Donegal House Irish Hotel

You won’t have to go far from Donegal House Irish Hotel to get a taste of life in this part of New Zealand: poke around the colonial cottage of Fyffe House, explore the Lavendyl Lavender Farm, visit the Kaikoura Museum for marine fossils and Maori artefacts, or tick off a stereotype with a visit to the Point Sheep Shearing Show. Kaikoura is a must-visit for anyone who wants to get up close with the animals. Within 15 minutes’ drive of Donegal House, you can swim with seals and dolphins, try whale spotting (by boat or plane), go for a ride on a llama, and meet sharks and seahorses at the Kaikoura Marine Aquarium touch tank. Have something more cinematic in mind? Tolkienites will have to undergo a trek not unlike Frodo’s to see the spectacular Lord of the Rings locations on the South Island, though the jaunts are certainly worth it. Start three and a half hours away in Nelson Tasman where you can visit the workshop of Jens Hansen, the designer behind the movies’ central piece of jewellery, then keep heading south through Takaka Hill (where Strider first helped the hobbits evade the Black Riders) and take a helicopter over Mount Olympus, Mount Owen and Mount Sunday, which also served as backdrops to the action.