Accommodation on the Otago Central Rail Trail

An Overview of accommodation on the Otago Central Rail Trail
The following section attempts to give you a breakdown of accommodation and approximate prices along the Trail depending upon whether you are tenting, backpacking, travelling as a family, as a couple or in style ! 
It is recommended you pre book directly or use our Trail Journeys itinerary service team who will pre book your accommodation for no extra cost. The Railtrail is becoming busier each year and early bookings are required. A perception that Autumn is the only time to do the trail seems to influence peoples timing for their experience. The trail offers different experiences in all the seasons and Spring can be quite spectacular in Central Otago and we therefore encourage you to give consideration to this not so busy time. 

Note that we will charge no extra to book your accommodation on your behalf. We will do our best to get you each of your required bed nights while on the trail, especially in the busy Summer and Autumn months.
Please note that the prices given are a guide only.

Tent Sites
Available along the trail at Clyde , Alexandra , Omakau , Wedderburn , Ranfurly , Hyde and Middlemarch.
Prices for tent sites with cooking facilities and showers at the places above start from about $10 per person per night.

Backpackers accommodation
Caravans & cabins in each of the locations above. Also available in Chatto Creek, Oturehua, Kokonga. Prices start from approx $20 per person per night or $40 per person including linen.

Double/Twin Share Accommodation (normally shared shower / toilet facilities)
Twin share style accommodation is available in Clyde,  Alexandra, Chatto Creek, Omakau , Ophir, Oturehua, Wedderburn, Naseby, Ranfurly, Waipiata, Hyde, Macraes Flat and Middlemarch.
Prices start from $50 per person per night with continental breakfasts. (Trail Journeys book most of the accommodation with continental breakfast, unless otherwise requested. Upgrading to cooked breakfast is available in some places on the trail at an extra cost and is normally left to the client to arrange and pay for with the accommodation provider when they arrive.)

Bed & Breakfast Style Accommodation
Acommodation offering a twin share rooms with an on-suite (shower / toilet facilities) in most cases Available in Clyde, Alexandra, Omakau, Ophir, Oturehua, Wedderburn, Ranfurly, Waipiata, Kokanga, Hyde & Middlemarch.
Prices start from approx $70 per person per night.

Up Market Accommodation
In the last year or two a few Bed & Breakfast outlets have been set up along the Rail Trail specifically to cater for the upper end of the market. This type of accommodation is currently available in Alexandra, Naseby and Kokonga.
Prices start from approx $145 per person per night.

Meals on the Otago Central Rail Trail

Restaurants, Hotels & Cafes along the Otago Central Rail Trail
There are a variety of establishments along the Rail Trail where you will find a good selection of wholesome country cuisine. If you're looking for good hearty food and a thirst quenching drink all of the places that we list below can provide this in plenty !

Be aware that in the busy time of the year for the Trail, you will almost always have to pre-book for your evening meal. You may also have quite a wait for your lunches and your dinners at some of the busiest establishments, especially those ones that are sole operations in their location.

Where to eat on the Trail:

Clyde have cafes, hotel and dairy. 
Alexandra have many cafes, hotels, dairys. 
Chatto Creek has a Tavern. 
Omakau and Ophir each have a hotel, 
Omakau has a superette for supplies and cafe. 
Lauder is catered for with Hotel. 
Oturehua a store and tavern.
Wedderburn has the tavern. 
When you visit Naseby they have Hotels and cafe and 
Ranfurly has a hotel, cafe and resturaunt. 
Waipiata is serviced by a hotel as is Hyde and finishing in 
Middlemarch where there is a hotel, 2 cafe's and a dairy.

Activities associated with the Otago Central Rail Trail

Alongside your Otago Central Rail Trail adventure there are many activities and locations along the Trail that are "must do" or "must see" experiences. Please look through the photos above where there are shots of some of these experiences listed below.
This list is by no means exhaustive, but includes some of the experiences that we recommend to our clients to do or to look at when riding the Trail.

