Snowsure: 4.0
- Occasionally gets enough snow for skiing
- Is often closed due to a lack of snow
- Occasionally suffers from a lack of snow
- Rarely suffers from a lack of snow
- Cardrona is snowsure even in the poorest seasons
Visitor reviews for Cardrona Ski Resort
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(NOTE: Reviews may be edited by our content team for the purposes of ensuring accurate and relevant information)
(NOTE: Reviews may be edited by our content team for the purposes of ensuring accurate and relevant information)
Latest
September 18, 2023
Cam Melville Ives from
New Zealand
Cam Melville Ives from
New Zealand
September 26, 2022
Lois Martin from
New Zealand
Lois Martin from
New Zealand
2022 has been a great season at Cardrona. All the lifts have been open on most of the days, and few bad weather days in the southern ski fields of NZ this season. The ski field is a great field for intermediate and beginner skiers. And then for those who like to play and do tricks there is the half pipe, the gravity cross course and board parks. As a careful skier, I am pleased I can watch others do these tricks, but they are not in my way at all.
The field holds the snow.
There is the area near base with the magic carpet, tunnel magic carpet, and then a gondola/or lift to allow you to progress as a learner. Then the other two lifts and whole other basin for the intermediate, skiers.
For the advanced skier, this year the Willow chair was open most days and here more advanced skiers can ski off-piste when conditions allow and have the luxury of few in the queue, the lift is slow, but then there is time for your legs to rest.
Yes, the queues can be long in the intermediate, beginner area in school holidays etc, but then where is it not?
The beauty of this field is the easiness of getting up there. Free buses up from one km up the access road running regularly till about 10, save petrol and your car. It drops you and your gear right at the base ticket office and back down buses running after 1.30. A variety of cafe's and more quiet menu areas to refresh or sit and look at the field.
Cardrona has a great adaptive ski program where persons living with a disability can join beforehand a program that enables them to ski.
This season has been great skiing and still is (open till 16th Oct)
September 25, 2022
kane from
New Zealand
kane from
New Zealand
August 28, 2022
Graham from
New Zealand
Graham from
New Zealand
Went there last Friday 26th August. What a nightmare. Huge lift lines and seeming endless ski school kids getting priority. Snow pretty average for this time of year and the new Willows had a narrow groomed run which was icy and skatey. Overall, a poor experience.
Might save my money for real skiing overseas in future.
July 28, 2021
Ron Eckstrom from
New Zealand
Ron Eckstrom from
New Zealand
Won’t go back in a hurry.Massive long lines, short runs, marginal snow conditions. Really not much different than Coronet Peak in overall ski quality, except 1 more chairlift running 5X as many people. Awful access road, but ever so slightly more snow. Felt like a second class citizen waiting in long lines for the literally hundreds of red shirted Cardrona ski schoolers, with instant lift line access, while we waited for each lift for 30-45 minutes. Extremely disappointing experience.
September 28, 2018
Jonny from
New Zealand
Jonny from
New Zealand
Cardrona has had a lot of money invested in it over the last 3 seasons. This includes a complete revamp and new chair/gondola for the beginner slope. This summer they are putting in a new chair at the bottom of ‘Captains’ which will take the total number of chairs to 6 on the mountain. Cardrona have also secured the rights to the Soho Basin which will open in 2020. This will take the total skiable area to 900ha making it the largest ski field in New Zealand.
Cardrona also has the best snow park in NZ and has two half pipes.
All new snow making equipment and science means that there is always a good amount of snow on the mountain.
Like all resorts across the world in can get busy in the NZ/OZ school holidays. But with the new chair and areas opening this will help disperse the crowds. Otherwise, Cardrona wait times are normally pretty good.
Early season and spring are also good snow-sure options.
There are lots of places to eat and drink on the mountain. Prices are not hugely inflated and there is a good variety of food and drink to suit any budget.
Cardrona has an excellent selection of rental gear and update it every season. This means if you are renting up the hill you are getting modern, often new gear. not old worn out 6 season old stuff. There is also an option to hire ‘advanced’ skis and snowboards.
The staff here are excellent. The ‘Parks’ crew work tirelessly to keep all the jumps and rails in pristine condition. The lifties are always happy and cheerful and ski patrol know their business. You will be safe up the mountain at all times.
Most people wear helmets up Cardrona (80%) and there is a higher percentage of skiers over snowboarders. There is always a good friendly vibe on the mountain and the runs are well thought out.
