very close to lots of walks. Would absolutely stay again.
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Impressive setting for this campsite.
Toilets clean, Hooker Valley trail was mostly closed when we were there but we walked a different track. Prepay if you can and remember your booking number so you can register your arrival at the booth. No staff visible until the next morning.
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Great campsite with a view of the glaciers!
Potable water, cell signal, recycling and rubbish, and a shelter for cooking. It can get windy, but it's right at the start of the Hooker Valley Track and the track to Mueller Hut and Sealy Tarns, which is really convenient. No showers, but the public shelter down in the village has two.
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Incredible.
Literally at the base of the mountains. At the start of the Hooker Valley track, as well as some other shorter trackers or longer tracks. Great indoor cooking shelter which offered us much appreciated protection from the cold and wind. Lots of picnic tables too.
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Only doc camping in the area so pretty crowded but there is plenty of space.
We had bad weather the first day but the shelter allows you to cook and eat in a dry space with gets really nice while chatting with other campers. The toilets are clean and there are many of them throughout the camp area. There are public showers not far from the camping as well. So perfect. There are a few walk which actually start from the camping ground. Would recommend!
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Came here spontaneously at 7pm even though online it was fully booked.
Still lots of space available. The honesty box is actually 18$ pp, keep that in mind if you’re coming with cash. Gets very crowded in the morning from 8am. Beautiful scenery to wake up to!
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Great location for walking .
Handy having loos, sinks ,water and rubbish disposal BUT crazy busy ( 2nd week of March). Vans squished in , people parked on either side of the road for half a mile as public car park also chokka and the walks ... we did Sealy Tarns and hooker valley along with the world and his wife. Don't expect mountain peace and solitude unless off season!
-
Stayed 31/12/24.
$15 pp unpowered, DOC.
I had pre-booked but arrived late due to a cruise and very nearly didn't get a spot! Sites are not reserved and this is a very busy campground.
Extremely friendly (and physically close-by) neighbours on either side.
Flushing toilets which ran out of toilet paper overnight.
No showers, but potable water with outdoor sinks and bins.
Lots of people up early to go on walks etc.
People were very quiet and respectful at night, even on new year's.
BRILLIANT views.
Sandflies...
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Fantastic place to watch the stars!
Big DOC place with rather clean facilities. No shared kitchen or whatsoever but a great choice if you want to see Mt. Cook and do the Hooker trail!
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Perfect location.
It’s nice that there are facilities. Pretty barebones. Perfect. I arrived in the dark and it was packed but I was able to squeeze in. I felt lucky to have slept in the hiking car park because it gets overflowed very quickly in the morning.
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The only advantage of this place is its location.
Beautiful mountains around, and picturesque route that leads to it. The camp has no shower or kitchen but a common place to sit. There are hundreds of people, and everyone is sitting on top of each other. As a result, toilets can get quite dirty, there is also no lights in them (meaning you’ll need a flashlight to move around). Cars keep arriving till 11 pm and start leaving at 5. With this amount of cars, it can be very noisy too.
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Basic car park with quite a bit of space, conveniently located at Hooker Valley trailhead and near the park village.
Surrounded by incredible views of the peaks (on a clear day) and some great mossy, wooded areas to explore nearby. Great amenities—clean restrooms, shelter with picnic tables to cook and eat in and showers close to the visitor center.
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Absolutely stunning scenic site.
I took a chance and turned up at 7pm to find a space and there was loads. Honesty box on site as well. Views were amazing unfortunately bad weather meant no stargazing. Start of the hooker trail only minutes away. Facilties were clean and plentiful. Highly recommend booking in future to avoid any stress
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We loved this place It was busy (early Feb), but what a fantastic spot.
We came early (recommended) and stayed 2 nights, so had three days to explore the Hooker Valley Track, the Sealy Tarns track and Tasman Glacier View track. The visitor center in Mt. Cook Village is definitely worth a visit. This is also a dark sky reserve and we were lucky to be here on clear nights which meant mind blowing stargazing. Well worth the DOC fee - remember to prepay online or pay in cash when you arrive.
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Excellent DOC Campsite, $15 pp /night, drop dunnies with non-potable tap water.
Plenty of space for either great views or privacy tucked away amongst the tree line.
Right at the start of the Hooker Valley track, which I recommend!
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This is a beautiful campground.
The mountain views are incredible. Public toilets next to the cooking shelter were quite dirty, but the other toilets on the campground were better.
Phone signal is great. Hikes from here are very nice. I imagine during summer it fills up. Now, beginning of spring it was half full I'd say. Some sandflies at sundown, not too bad. Drinking water available is a big plus. Rubbish recycling station is nice.