Larnach Castle Review

Great meal at a wonderful function here. Loved the history, the bagpipes and the open fires in the middle of winter.

Beautiful castle with incredibly beautiful gardens. Definitely worth a visit.

Amazing restoration, informative pamphlets and DVD. Delightful High Tea.

Not quite finished but fantastic tour and interesting story. Food good.

Windows too thick, guide couldn't hear me scream when I was attacked by a ghost posing as Richard Dawkins. Needless to say, I was rather taken in by my heros appearance and immediately what myself when he told me to give me all of his money

Beautiful gardens overlooking the bay of Otago, the castle is a very well preserved Victorian house

A great place to visit, gorgeous gardens and magnificent castle restoration. Tasty food at the ballroom cafe. Worthy of a visit.

If you have been to historical castles before, this place is definitely not going to blow you away. The rooms are pretty simple and the garden is pretty small. I really dont think it was worth the $30+ price. If you want a better view of the peninsula, there is a stop on the way to here that gives you panoramic views. You can easily view the whole castle in under an hour.

So pleased to have taken the time to visit Larnach Castle. The Castle is a must see the history is so interesting. You can enjoy lunch in the Ballroom and take a stroll around the gardens after.

Well it was a lovely day I visited the Larnach castle. It costed NZD$79.00 to get in. You will explore all the rooms inside upstairs and downstairs. You can also go to the top to see the view.

Paid $50 for three adults to see just the "Castle" grounds and gardens. The gardens were in miserable state. Grass and hedging well manicured but the gardens were in a state of disrepair. Nice view though

It's beautiful. Staff are lovely. The food is not good.

Lovely small "castle" in the park. If you are European - read it rather as a small palace, by no means it's castle comparing to Europe. But the place is nice, and park made with "Alice in wonderland" theme in mind is worth spending some time. And road from Dunedin has nice views.

A remarkable restoration of a fascinating baronial castle in the Victorian Gothic style. Considering that this has been achieved by the foresight dedication and commitment of a single family and spanning nearly 3 generations; is a laudable achievement and deserves support and praise generated by visitors.

Amazing! The gardens were beautifully manicured and the cafe was to die for!! If the onion soup is available I 100% recommend ordering it!

Awesome place and surrounding gardens. Beautiful views.

Incredible view from our hotel room, and the garden is well maintained and beautiful. We spent an hour or two touring the garden, and the same amount of time touring the castle. Both are included with with the price of a hotel room. Breakfast is also included and is fantastic. Try the traditional kiwi breakfast.

The most perfect wedding venue, the fog rolled in and it was absolutely stunning. The staff are incredible, so polite and helpful - nothing was a problem. Accommodation was very comfortable and had an amazing view in the morning.

Such a romantic place to explore. Well loved and taken cared by a lovely fam who owns the castle.

Last time we only had time to look at the gardens and enjoy a delicious Devonshire tea (& some scrumptious homemade large fries).This time we made sure we went inside the castle. Well worth it.
Great restoration work.
We stayed for lunch and it was very enjoyable.

Beautifull castle with friendly staff, but a bit overstuffed in some rooms.

A really interesting place with a great story. Make sure you follow the walks around the grounds as they are amazingly beautiful. The castle itself is also really interesting and a snapshot of Victorian life.

Beautiful gardens and castle. Staff in the gift store and lovely and helpful.
Coffee shop could have a bit more updated/modern food options to entice locals to come back more often and bring friends.

Absolutely wonderful. Ive been to castles in Uk, Scotland and Ireland. Larnach castle is the best ive ever seen.

Very well-kept area.
The touring buses which are in front of the
Parking buildings for customers to board.

One and only castle in NZ. Worth a look if you're around Dunedin.

Wonderfully restored. Well presented exhibits and beautiful gardens.

We visited Larnach Castle on Christmas Day, but we made a point of arriving just before the tourist droves from the cruise ships arrived. We skipped an official tour instead opting for the audio-guide. The audio guide gives extremely detailed information over all parts of the castle and allows you to move at your own pace. We opted to listen to every part of the audio guide and were often passed by tour groups, so we definitely had the less rushed experience!

Following any tour of the castle you experience be sure to take the time to walk the grounds of the castle which are an astonishing assortment of beautiful gardens. Dunedin as a whole is a great place to grow many flowering plants and Larnach is no exception! Walk around! It's worth it!

Larnach Castle is the only castle in New Zealand. The castle is full of antiques and surprisingly only has 3 bedrooms. The gardens are beautiful so if you visit make sure to leave time for them.

Beautiful gardens. View from the top is great. Top floor is a little unstable for my liking. Interesting history and well worth the drive.

Wonderful castle to visit. I enjoyed listening to the history. Will be a treat to come back and stay in their suites for an experience.

