Rakaia River Holiday Park

Rakaia River Holiday Park

Rakaia River Holiday Park

41 Rankers Reviews

3 Face-to-Face

3 Ashburton

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Information

Rakaia River Holiday Park

Glenn and Sandy welcome you to Rakaia River Holiday Park, located beside the Rakaia River, one of the best salmon fishing rivers in New Zealand.

MORE THAN JUST GREAT FISHING

100% New Zealand Owned & Operated

We are sure to have something to fit your requirements and budget with our range of accommodation facilities that include - Park Motels, Fisherman's Cottage, Backpacker Cabins and Powered & Tent Sites. You will enjoy our sheltered powered sites and tent sites set amongst the trees.

You will find us only 40 minutes drive South of Christchurch, 20 minutes to Ashburton and 35 minutes to the Mt Hutt Ski area. In only 30 minutes you can drive to 5 beautiful and challenging golf courses. There are also a number of interesting nature walks in the area.

If its fishing you are after - there are salmon and trout in the river and Kawhai, cod and other sea fishing only 20 minutes drive away. Our central location is an ideal base from which to explore the wonderful and varied Ashburton District, and our friendly relaxed environment assures you of a restful holiday in our sheltered riverside location.

Details

Feature Value Info

Organisation

Rakaia River Holiday Park

Commercial organisation

Location

South IslandCanterburyAshburton

Categories

  • Activity__camping_grounds_holiday_parksCamping Grounds
  • Activity__dump_stationDump Station

Directions

To Coordinates

Coordinates

-43.7519081974465

172.028861045837

Latitude
-43.7519081974465
Longitude
172.028861045837

Websites

Reviews

    ✓ Great value accommodation

    ✓ Friendly hosts

    ✓ Plenty of activities for kids

    ✓ Convenient location

    ✓ Sheltered from the wind

    𐄂 Noise from main road

    𐄂 Only powered sites available

    • Great campsites, plenty of space.
    • well equiped and modern kitchen and bathroom.
    • Lovely warm welcome at reception.
    • Nice campsite close to the river.
    • Very Nice spot and friendly welcome.
    Rating Count Percentage
    10/10 10
    24%
    9/10 14
    34%
    8/10 7
    17%
    7/10 5
    12%
    6/10 1
    2%
    5/10 0
    0%
    4/10 1
    2%
    3/10 1
    2%
    2/10 1
    2%
    1/10 1
    2%
  • 4.5/5

    Great value cabin- nice and cosy.

    Facililities fine. Protected from the wind by lots of trees.

    Reviewed over 1 year ago and experienced in March 2023

    Laz.'s avatar

    Laz.

    Customer

  • 5.0/5

    Sehr freundliches Personal.

    Angenehme Lage saubere Toiletten

    Reviewed almost 2 years ago

    Son's avatar

    Son

    Customer

  • 4.5/5

    Cosy and roomy caravan park.

    Near the main road, so noise, a small issue. Lots of activity for the children - trampoline / jumping pillow / swimming pool / kids play area/ mini golf/ open grass area. Also a TV/pool/Foosball games room. All sites powered $46 a night. Friendly hosts. Kitchen stocked with all utensils you require. Local pub has curtesy bus.

    Reviewed almost 2 years ago

    Joanne Webber's avatar

    Joanne Webber

    Customer

  • 4.5/5

    Lovely quiet camping ground.

    $20 each non powered site. Showers are free and hot with good pressure. Kitchen has everything. Clean and tidy, totally recommend.

    Reviewed almost 4 years ago

    Wendy's avatar

    Wendy

    Customer

  • 4.5/5

    Lovely place, friendly owners, clean facilities, hot showers with good pressure.

    Thanks 😀

    Reviewed about 4 years ago

    Rachel's avatar

    Rachel

    Customer

  • 5.0/5

    During the difficult times of the COVID lockdown, Sandy and Glenn have looked after us so well!

    They even gave us a bottle of wine and some ice creams for our ten year wedding anniversary! Great people and a beautiful location by the river with all the facilities you need.

    Reviewed over 4 years ago

    Liam's avatar

    Liam

    Customer

  • 4.5/5

    Very Nice spot and friendly welcome.

    Free WiFi everything clean and a heater in the shower 😃

    Yes you can hear the road a bit but it is not As loud As described by others

    Reviewed almost 5 years ago

  • 4.5/5

    Excellent friendly service both on phone and in person, good little cabin for the night, and all facilities close by.

    Pool was a welcome surprise after a 26 degree day, and the ablutions block was clean and modern. Felt very comfortable here, would def dtay again.

