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Luxury villas in New Zealand: five of our festive-season favourites
Posted in August 2026
The festive season in New Zealand is made for a private villa - sun outside, space inside, and enough resort-level amenities that nobody needs to leave the property to be entertained. Long lunches outdoors, lake swims, vineyard afternoons, evenings with no fixed end time: put the right villa together with the right group of family or friends, and the case for an elevated festive season in a luxury villa in New Zealand makes itself.
We have spent thirteen years earning Condé Nast Traveler’s Top Travel Specialist title for exactly this kind of matchmaking. Here are five villas we’d choose for the holidays this year — two above Lake Hayes in Central Otago, one behind a white-sand beach on Waiheke Island, one among the vine rows of the Wairarapa, and one on a hillside over Lake Wakatipu. And, rather luckily, they still have some availability.
The Elms at Lake Hayes, Villa One
For a Christmas beside the lake
Explore The Elms at Lake Hayes, Villa One →
There’s no place more magical to wake up to on Christmas morning than beside Lake Hayes.
At The Elms Villa One, the view does most of the decorating. Floor-to-ceiling glass frames the Remarkables, the lake sits just beyond the terrace, and Amisfield Winery is a short stroll away - festive perfection.
The three-bedroom villa sleeps six and has the sort of layout that works flawlessly for a family holiday: three ensuited bedrooms, two living spaces, a beautifully considered kitchen and a private hot tub for the inevitable post-lunch wind-down.
There’s also direct access to the Lake Hayes walking and cycling track, which is useful for anyone wanting to make a convincing claim that they are being active over the holidays.
Our ideal day: Christmas morning by the lake, a long lunch on the terrace, a walk around Lake Hayes and a soak in the hot tub while the light hangs around until late.
Hawks Nest
For when the whole family is coming
Hawks Nest is for the Christmas where “just the immediate family” somehow becomes ten people.
Set high above Lake Wakatipu, this five-bedroom villa has the space, and, importantly, the infrastructure, to make a larger gathering feel less like an exercise in logistics.
There’s a sauna and hot tub, a gym, a media room, table tennis, a proper kitchen, an outdoor pizza oven and a New York-style bar downstairs. In other words, there are plenty of ways to keep everyone entertained without organising an itinerary every morning.
The views take care of themselves, with the lake, mountains and Queenstown spread out below. Come New Year’s Eve, you can even watch the fireworks from the house rather than joining the crowds downtown.
A small detail we particularly like: Hawks Nest has its own beehives, and guests leave with jars of the house honey.
Our ideal day: a morning swim in the lake, a deliciously long lunch helmed by a local private chef, children disappearing into the media room and adults eventually migrating downstairs to the bar.
Threepwood Escape
For a gathering with plenty of personality
Threepwood is a rather more intimate proposition: three bedrooms, six guests and a beautifully individual house set among the rolling landscape of Queenstown.
The interiors are anchored by an eclectic private art collection, with portraiture, contemporary works and pop art giving the house considerably more character than your average luxury holiday rental. Outside, the views stretch across vineyards and tussock hills towards the Remarkables, while the private spa pool is very well placed for summer evenings.
It would suit a family of six, a couple bringing their parents along, or a group of friends who have decided that this is the year everyone actually gets together.
Our ideal day: a slow breakfast, out exploring Queenstown, back for a late-afternoon swim or spa, then dinner on the terrace with the Remarkables doing their thing in the background.
The Palm Residence
For a resort-feel, beachy festive season
Set just behind a white-sand beach on Waiheke Island, the property is made up of three separate pavilions with nine bedrooms and space for up to 22 guests. Which makes it particularly good for the sort of family Christmas where three generations, several cousins and a handful of family friends all decide they may as well make a holiday of it.
The separate pavilions are key. Everyone can have their own space and their own pace, then reconvene when it’s time for lunch, dinner or a swim.
There’s a private pool, tennis court, kayaks, paddleboards and a beach bar with its own barbecue and fire pit. The main house is equally good-looking, with natural materials, cedar battens, in-situ concrete and a sculptural fireplace at its centre.
And, of course, there is Waiheke in summer: beaches, vineyards, long lunches and the distinct pleasure of knowing you’re only a ferry ride from Auckland while feeling considerably further away.
Our ideal day: barefoot breakfast, a morning on paddle boards on the water, lunch outside, a post-lunch swim in the pool and everyone gathering around the beach fire as the sun goes down.
The Whitehouse, Te Whare Ma
For Christmas among the vines
Set among the vines just outside Martinborough, this contemporary farmhouse has four bedrooms, generous living spaces and a five-hectare vineyard to call its backyard.
It was designed with entertaining in mind, but never feels like an event space. The kitchen is made for a serious Christmas lunch, the four master suites give everyone their own retreat, and the outdoor spaces are made for long summer evenings overlooking the vines.
Martinborough is close enough for a wander into town or a day spent visiting cellar doors, but the temptation here is really to stay put.
Our ideal day: coffee in the morning sun, a lazy wander through the vines, lunch that stretches into the afternoon, a bottle of local Pinot Noir by the fire pit and absolutely no plans for tomorrow.
The New Zealand summer, shared with loved ones
While the best summer villas in New Zealand tend to disappear from the calendar well before December, these five still have availability across the summer holiday period.
If you’re thinking about bringing everyone together this Christmas, or simply want to give yourselves a very good reason to extend the holiday into January, our Travel Designers can help find the right house, and then take care of everything around it.
Private chefs. Boats. Winery visits. Airport transfers. Days on the water. Christmas lunch. New Year’s Eve.
You just need to decide who you’re bringing.
