Location
The Cardrona Hotel is one of New Zealand’s most iconic hotels. It is located along the Crown Range between Queenstown and Wanaka. It is a wonderful place to stop off and enjoy some delicious comfort food, meet up with friends, taste beer on tap and soak in its rustic charm.
What is Access Like?
Accessibility is far from perfect but because it’s such an iconic place to visit I wanted to provide some information and photos on it. Hopefully it helps you to make up your own mind whether it’s accessible for you.
The main entrance to the Cardrona Hotel has two steps. Beside the main entrance is entry to a bar which has a concrete ramp and pathway providing wheelchair access. Once inside it is tight but manageable with mainly tables to negotiate. It is possible from the bar area to work your way through to the restaurant where you will find more room to settle into.
This place is very popular all year round, particularly during ski season from July through to September.
Parking can be found across the road. On our last visit we were amazed how popular this place had become with so many tourists stopping off to pose for photographs in front.
The Access Room
I really wanted to see how accessible it would be to stay the night here so they allowed me to take a look through. The accessible room is made up of twin queen size beds. Entry into the spacious carpeted room is through a hinged door. Room 6, pictured below is classed as their accessible room.
Bathroom
The bathroom is not what you would expect from a modern day ‘accessible bathroom’. It has a wet-floor shower, but as you can see no fold down seat, no handrails, no lever taps or shower on a slide rail. The toilet also wouldn’t be classed as accessible without the standard handrails and space for transfer. You would definitely need to have some mobility and someone on hand for assistance to use it.
Getting Around
The access inside the Cardrona Hotel has tight corners, standard door widths and uneven surfaces, but manageable. It is possible to get around the place by a skilled wheelchair user or a helping hand. If you fancy stopping in for a bit of lunch rather than staying the night its definitely worth checking out.
Below is the inside ramp created to get from the restaurant through to the guest lounge if you happen to be staying for the night.
Access Outside
The outside courtyard at the Cardrona Hotel at times can be a real social hub. You will find plenty of tables to sit around with warm fires to keep you warm in the winter months, a great spot for a bit of apres-ski.
In terms of access, however, there are gravel paths to negotiate with a set of wheels. You will also find a step off from the doors as you exit.
“Definitely worth stopping off for a bite to eat”
GYW last visited in 2018
More Information
If you would like to find out more general information on the Cardrona Hotel here is their website.
“A cool little place, many a good evening with a lot of adaptive skiers spent here after a big day up at the Cardrona Ski-field, everyone seemed to find it very accessible.” Anonymous Adaptive Skier