--- description: Find out why Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat is on TIME’s list of the World’s Greatest Places 2024. title: Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat: World's Greatest Places 2024 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltddeaeeeba37196da/698a591e16d884523bc3ee5c/worlds-greatest-places-mt-cook-lakeside-retreat-2024.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Jul 25, 2024 # Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat Lake Pukaki, New Zealand by [Brad Japhe](/author/brad-japhe/) ## Brad Japhe Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  The northern lights over Mt. Cook Lakeside Retreat The northern lights over Mt. Cook Lakeside RetreatCourtesy Mount Cook Retreat Perched atop a high mountain plateau in the sparse terrain of New Zealand’s South Island, the [Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve](https://www.darkskyreserve.org.nz/ "undefined") is among the best places on the planet to gaze up at the stars. At the [Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat](https://mtcookretreat.nz/ "undefined") 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. _Buy your copy of the World's Greatest Places issue_ [_here_](https://magazineshop.us/TIMEWGP24 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/worlds-greatest-places-2024/6992312/mount-cook-lakeside-retreat/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/worlds-greatest-places-2024/6992312/mount-cook-lakeside-retreat/"},"headline":"Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat","datePublished":"2024-07-25T11:01:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:33:23.001Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/worlds-greatest-places-2024/6992312/mount-cook-lakeside-retreat/","keywords":["World's Greatest Places","franchise"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltddeaeeeba37196da/698a591e16d884523bc3ee5c/worlds-greatest-places-mt-cook-lakeside-retreat-2024.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Brad Japhe","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/brad-japhe/"}],"creator":"Brad Japhe","articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltddeaeeeba37196da/698a591e16d884523bc3ee5c/worlds-greatest-places-mt-cook-lakeside-retreat-2024.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/worlds-greatest-places/","name":"World's Greatest Places"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/worlds-greatest-places-2024/6992312/mount-cook-lakeside-retreat/","name":"Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat"}}]}] ```