    Reviewed almost 6 years ago

    Bron's avatar

    Bron

    Customer

  • 4.0/5

    well equiped and modern kitchen and bathroom.

    lot of fun at the pool.

    unpowered site for 2p one Night 42$ - very expensive

    Reviewed over 5 years ago and experienced in January 2019

    JT's avatar

    JT

    Customer

  • 0.5/5

    I was not impressed by the professionalism of the managers.

    I had been forewarned about this place however we visited regardless and it turns out it was a mistake. One of the managers was overheard being extremely rude to another visitor, which is pretty disgraceful.

    Reviewed over 6 years ago

    Rakaia Visitor's avatar

    Rakaia Visitor

    Customer

  • 4.5/5

    Great value cabin- nice and cosy.

    Facililities fine. Protected from the wind by lots of trees.

    Reviewed over 1 year ago and experienced in March 2023

    Laz.'s avatar

    Laz.

    Customer

  • 5.0/5

    Sehr freundliches Personal.

    Angenehme Lage saubere Toiletten

    Reviewed almost 2 years ago

    Son's avatar

    Son

    Customer

  • 4.5/5

    Cosy and roomy caravan park.

    Near the main road, so noise, a small issue. Lots of activity for the children - trampoline / jumping pillow / swimming pool / kids play area/ mini golf/ open grass area. Also a TV/pool/Foosball games room. All sites powered $46 a night. Friendly hosts. Kitchen stocked with all utensils you require. Local pub has curtesy bus.

    Reviewed almost 2 years ago

    Joanne Webber's avatar

    Joanne Webber

    Customer

  • 4.5/5

    Lovely quiet camping ground.

    $20 each non powered site. Showers are free and hot with good pressure. Kitchen has everything. Clean and tidy, totally recommend.

    Reviewed almost 4 years ago

    Wendy's avatar

    Wendy

    Customer

  • 4.5/5

    Lovely place, friendly owners, clean facilities, hot showers with good pressure.

    Thanks 😀

    Reviewed about 4 years ago

    Rachel's avatar

    Rachel

    Customer

  • 5.0/5

    During the difficult times of the COVID lockdown, Sandy and Glenn have looked after us so well!

    They even gave us a bottle of wine and some ice creams for our ten year wedding anniversary! Great people and a beautiful location by the river with all the facilities you need.

    Reviewed over 4 years ago

    Liam's avatar

    Liam

    Customer

  • 4.5/5

    Very Nice spot and friendly welcome.

    Free WiFi everything clean and a heater in the shower 😃

    Yes you can hear the road a bit but it is not As loud As described by others

    Reviewed almost 5 years ago

  • 4.0/5

    well equiped and modern kitchen and bathroom.

    lot of fun at the pool.

    unpowered site for 2p one Night 42$ - very expensive

    Reviewed over 5 years ago and experienced in January 2019

    JT's avatar

    JT

    Customer

  • 4.5/5

    Excellent friendly service both on phone and in person, good little cabin for the night, and all facilities close by.

    Pool was a welcome surprise after a 26 degree day, and the ablutions block was clean and modern. Felt very comfortable here, would def dtay again.

    Reviewed almost 6 years ago

    Bron's avatar

    Bron

    Customer

  • 3.5/5

    Was a nice campsite with powered sites separated by bushes for a bit of privacy for a change.

    The kids play area was old but I loved taking the kids on some old fashioned play equipment that I grew up with

    Reviewed about 6 years ago

    Lance's avatar

    Lance

    Customer

  • 5.0/5

    A superb park which offers lots of facilities that other parks in New Zealand doesn't offer in the parks we stayed in.

    The chilled games room offers a TV, library, games, music and a fab snooker table in which I beat my daughter at 3 games, haha, a music centre and quiet reading.

    There's a crazy golf onsight, a swimming pool (which was closed obviously, too cold) , walks to the river, laundry facilities (including rotary dryers and pegs).

    The toilets and showers were very clean and before taking a shower we were able to put the heater on so we weren't cold when coming out.

    There are bins & recycling bins.

    A BRILLIANT kitchen and seating area and we were so so pleased that we were able to leave our unopened foods, toiletries etc for other guests to use. NO other park offered this. Such a good idea. Rakaia Park was our last night in our camper.

    I would definitely recommend Rakaia Park

    Reviewed about 6 years ago

    Jo & Bree's avatar

    Jo & Bree

    Customer

    Great to read your wonderful review and so glad you enjoyed your stay here. We hope to see you again one day!!!

