Following our two days in Auckland, we headed to the Northern part of the South Island to the Marlborough Region. This region is made up of three small cities (Blenheim, Picton, and Renwick) and has a population of around 50,000 people. This area is considered the wine region of New Zealand, and particularly known for their Sauvignon Blanc (my absolute favorite wine!). We decided to base out of Blenheim since it was walkable (we had no car) and had the most options for hotels and restaurants. There’s not a whole lot to do besides wine-related activities here, but if you’re a fan of wine or just up for trying it, this is a fantastic stop on your New Zealand vacation!
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Here is a sample itinerary based on our couple’s trip in November:
DAY 1: TRAVEL DAY & SELF-GUIDED WINE TASTINGS
After having breakfast at our hotel in Auckland, we headed to the airport to catch our flight from Auckland (ACK) to Blenheim (BHE) on Air New Zealand. We were surprised to find out that on small planes under 90 passengers, we weren’t required to go through any kind of security! It felt so strange, but it was a nice surprise. It was a short and very scenic 1.5 hour flight to Blenheim. Check out the picture of the baggage claim…at least it was quick.
We checked in to our hotel, which was fantastic….14th Lane Urban Hotel. Very unassuming from the outside, but this beautiful boutique hotel had huge rooms with small kitchens, and the absolute best service! The location was right in the heart of downtown Blenheim, so very easy to walk to find food and shops. They offer breakfast for a fee, but it needs to be ordered the night before. We decided to forego this option, but I’d recommend this hotel over and over again.
To start, we wanted to get out to some of the wineries that featured our favorite wines from home…Whitehaven, Cloudy Bay, and Wairau River. I had read about how good the food was at Wairau River, so we had made a late lunch reservation there in advance. We did a wine tasting, plus had a salad and a couple of starters including the Cheeseburger Nuggets, which were so good! They had a beautiful outside patio overlooking the vineyard that we sat at and had the best time.
The wineries are all about a 10-20 minute drive from Blenheim (too far to walk) and we quickly discovered there weren’t really Ride Share options in Blenheim…we were told most people bike between wineries?! There wasn’t much of a bike lane or sidewalk either, so this seemed dangerous. Our hotel helped us arrange for a taxi to get us from the hotel to the winery area, but we were kind of stuck once we got there in terms of getting from place to place (too close to get a taxi, but a little too far to walk). We ended up walking to the Whitehaven tasting room, where we had a fantastic tasting and some charcuterie. And the best part, our server actually drove us to our next winery…ha! New Zealand has the nicest people for sure.
Our third stop was Cloudy Bay – owned by LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton) – which was pretty close to closing when we arrived (these wineries typically close by 5PM and take their last tastings about an hour before), but they were able to squeeze us in for a quick tasting and tour of the cellar. I was told the food there is excellent too. It’s a beautiful space and I wish we had more time to explore there, but we will have to go back!
Unfortunately for me, I had a little too much wine after this marathon of tastings and wasn’t up for having dinner. My husband found The Goodhome Gastropub nearby and grabbed some decent takeout from there. We ended up going back there for dinner on Day 2 since there wasn’t much open on Mondays!
DAY 2: FULL DAY WINE TOUR WITH GOURMET LUNCH
On Day 2 we had a full-day wine tour booked with Hop N Grape Tours, which we had booked through Trip Advisor here. But before that, of course it’s critical to have a hearty breakfast before heading out for the day. We tried out Hakuna Matata Cafe based on the really good reviews online. We had a couple of chai teas, eggs benedict and the brioche french toast. Service and food were both excellent! Then we had breakfast at Ritual Cafe our last morning in Blenheim which was also a great option with delicious coffee and golden lattes.
Our Hop N Grape tour guide Doug picked us up from the hotel and we were joined by three other couples for our day tour (two other couples from the US and one from Australia), which included four wineries, lunch, and a bonus stop at Makana Confections for some fresh, handmade chocolates. It turns out Doug is a best-selling author and motivational speaker…he was such a great guide and took good care of us throughout the day.
As is typical on these private wine tours, you always have a reserved table, a dedicated server to give you background on the wine makers and information about each wine, and access to parts of the winery not available to the public. We stopped at Clos Henri (set in a tiny historic church), Spy Valley (more modern and industrial), Allan Scott (expansive vegetable garden and gourmet restaurant where we had a fantastic lunch), and then ended at Framingham (with the most beautiful roses I’ve ever seen)!
If you are a fan of wine or are looking for a laid-back and quiet option in New Zealand to break up the busy-ness of other cities, I’d definitely recommend making a stop in the Marlborough region. If you’re not so much in to the wine tasting I found some beautiful resorts in Picton as well. While Picton doesn’t have as much to offer in terms of a city, it is right on a sound and offers more outdoor activities like kayaking, boat cruises, and the like.