A list of these activities / experiences follows :

Old Clyde Township. Check out some of the beautifully restored old buildings as well as the impressive Clyde Dam and Lake Dunstan, the lake behind this dam. In the hot summer you can enjoy a dip in nearby Lake Dunstan or a taste of some of the local wines.

Alexandra. Along with Cromwell, the main service area for the Central Otago area, Alexandra is a wonderful place to visit in any season.  In Autumn the deciduous trees turn into a sea of gold while the long, cold Winter offers big-sky, crisp-clear days.

Chatto Creek Tavern. This historic tavern was built in 1886 and constructed of mud brick and stacked stone. Just outside the main building is the historic Chatto Creek Post Office that still accepts your mail. Check out how small it is ! This small country hotel and bistro serves fantastic morning and afternoon teas and lunches to thousands of hungary Trail riders every year.

Ophir Township. Another old goldmining town with a number of beautifully restored buildings set amongest some classic rock strewn Manitoto countryside. Ophir is about 2 km away from Omakau. Make sure that you ride / walk / drive along the back way from Omakau to Ophir to check out the beautiful old bridge over the Manuherikia river. Be aware that Ophir holds the record for the coldest ever recorded temperature in New Zealand.

St Bathans Township. An old goldmining town located about 20km off the Trail. We can arrange to have your group transported to St Bathans. (Minimum numbers required) The beautiful St Bathans Blue Lake (check out the photo in the Gallery above) is the result of extensive mining in the area in the early days. The brilliant blue colour of the water is the caused by chemicals in the water. Today St Bathans is a small town with only two surviving operating facilities - the post office and the (haunted) pub. The local hotel in St Bathans, The Vulcan, dates back to 1882 and the post-office back to 1909. Make sure that you stop and have a drink at the pub and look through all the old memorabilita and photos of a bygone age.

The Idaburn Dam. Located just to the south of Oturehua (just before E Hayes & Sons that we highlight below) the Idaburn Dam area is one of the coldest areas of New Zealand over winter. It is the site of the annual Brass Monkey Motorcycle Rally held during the first weekend in June each year. Also when weather conditions permit, the Dam is host to the Bonspiel, an ancient tournament for all New Zealand Curling Clubs, which can only be held on natural ice. Remember that you can try your hand at Curling year round at the new Maniototo Curling Rink (for more information please contact our Trail Journeys team (Contact Us).

E. Hayes & Sons Engineering Works. Located south of Oturehua, E Hayes & Sons Works is still able to be experienced just as it was when it was shut up in the 1930's (the business relocated to Invercargill). E Hayes established his workshop in 1885 to service the needs of the surrounding farming community. Over the years he built up an amazing operation, all powered by water wheels and pulleys. Well worth a visit even if you're not mechanically inclined just to marvel at the sheer inventiveness of the man.
Hayes Engineering Works is open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays from 11am to 4pm (December - April) under the curatorship of Helen Cameron with her partner Ken Gillespie. The works at Hayes Engineering and the exterior of the homestead can be seen today almost as they appeared when work was in full production. On these days, guided tours of the workshops and homestead are conducted and the workshop drive system and machinery are operated periodically for visitors. If you are travelling in a group you can also be shown through by special arrangement. Please talk to our Trail Journeys team if you are interested in this (Our contact  details are on our Contact Us page).

Gilchrists Store. Gilchrists Store, the oldest continuously running store in Central Otago, located in Oturehua, just across the road from the local pub, is well worth a look. It is still trading today, but with an interior little changed from when it was built in 1899.

The Golden Progress Mine.  Located just to the north of, or along the Trail a little, from Oturehua the Golden Progress mine is worth a look. The mine poppet head is still standing (there is a photo of it in the gallery above), evidence of the attempts to extract gold from the quartz reefs in the area. Because the reefs were difficult to follow and the gold quartz leads were often lost, the mine was eventually closed.

