Has anyone stayed at the Punga Cove Resort?

Melanie (which I'm called often)

A friend of mine actually used to own Punga until last year and I stayed there for 3 days, having the "penthouse" style accommodations (2 bedroom 1.5 bath, wrap around deck overlooking the cove, full kitchen, living room and the Track just above us). It was heaven! That said, I WAS visiting a friend so that added to the experience.

It's very remote, lovely and very quiet, so it just depends on what your style of travelling is on whether you'd like it and how long to spend there.

Regards,

Melodie
Certified NZ Specialist

Melodie -

Thanks for your response - it sounds like exactly what I'm looking for.

Having spent three nights at Punga Cove about two weeks ago, I can now answer my own question. Unfortunately, I did not have the good experience that Melodie did. The property was sold about 18 months ago to a couple from Hamilton, NZ with not exllskdjfdifld

Sorry about that - the site isn't letting me post more than a few sentences at a time, so I'll have to this in sections.

We found the place a huge disappointment. The location is

...gorgeous, but the resort itself seems poorly managed, disorganized, and not very clean. Our chalet was tiny, and the bed so short that our feet hung off the end (I'm 5'5 and my husband is 5'8).

The shower was a real joke - a mere drizzle of water. The management said water pressure was a problem during "peak periods", but we showered outside these times and there were few people staying at the resort at the time.

I sincerely hope that the new owners are just going through a transition period, and that things will improve, but for us, Punga Cove Resort was the low point of our holiday.

We have a reservation at Punga Cove for next February. This set of postings makes me nervous, especially as it is one of the more expensive places that we have booked.

I would be interested in any other information or views.

John -

Unless you're staying in one of the "luxury units" you might be quite disappointed. I've written a very detailed review of this resort as part of a 28 day trip report of the South Island. If you'd like a copy of the Punga Cove section, send me an e-mail and I'll send you a copy - Wanderlust@billmelk.com

The convoluted post you responded to was written from NZ at an Internet Cafe and I had to be brief due to computer problems.

You might want to consider the Portage Hotel as an alternative - we had dinner there one night and it was wonderful. The hotel here isn't in as nice a setting as Punga Cove, but if I were to go back to the area, I'd stay at the Portage. Just my opinion of course!

Well 3 years since the last posting on this thread and having just returned from Punga a week ago I can happily say that Punga's service has not improved. In fact is it terrible. I can quite confidently say it is possibly the worst place I have ever stayed.

It's quite a shame because the location is stunning but the service is so bad, the staff so rude and the owners so keen to make a quick buck it has made the atmosphere rather horrible.

I would never stay there again and my advice to anybody else considering making a trip to the Marlborough Sounds would be to ignore the picturesque photos on their website and stay instead at Furneaux or Endeavour (depending on what sort of accomodation you are looking for). By the way that inviting spa pool is on most days either turned off or otherwise broken AND there was no water at all for an entire day during our stay.

Has anyone else stayed there in recent times? I tried to request a copy of Melnq8's review but unfortunately her email address is no longer valid.

rhet -

Sorry to hear things haven't improved. I was hoping we'd just caught them at a bad time.

We stayed at the Bay of Many Coves on our last trip (May 2005) and it was wonderful - the highlight of our trip.

Feel free to contact me at Punga@billmelk.com and I'll send you a copy of my detailed review.

Reading this, I was intially confused because of the similarity of names of punga Cove and Punga Grove,

Reading this, I was intially confused because of the similarity of names of Punga Cove and Punga Grove, wnich is at Franz Josef, (since both are on SI), and which has gotten good reviews.

Punga Cove Resort is in the Marlborough Sounds - Punga Grove Motel is in Franz Josef. I've stayed at both and they're nothing alike.

Punga Grove in Franz Josef IS a good place to stay and deserves the good reviews.

Punga Cove is a different animal altogether.