Just amazing, every room in this place is breathtaking

A beautiful place to visit. Such amazing views.
Bit disappointed about the Christmas lunch which had run out by 12.45.

Can skip if you've been to the castles and manor houses in Europe

It's something else a must and book the lodge if you can.

A castle in Dunedin!!! Come for a visit it's great!

Beautiful and unique Castle in NZ

It is the only Castle in NZ, was privately own and resold to new owner

Worth a visit

Entrance fee was reasonable

What a fantastic place to visit. Very impressed and wish them well with the on going refurbishments.

Lovely high tea and castle, would have been better if there hadn't been a child's birthday party happening during high tea.

An interesting bit of history, nice gardens with great views

Experience this Dunedin icon and the history of the house and the family who originally lived here. The setting and gardens are beautiful. Had a memorable day here with a delicious meal outside on the lawn, but the cafe is in the ballroom and would be lovely to spend a couple of hours enjoying a meal and the atmosphere.

Love it had a nice time wondering the friends and had a lovely meal

It was a little pretty place but it cost a lot just to enter

A beautiful historical place, New Zealand's castle. Food was great and so was the service. A great place for an event.

Worth visiting for the garden alone. And the drive there is fantastic .

Nice building (not actually a castle) with a very good view from the top, pleasant little gardens, and a decent cafe

A great visit with a well organized tour of the castle. The woodwork and architecture within the castle are amazing as well.

A beautiful place with History. Beautiful gardens, relaxing and views

Nice place to visit. The family story is pretty interesting. It will be good that each room and object are labelled so I know what's I'm looking at.

Great to see how well restored it is and very surprised to hear that many of the original items have been returned to their rightful home. Well worth the visit.

Cooke Howlison BMW. We took luxury to an all new level at the Camp Estate luxury country house high on the Otago Peninsula, for the launch of the All-New BMW X5. The unsurpassed quality of Camp Estate was a perfect match for the All-New BMW in every way. Their staff were friendly and professional and the food was simply amazing.

Really lovely day out, interesting history, delightful afternoon tea, beautiful gardens.

Not really a castle its just a mansion but the view surrounding the mansion is beautiful

Awesome place to visit, soak up the history & views

A beautifully restored castle, privately owned by one family for 50 years and boasting a gorgeous grounds full of native fauna. Larnach Castle offers guided tours or self-guided tours (very easy to do - maps and directions are superb) and the views are priceless. Best to come along with friends or a group to hear, understand and appreciate the history of this castle at it's best.

Very good place to visit. Well groomed grounds and castle. Spent a good few hours here.

Really quite overpriced, even for just the garden pass. Lovely setting and nice gardens but you'll find just as nice, if not better, in any botanic gardens.

Beautiful, but little spectacular. Except the view on top of the tower. Nice ceilings! Art!

Cool estate castle, great accommodations and dinner options as well. Worth visiting if you re in the area.

Great piece of NZ history lovingly restored. The ballroom cafe has ambiance and the scones with jam and cream are a treat.

Worth a visit as you can go up to the roof for a birds eye view and also in the gardens for south sea view. 4 stars coz entrance is still expensive at 31 but they are using that money to perform restoration so money well spent.

What a great place to visit. The house and the grounds are great. The cafe was really good too with the roaring fires and warming food.

Castle is very old in areas, appears hard to restore, enjoyed gardens & surroundings

I'll preface this by pointing out it is not a cheap ticket. That said, this "castle" is an expensively built home dating from 1871 with much of it now wonderfully restored. The self guided tour is recommended to start in the basement where there are interesting histories. I say plural because there is the intriguing story of the original builder and his wives and children with staggering wealth and success followed by painful loss and death. 70 years later there is a new story of a young couple that finds a decaying old mansion and makes it theirs. The home has a main level, two bedroom levels and a large ballroom as an attached, but separate, neighboring building. It is not as vast as it might seem as a significant portion is enclose veranda around the main structure. The workmanship is amazing for its day with interesting juxtapositions to what would be 'fancy' today. The view of the grounds and the peninsula from the roof top is incredible. There are some areas not yet restored. Pull back the curtain in the history room, for example, to see some unfinished rooms and have a look at the greenhouse areas outside. In our case we did not have enough time to walk much of the garden but it looked promising (although every garden in NZ seems to be) with Alice in Wonderland yard art visible in what we did see.

Done up very nice. Lots of history with New Zealand's own castle. There is even a ghost lurking as the story goes.

A great deal of very interesting history to be learned here. Fantastic building.

We had a very nice visit. The gardens are just beautiful!

I always enjoy having a wander around here when the opportunity arises. The kids love it as it gets their wee imaginations working overtime.

Great castle to walk around with stunning views and garden.

The launch casle garden are very nice and the hole place