    NEW ZEALAND
    Sandy and Glenn 's avatar

    Sandy and Glenn

    Representative

  • 3.5/5

    Nice little country park, bush settings for sites some with hedge dividers.

    Able to just go and chose our own site. Camp kitchen very clean and adequately stocked .

    Lounge area a bit tired looking and smelled damp, but we did use it.

    Nice wooded camping areas to back of park where walks are to the river.

    Toilets and showered dated but this doesn't matter as they were clean and tidy. Dump point very accessible and staff very helpful and welcoming

    $40 per powered site for 2 people reasonable.

    Reviewed over 6 years ago

    Maureen Barlow's avatar

    Maureen Barlow

    Customer

  • 0.5/5

    I was not impressed by the professionalism of the managers.

    I had been forewarned about this place however we visited regardless and it turns out it was a mistake. One of the managers was overheard being extremely rude to another visitor, which is pretty disgraceful.

    Reviewed over 6 years ago

    Rakaia Visitor's avatar

    Rakaia Visitor

    Customer

  • 4.0/5

    Nice set up, very clean, billiard table, pool, mini golf, you can get some fishing lures in the office for a reasonable price.

    Friendly staff, Santa came on his quad in Xmas day. Paid 60NZD for a basic double cabin.

    Reviewed almost 7 years ago

    Anke Fronius's avatar

    Anke Fronius

    Customer

  • 4.5/5

    Brilliant site $40 for 2 adults on a powered site, excellent facilities hot free showers with a heater in each cubicle, laundry washing lines swimming pool and really nice children's play area.

    WiFi the the best so far $5 for 1GB. We would stay longer if it wasn't pouring with rain.

    Reviewed over 7 years ago

    Denise Hall's avatar

    Denise Hall

    Customer

  • 5.0/5

    I have no idea why anyone would mention noise in this holiday park.

    I had to listen hard to hear the train and the highway noise was minimal. It was very quiet. Lots of trees and good facilities. This park works for me.

    Reviewed over 7 years ago

    Russell Carlson's avatar

    Russell Carlson

    Customer

  • 4.0/5

    Good place for our van after arrival on Christchurch Airport.

    Nice place in the woods, good facilities. Bit noisy from the road. Free shower.

    Reviewed over 7 years ago

    P Poiraa's avatar

    P Poiraa

    Customer

  • 3.0/5

    GOOD: Tidy site, with clean facilities.

    Nice shaded sites if you want them. Good play facilities for kids, two play areas (one for little ones, one for bigger kids), badminton/volleyball net set-up in grassed area.

    BAD: Quite a bit of road and rail noise from the main road, continuing through the night. Despite the good play facilities for kids, the site is not really suitable for small children because the boundary between the site and the main road (State Highway 1) is not fenced (a moments inattention could be disastrous). Also, there seems to be a lot of quad-bikes resident at this site, travelling to a from the river for fishing, also not great for little ones.

    Reviewed almost 8 years ago

    NEW ZEALAND
    Camping WithKids's avatar

    Camping WithKids

    Customer

  • 3.5/5

    Playground for kids, mini golf, clean pool and 12 min walk to the river.

    Putting on activities for families each day of this new year period . Tent sites are mainly in under the trees, furthest but still short walk from amenities. Only down side is the noise from the railway and the main road- very noisy when going to sleep but once you're asleep not a bother unless you're a light sleeper.

    Reviewed almost 8 years ago

    NEW ZEALAND
    Cinterella's avatar

    Cinterella

    Customer

  • 1.5/5

    Nice tidy place to stay but had lots of road noise, almost 1.5km through unmarked walking tracks to river.

    Local pubs friendly but food mainly frozen then deep fried.

    Reviewed almost 8 years ago

    Marnie Edwards's avatar

    Marnie Edwards

    Customer

  • 4.5/5

    This was our first camp we stopped at.

    We arrived really late but the man at the reception was really nice. The sites are clean, private and spacious. Toilets were OK, I loved the little heater in the shower since it was really cold that night. The kitchen was small but sufficient. Overall a great experience.

    Reviewed over 8 years ago

    SLOVENIA
    Sara Dimnik's avatar

    Sara Dimnik

    Customer

  • 4.5/5

    Spent our night here before heading to Christchurch, good value.

    Clean and well equipped kitchen, pots and (fresh) herbs provided for free, high hedge provides privacy, parked our vehicle in the woods waking up to birds chirping, clean toilet, free hot shower, good water pressure, hair dyer provided with no charge, free wifi available in the cafe next door.

    Reviewed almost 9 years ago

    Lay Tyng Chan's avatar

    Lay Tyng Chan

    Customer

  • 4.5/5

    Lovely warm welcome at reception.

