Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat

Perched atop a high mountain plateau in the sparse terrain of New Zealand’s South Island, the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve is among the best places on the planet to gaze up at the stars. At the Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat you can marvel at no less than a billion of them, paired with pinot noir and charred venison. The luxurious lodge, skirting the edge of Lake Pukaki, now offers dinner and a show like no other. It begins with a six-course tasting menu—composed primarily of locally sourced proteins and foraged greens. Highlights might include Manuka honey-glazed alpine salmon and pasture-raised beef, finely marbled, seared, and plated beside raspberry puree and pink flower petals. As night descends you migrate to a neighboring wine cellar which adjoins the region’s sole observatory. It houses a high-power, fully-automated telescope and innkeeper and amateur astronomer Luke Paardekooper utilizes his advanced gadgetry to share Saturn’s rings, star clusters, and impossibly distant nebula in brilliant detail. He’ll even attach a DSLR camera to his rig to accommodate take-home astrophotography. The experience is offered nightly, and must be booked in advance online. If you get lucky, it might include a rare glimpse of the elusive southern lights. But a pour of whisky or wine—to sip as you contemplate the cosmos—is guaranteed.

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