We found River Birches at Turangi by accident, not being keen fishing enthusiastics. It is tucked away down a quiet road in the not very lively town of Turangi, but close to Lake Taupo. We have been on an extra long honeymoon trip around NZ/Aus mostly staying in B&Bs and RB was a little out of our price range. However, it did surpass our expectations and was worth the bit extra. The Lodge, as described previously is extremely well presented, and in pristine condition (even though it has been running 3 yrs I understand). We were lucky enough to be the only people staying for our 2 nights there and had the whole place to ourselves. Our only criticism would be that our host (unfortunately the name has been forgotten as it was several months ago!) was a little cool/offish at first, and we didn't get the friendly Kiwi welcome we had become accustomed to. She had been working solid for the last few weeks before we arrived, and we did feel as if she would have preferred not to have had any guests to look after for a few days.

We loved it. Stayed three nights and if we could of we would of extended. We did the the Tongariro Alpine trek. Fabulous wines and food. My wife loved the fishing.

We had high hopes for the hotel, but were blown away by what we found. The property consists of a purpose built 'lodge' with 3 guest rooms. The lodge is entirely for the use of the guests, unlike most boutique accommodation.
The property is beautifully furnished throughout and to a higher standard than I have experienced in hotels that claim to be the world's most luxurious ( and expensive). The hosts were incredibly friendly and welcoming - nothing was too much trouble for them. Marilyn (one of the hosts) is an incredibly skilled chef and comes to the lodge to lay on a sumptuous breakfast and most nights cook an amazing 4 course dinner. The food we ate there was better than anything we experienced in award-winning restaurants across Australia and New Zealand.
If they hadn't been unavailable for the day after our booking we would have extended our stay as it was so relaxing.
The value for money was the most impressive part of it - I would have happily paid 3 times the rate and still have felt it reasonable.
You won't be disappointed!

This place is amazing. Set in the nice town of Turangi, it is the perfect place to explore the Tongariro National Park.

The accommodation is modern, clean and funky. There are wonderful touches all over the place (IPOD docking stations, rubber ducks in the bathrooms).

The manager of the place was lovely - allowed us to use the washing machine and her own clothesline outside. She made reservations for us round the corner in a fantastic home cooking restaurant. She is a trained chef too and breakfast was wonderful.

This place is magical and is a must!