1.       Lake Como, Lombardy, Italy
2.      Lake Placid, N.Y.
3.      Lake Windermere, United Kingdom
4.      Lake Huron, Mackinac Island, Mich.
5.      Lake Taupo, Taupo, New Zealand
6.      Lake Havasu, Lake Havasu City, Ariz.
7.      Great Salt Lake, Salt Lake City, Utah
8.      Lake George, N.Y.
9.      Lake Geneva, Montreux, Switzerland
10.    Lake Louise, Banff, Canada

This is another top-class New Zealand hotel. Knowing that we don’t have a rental car in New Zealand this time around, it is only ideal to stay somewhere in the heart of the city. This is especially when I have saved all my shopping at my last destination. OK – here comes my favourite of the three New Zealand hotels! The Ascott Metropolis!

This is my preferred choice of luxury New Zealand accommodation. Why? Location, Location, Location! Right in the heart of the city yet not bothered by traffic noises. This New Zealand hotel, more known as a luxurious serviced apartment, is tucked at Courthouse Lane, near to the shopping district of High Street and Vulcan Lane. And if shopping is not your game, go for a gust of fresh air at Albert Park, which is just across the residence.

I like the elegance of The Ascott. The service is personalized and warm. I find the staff very helpful, attentive and friendly too (you can tell the minute you walk into the door). We booked a high floor studio apartment facing the harbour for our last two nights in Auckland, after returning from Christchurch. We enjoyed the views from our apartment. Our room is stylishly furnished, spacious, cosy and comfortable. With a fully-equipped designer kitchen, we could enjoy some home-cooked dinner too.

This New Zealand hotel is perfect for families (like us), business travelers and holiday makers. Travelling with little Clayton requires us to take short breaks in the room. The location makes it so convenient and easy. With Albert Park next door, Alex would sometimes take Clayton out for a stroll while mummy shops leisurely (a mum’s delight!) I must not forget to mention that The Ascott is near to many restaurants and cafes. With the Link Bus stop close by, you can visit many city attractions (hop up and down the bus, as often as you like) or just simply enjoy a city ride for free.

For those who like to do some grocery shopping in the city, Foodtown, a huge well-stocked supermarket is only 15mins walk away. This is great if you need to do some last minute shopping for families and friends back home. After a long day of shopping and sight-seeing, just head for the 22m indoor heated lap pool and simply watch the city lights at the balcony.

This is a wonderful place to have a vacation… relax and recharge in comfort and luxury.

Priced at $NZ200 onwards (depending on season and room choice), you can choose from the studio, executive or one bedroom suite, facing either the city or marina. Be prepared to pay more for marina views. We stayed in a one bedroom, marina view suite on the night returning from the Bay of Islands.

The room is spacious for the one bedroom suite. There is a designer kitchen, a cosy dining area and a comfortable living room that opens to the balcony. Our balcony overlooks a ‘partial’ marina view. If you like a superb view of the marina, you need to opt for the Deluxe Suite. This comes with a price too. If you are self-driving, there is no car-waiting area at The Sebel Suites. So you would need instructions from the reception to drive to the undercover parking.

This is the first of New Zealand hotels we stayed in Auckland.

The unique feature about this small business hotel is that the rooms come with a fully-equipped kitchenette, which is why I am attracted to it. You can choose from a deluxe room to a two bedroom apartment. Rates for a Deluxe King Room is priced around $NZ150. The weekday rates is slightly cheaper than weekend rates.

Our room is cosy, nicely furnished with quality touches. It has a balcony that overlooks either the city or Myers Park. We were allotted a room at the second floor and unfortunately, it overlooks a public car park. I suppose that’s considered a ‘city’ view. So make sure you state your request clearly when checking in. There is an outdoor heated swimming pool and gymnasium which we did not have the time to utilize.

I managed to prepare some food for Clayton in the little kitchen. We had a good sleep on the comfortable king bed. On the overall, this is a good place to base yourself if you don’t like the hustle and bustle on city living. It’s about 5-10 minutes walk to Queen street though it is not close walking distance to the main attractions located in the city.

We are now at the southern end of the North Island. This is our last stop before moving on to the South Island. If you are a minimalist, you will fall in love with this New Zealand Hotel. This apartment-style hotel is elegant, contemporary, modern, stylish and professional.

Yes, I would readily classify it as a luxury New Zealand accommodation! Well, when I first stepped into Bolton, I thought the setting may look a little ‘intimidating’. See, a lot of the amenities and facilities are designed with the business travelers in mind. But I was proven wrong. We were warmly greeted at the door by the porter who helped us with all of our luggage and bags (we’ve got quite a few). We were unloading all our stuff from our rental car as we would need to do some repacking before returning it.

After a quick check-in, we can’t wait to check out our room for the next two nights.

Alex and myself just bounced on the bed when we got into our room! This is a real super king bed! It is huge!
That’s not all! The bed cover is velvety soft and there is a very nice furry bed throw over the bed. It is so cuddly and soft – very nice!

I like the designer kitchen. Stainless steel finishes always impresses me! Being a graphic designer at heart, I love minimalism. I like clean lines, dark wood furniture, neutral tone and simple forms. Our premier suite gets a lot of daylight from the expansive tempered glass windows (which is pleasant). It overlooks the park and a bit of the office building next door.

The Bolton hotel is only 5 mins stroll to Lambton Quay, the main shopping street in Wellington. So it is convenient to hop back to the hotel when you get tired from shopping or sight-seeing. What more, you don’t need a car here. In fact, it is better not to even drive in the city if there is no necessity. Parking can be very expensive and the streets can be complicated if you are not familiar.

And if you like to cook in the designer kitchen, head for New World Metro, the city supermarket at 68 Willis Street. The Bolton offers a few room choices: Classic Studio, Premier Studio, Classic Suite, Premier Suite, Premier Twin and Bolton Suite. Packages start from $NZ169 on a weekend night for the classic studio. So is this another luxury new Zealand accommodation? Well, to me, it simply is.

This is sunset at Lake Taupo

It was raining during our two nights in Taupo. But then again, the poor weather didn’t spoil our fun in Taupo either. We had a great time in Baycrest Lodge. Our room came with a private courtyard and private thermal tub. We can then fill to our requirements with 50 degree C thermal water extracted from the ground. It is so relaxing soaking in the tub in the moonlight… yep! And you don’t even have to bother about swim gear. It is so private. I’m sure you can star gaze on a clear night.

Lake Taupo is the biggest lake in New Zealand.

Take a nice stroll and enjoy sunset by the calm lake. This town seems less busy than Rotorua. There are some nice shops to browse around so start shopping for a New Zealand gift. Don’t miss out on the many cafes if you like a lazy afternoon. Taupo in the North Island is serene and quiet during our time of travel but this lakeside town can get very busy during summer months.

For food in Taupo, you ought to check out Replete Café. For some reason, the queue is endless during lunch. The food is quite tasty with a touch of Asian but the menu selection may be a little limited. I like the quirky store next to the café. You can find lots of nice- looking kitchenware and selected gourmet condiments on the shelves. Few restaurants have opened up on the lakefront but unfortunately, we didn’t have the opportunity to try any of them due to wet weathers on both the nights.