Shakespeare House

This B&B is located a good 10 minute walk from the Town Centre and a couple of minutes from Lake Te Anau. We found the owners very keen to share their local knowledge and routes to other areas of Southland. Adequate continental breakfast, with a cooked option available at a daily extra cost of $15. Our room was comfortable.

We stayed two nights. It was clean and comfortable. There was limited parking onsite but plenty in the street. The room was ok, but the bathroom was small and the sink was the size you’d expect in a cloakroom. No plug provided. Walls were thin and you could hear noise in adjoining rooms. Cooked breakfast was ok, but nothing special. In summary it was ok but nothing special and did not match some of the excellent accommodation we have stayed in in South Island.

It’s a pleasant enough location but maybe a little far to walk into town easily. It was also very clean. That’s the best I can say though. The narrow ground further bedroom (and ours was one of a few that were similarly positioned) had a small exterior window, but the light and any view were obscured by a large bush. This made the room very gloomy and dark. Two other opaque windows were heavily frosted and let in some light from a wide covered corridor that had some seating. The corridor was also being used as an area to dry bed linen when we arrived. There was insufficient lighting in the bedroom to read anything printed. The ambience of our bedroom was dark, dingy and depressing. It was, by far, the worst place we’d stayed in during our two week holiday in South Island. The bed was very soft, felt old and was most unsupportive. Water pressure in the tiny shower/wc room basin was very poor, which didn’t help the ridiculously long cold leg for the hot water to come through. The shower unit was an unusual one with a metal floor and a thin flexible plastic door that seemed to be on a vertical roller. Cheap and nasty, but at least the ancient looking shower worked. I cannot imagine anyone wanting to spend any more time in the bedroom than absolutely necessary. The continental breakfast was a parsimonious lacklustre offering which finished at 8.30 - never had such an early cut-off before. Obviously done to suit the owners, not the paying guests. I cannot understand why the facility had such good reviews. Maybe all the reviewers stayed in the only front bedroom that had a view, a decent amount of natural light and looked ok. In all, we could never recommend this place other than as a low budget B&B, but it was too expensive to be budget accommodation.

We've stayed here several times over the years. The owners are very knowledgeable about the area. Our room was large and airy. Noise from other rooms was a problem with giggling girls late at night. There is a guest refrigerator which was nice to have and we were able to do laundry. Breakfast could be better. You have to pay extra for anything cooked so there was little protein available. Some boiled eggs would have been nice, as well as some decaf coffee. We could have used some body lotion, too. We'll stay here again.

We had a wonderful stay. Liz and her husband were awesome. We felt welcome and comfortable.

Excellent, Great location, easy pick up for a trip to Milford Sound Terrific hosts. Breakfast is included, but pay a little extra for a full breakfast. Just near the water, stunning views. 2 hours to Milford Sound. Makes for a great day trip.

Great rooms though on the tiny side with a tiny teeny bathroom.

Great location, spacious room and ensuite plus the option to relax in the lounge area outside your room. The breakfast was great just what we needed to fuel up for a day of activities. They have a share fridge you can keep your drinks and food in, filtered water and even wine glasses plus they are happy for you to use the kitchen to make your meals if you don’t want to eat out. But the best thing is the hosts - they went out of their way to return my passport to me, that I’d dropped behind the bed, for that I am forever grateful, Yvonne Perth WA