And the best part is there are 3 other mountains all within an hour's drive.
July 16, 2016
Patricia from
New Zealand
Patricia from
New Zealand
Cardrona is my favourite of the Queenstown/Wanaka ski fields. Great for kids to learn at with extremely good kids ski school and good learner runs (beginners magic carpet now has a covered half 'Tunell' to protect from bad weather). Staff: friendly, views: spectacular and nice generous runs; not long (longest is 4kms) but interesting. Food is, like all NZ fields, average at best; 'fuel stops' is a good description but they are all similar, unfortunately. Lifts are ok, 1st quad is slow but others fine. It's a small field on world standards. Don't expect a resort, it's not. Mountain accm is minimal, booked out early and only 'functional'. Long dirt road to get to base facilities and if self driving, car parking normally involves either a shuttle or a walk to facilities. Definitely no ski concierges or good quality mountain restaurants to enhance the skiing experience! Runs are above tree line so no skiing between trees but it's stunning scenery. Rental equipment is adequate, not great. Price wise, it's not cheap; close to $100 for an adult lift pass. We ski a lot in Europe and North America where you get the big & small resorts, the long runs, normally almost guaranteed snow (depending on time of year), massively varied terrain, fast lifts, gondolas, funiculars, heated seats, amazing service (US) and in Europe those gorgeous mountain restaurants. NZ and Australia simply can't compare to those resorts, we don't have the size, the developed terrain or the facilities but getting to Europe or North America to ski is time consuming and expensive and taking the kids to learn probably means taking out a second mortgage so unattractive to us. Our kids learnt at Coronet, Cardrona & Remarkables and loved every minute of it. We're confident if they can ski well in NZ they can ski almost anywhere in the world as our terrain is interesting and can be demanding. If you're spending time in Queenstown/Wanaka my pick is Cardrona.
September 01, 2014
Graham from
United Kingdom
Graham from
United Kingdom
Visited in late August 2014 along with Coronet Peak and Treble Cone.
As indicated in previous reviews, NZ ski fields are much smaller than many of those in Europe. They are not resorts, they are more akin to the drive-to-and-ski fields such as Sunshine Village and Lake Louise in Canada (albeit smaller).
Cardrona is a really pleasant field. It's not huge and a good skier will have skied it all in a day (or less). However, the runs are nice (mostly Euro blue-red standard) and the scenery is stunning.
Lifts are generally modern and speedy; slightly annoying that NZ lifts don't to have foot rests, and McDougalls lift is very slow and uncomfortable.
Main restaurant if v busy at lunch-time (not sure on prices, we bought our own food, as did many others).
Drive up, on gravel, was ok; was chain free for us (but very dusty). Have chains with you. Easiest to get to from Wanaka.
Not many enticing multi-day deals to be had (you save $3-5 on subsequent days), with the adult price being ~$98 per day. Compared to area passes, in some Euro resorts, this strikes me as a bit expensive given the size of the fields. Multi-day passes bought for Cardrona can also be used at Treble Cone (but not Coronet Peak or Remarkables; different operating companies).
Staff are really pleasant and its good to see lifties marshalling the list queues to ensure that lifts are full and there is no pushing-in (Europe could learn from this).
Liked Cardrona, but I think Coronet Peak offers that bit more.
August 20, 2013
Phil
Phil
Just returned from Cardrona and the other southern resorts. Cardrona has nailed a niche for terrain parks, well done. I really enjoy skiing at Cardrona with my family but it was super noticable this year that the crowds have grown over the years to a point that it's worse than OZ and other facilities haven't kept up. Same at the other resorts. Not even a seat outside to sit and have lunch beyond the same ones that were there 10-15 years ago. Someone in New Zealand has to step up and lift the experience to world class otherwise the world will go elsewhere as we did the past two years to Chile; it's totally affordable and better value for money.
August 26, 2010
Ilona
Ilona
Cardrona has always been our favorite ever since our girls were teenagers. We all learned how to ski there. We have also skied overseas in Italy, Dolomites and and it was absolutely spectacular skiing there with the magnificent scenery. Each ski resort or ski field has its own magic and with Cardrona we have always found that the staff, the terrain ,the road the radio blurb is always spot on. Our family is a big fan of Cardrona as all the staff are 100% with looking after this spectacular mountain resort and there is constant improvement to it. Sometimes you have to take in what there is around you and just get on with it you might be surprised with what happens at the end of the day. Well done Cardrona.
Nearest