    We turned up and were given the choice of anywhere in the camp site. Toilets and showers are lovely and clean and the showers even have their own heaters so you're not left cold and wet after getting out of a lovely hot shower! They have a pool which I can't comment on as we never used it. Overall lovely friendly site to stay. :-)

    Reviewed almost 9 years ago

    Lucy Young's avatar

    Lucy Young

    Customer

  • 4.5/5

    Arrived in the dark, owners were very helpful and kind, walked us to our site.

    Site was right by washrooms which wasn't an issue for us. Kitchen and washroom very tidy and 2m hedges around our site offers a lot of privacy. Quiet park to stay at this time of year and would visit again if visiting Christchurch!

    Reviewed about 9 years ago

    Viki Ziemba's avatar

    Viki Ziemba

    Customer

  • 2.0/5

    Our last camp night and very disappointing.

    Powered sites in very bad position, hosts seem to think location to toilets is what you want, not views!

    Nice newish hosts, very friendly but need to attend to a few things. Seem to have a lot of long term caravans there.

    Toilets and showers very clean and fresh, although swimming pool was really dirty and covered in dead flies.

    Walk to river marked on map but after you go through woods No further signs , need to sort that out. Went passed gorgeous camp area in woods with powered sites , but we were told there was only the area we were sent to , rather strange?

    Felt a bit tired and needing some TLC

    Reviewed almost 10 years ago

    UNITED KINGDOM
    Averil Brown's avatar

    Averil Brown

    Customer

    We were very disappointed to receive this review. We have worked long hours, and really hard, to maintain a high standard here, and with so many positive comments and reviews we thought we were succeeding . As new owners we "are attending to a few things" but these can only be done as time, budgeting and weather conditions allow. The camp itself is more than 60 years old, so the powered sites are where they have been all that time, individually hedged and private. Some things we can't change. The swimming pool is filtered every night, and vacuumed every morning. By the end of the day of course there is always some "stuff" in the water, but covered in dead flies. ??????? If we are not working to capacity with our powered site our guests are always given an option as to where they want to go, perhaps this was misunderstood. In a whole year this is the first time we have learned of people being unable to find their way to the river. We are sorry if your experience wasn't what you expected.

    NEW ZEALAND
    Sandy and Glenn 's avatar

    Sandy and Glenn

    Representative

  • 4.5/5

    Glenn & Sandy are the new managers and this is one of the nicer places we have stayed on our trip.

    Amenities are very clean. The communal kitchen has everything (Even a TV!). There is a recreation room to play pool, do a puzzle or play a board game, there is a pool, a MASSIVE playground that even is adults had fun playing on and a giant chess board. My only problem was that the sun was pelting down on us playing chess therefore a shade would have been amazing.

    Reviewed almost 10 years ago

    Kodie Howarth's avatar

    Kodie Howarth

    Customer

  • 5.0/5

    Friendly hosts, spacious grounds with amenities close by and clean and tidy.

    Reviewed over 10 years ago

    NEW ZEALAND
    Chris's avatar

    Chris

    Customer

  • 4.5/5

    Great campsites, plenty of space.

    Reviewed over 10 years ago and experienced in February 2014

    IRELAND
    Andrew Magill's avatar

    Andrew Magill

    Customer

  • 4.0/5

    Good customer service, we stayed 1 night and arrived very late at night.

    Reviewed over 10 years ago

  • 1.0/5

    The unit was ok.

    We stayed three nights and had to buy our own toilet paper. The oven was a mess with food still in it. Toilet wasn't clean and we were really disappointed with the service of the new managers :(

    Reviewed over 10 years ago

    NEW ZEALAND
    Kayla Smith's avatar

    Kayla Smith

    Customer

    We have gone through our bookings and can find anyone by that name. We only had one motel booked out for three nights around that time. This client left the unit in such a mess we were unable to re let it for 24 hours while the carpet was drying. One of the group came back that afternoon to collect some property they had left and we mentioned the state of the unit. We assume this comment prompted this poor review.

    If they had run out of toilet paper why not ask for some more. Our office is right next door to the units and is open a lot longer than the local shops.

    We would be very disappointed if there was food left in the oven. It is part of the cleaners’ job to check this area. Again why would you not mention things to us at the time so we can rectify them? The toilet would have been clean as we check the cleaning after the cleaners have finished.

    We are just new to the industry and we feel we go out of our way to be very helpful and friendly.

    NEW ZEALAND
    Sandy and Glenn 's avatar

    Sandy and Glenn

    Representative