Ranfurly Township. This town was built for the Otago Central Railway line as the railway station base for the Maniototo area. Naseby, the previous centre of the area, was deemed to be unsuitable because it was located up in the hills. The town is now best known for it's "Art Deco" buildings and holds the Ranfurly Art Deco Festival each year in late February to celebrate this fact. The community owned Centennial Milk Bar (a photo of the Bar appears in the Gallery above), a classic piece of modernist design, has been refurbished and now houses a collection of Art Deco memorabilia and collectibles and is open daily Tuesdays to Sundays. In recent years Ranfurly has been revitalised by the Otago Central Railtrail.

Naseby Township. Naseby is located amongest the Naseby forests at the base of the hills to the north of the Maniototo Plain. It is the most charming of Otago's gold rush settlements (often referred to as the ‘Jewel of the Maniototo'), with a wealth of surviving Victorian architecture, and some buildings constructed from adobe (sun dried mud brick). It is about 10 km from the Railtrail if you road along the road from Ranfurly.While once as many as 5000 diggers once toiled on its gold fields, today there are only about 100 permanent inhabitants. This swells to upwards of 3000 people during the holiday season, with crib (holiday home) owners and camping ground dwellers enjoying the tennis courts, bowling green, swimming dams, golf course, gold panning, mountain biking and forest walks, The Early Settlers Museum and Watchmakers Shop.  Naseby has two good pubs and a growing number of farmstays and homestays. You can also now sample the winter sport of Curling year round on the  Maniototo Ice Rink. Skating and Ice Hockey tournaments are also a feature. If you want to try your hand at Curling on your Rail Trail trip please enquire with our Trail Journeys team for more information.

Kyeburn Diggings & Danseys Pass. The Upper Kyeburn goldfield was in existence even before the main finds at Naseby and the miners were well served by the Danseys Pass Hotel built in 1862, its stonework paid for in beer. The hotel has been redeveloped into a world renowned Coach Inn, but the goldfields are long gone along with the miners. The hotel is the last stop on the Danseys Pass Road which winds over the mountains to North Otago.
Judy Knight, one of our Trail Journeys shareholders, has her great grandparents buried at the Kyeburn Diggings graveyard while her grandparents are buried in the Naseby graveyard. Her great-great grandfather was a pay clerk on the Kyeburn goldfields but the family has no record of where he's buried (How's that for local now Nev !).

Macraes Goldmine & Macraes Township. It's well worth a visit to the Macraes Goldmine located near the historic village of Macraes, just about 20 km from Hyde. Our Trail Journeys Guided Tours include the Mine as a sidetrip.  If you are independantly touring on the trail, talk to us about arrange a tour for you. The Macraes gold deposit is the largest active gold mine in New Zealand. You won't appreciate the sheer scale of the hole in the ground (check out the photo above) until you see close up the size of the dump trucks used ! While you're there be sure to check out the old Macres pub and look at the churches, stables and old agricultural machinery displayed in the town.

Middlemarch Township. Your Railtrail journey ends (or starts if you've taken the Taeri Gorge train up from Dunedin) here in Middlemarch. The township is situated in the picturesque valley of Strath Taieri - ideal for camping, walking, tramping and hiking, fishing, and of course mountain biking ! Don't forget to stop off at the Strath Taieri hotel for a celebratory drink to mark the finish of your Railtrail ride or, if you'd rather have a latte, pop into Kissing Gate Cafe on the main road.

The Taieri Gorge Railway Experience. Departing daily (except Christmas day) from the historic Dunedin Railway Station, the Taieri Gorge Train experience takes you on a journey through the rugged and spectacular Taieri River Gorge, across wrought iron viaducts and through tunnels carved by hand more than 100 years ago.
You can either start or finish your Railtrail adventure from Middlemarch with the Taieri Gorge Railway experience. Please contact our Trail Journeys team for more information.