Punakaiki Beach Camp

We had read reviews before booking two nights at the Punakaiki Beach Camp so had a fair idea of what it would be like. The location is amazing as others have said. The ocean on one side, the river/lagoon on the other. Big cliffs at the back as well as the Pororari Riber track and other beautiful walks. Punakaiki pancake rocks just down the road, the Punakaiki Rocks Tavern around the corner. We booked one cabin and one tent site. The cabin was a family cabin which had two rooms with two bunk beds in one and a double bed, mini fridge and table in the other room. It also had an electric kettle and some mugs (but no water in the room). We loved the little deck out the back and ate our meals there. Overall the cabin was fine, definitely a rustic kiwi bach style . The camp site was good and as per our request was close to the cabin and the toilets which was great. The camp was very busy, there were loads of people staying. The facilities (kitchen, bathrooms) were very very busy during peak hours and people tended to sit at the tables in the kitchen area (very cramped space) which didn’t leave much room to get past to use the sinks etc. The showers were hot but you had to push the button every 20 seconds to keep the water flowing. The facilities are not really up to the number of people staying at the camp, if they renovated the facilities it would be a huge improvement. The lady at the desk was rude upon arrival unfortunately. If you go there expecting it it’s still very disappointing but not as shocking (as it would have been if we hadn’t read reviews). Since we’d read reviews we knew some people had experienced rudeness from the staff but didn’t expect our very first interaction to be rude! I also witnessed the lady speaking with young tourists and being rude to them as well. So a very mixed review!

This camp has amazing location on the beachfront and walking distance to pancake rocks, truman track and pororari river walk. However, the facilities are very tired and not adequate for the number of campers - showers are unreliable (hot and cold, and a constant need to push the button). the sites are not marked clearly on a map and we ended up with people camping in our front living area and then kess than a metre on the other side - it wasnt nice. i love this location, but the prices are going up and the improvement in facilities isnt.

Floor had sand, linen had hairs, no towels were provided.