Rosewood Cape Kidnappers: Hawke's Bay at Its Most Extraordinary

Hawke's Bay is the part of New Zealand that most international visitors miss. They come through Auckland, make the obligatory detour toward Hobbiton and the volcanic lakes of the central North Island, then head straight for the South Island. The stretch of east coast between Napier and Cape Kidnappers — wine country, dramatic clifftop pastureland, Art Deco architecture, and a gannet colony that is the most accessible mainland nesting site of its kind in the world — goes unseen by most people who would appreciate it most.

Rosewood Cape Kidnappers sits at the end of this story: forty-five minutes south of Napier along the coast, on a 6,000-acre working sheep and cattle farm that falls away to the Pacific Ocean on three sides. The lodge was built in 2007 by Julian Robertson Jr, the American billionaire and hedge fund founder whose love for New Zealand produced three of the country's most celebrated properties — Kauri Cliffs, Cape Kidnappers, and Matakauri. In 2023, Rosewood Hotels took over management of all three. The brand standards arrived; the individual identity of each property did not change.

01A Golf Course Perched 140 Metres Above the Pacific

The golf course at Cape Kidnappers is, by almost any serious assessment, one of the finest in the world. It was designed by Tom Doak — the Michigan-based architect whose minimalist, ground-hugging philosophy has produced some of the most acclaimed courses of the last thirty years — and opened in 2004, three years before the lodge itself.

The course plays to a par 71 across clifftop terrain 140 metres above the Pacific Ocean. Vertiginous drops define several fairways. The views from the elevated tee positions — ocean in every direction, the Hawke's Bay coastline curving north toward Napier — are the kind that stop mid-swing. Consistent rankings place it among the world's top twenty courses; Golf Digest has repeatedly named it among the ten best outside the United States.

Image: Eric Rosen / The Points Guy — The Tom Doak-designed Cape Kidnappers golf course, 140 metres above the Pacific

Guests staying at Rosewood Cape Kidnappers receive the choice of unlimited green fees or a 50-minute spa treatment per guest for each night of their stay — an inclusion that reflects how central golf is to the property's identity, and how seriously the resort takes the trade-off between the course and the other experiences on offer. — explored in our Rosewood Kauri Cliffs luxury lodge review.

02Accommodation: 24 Suites and Villas on a Clifftop Farm

The lodge resembles a cluster of farm ranch buildings — farmhouse-chic, designed with antique farming tools and repurposed ranch equipment incorporated into the interiors alongside exposed stone, wooden beams, antler chandeliers, and panoramic windows with sweeping coastal views. The aesthetic is both rustic and cosy: a property that feels like it has been on this land for generations even though it was built two decades ago.

Twenty-four accommodations are spread across the property: Grand Lodge Junior Suites and Grand Ridge Junior Suites in the main lodge building, Hilltop Junior Suites and Two-Bedroom Family Suites positioned above the main lodge with elevated Pacific views, Hawke's Bay Two-Bedroom Suites with generous living space and private terraces, and the Hawke's Bay Four-Bedroom Villa — the largest accommodation on the property, with a sheltered courtyard, jacuzzi, and outdoor barbecue suited to groups of up to eight.

Image: Eric Rosen / The Points Guy — Grand Lodge Junior Suite with off-white timber walls, fireplace, and private balcony

The Grand Lodge Junior Suite reviewed independently in January 2026 was described as fresh and breezy, with a flickering wall-set fireplace between the private balcony doors, natural light from multiple directions, and a stone-tiled bathroom with dual vanities, a soaking tub, and walk-in shower stocked with locally sourced Evolu products. The minibar — a curated selection of local wines, artisanal New Zealand snacks, and regional spirits — was noted as the detail that most captured the Hawke's Bay provenance without announcement.

The signature communal space is a cylindrical wood-panelled lounge called the Snug, with faux-fur throws and deep cushioning — the lodge's most intimate gathering point, and the place where guests typically land before dinner with a glass of something from the Hawke's Bay wine list.

03Dining: Seasonal, Local, and Anchored by the Region

The Dining Room at Rosewood Cape Kidnappers presents menus shaped by daily seasonal produce and close relationships with local suppliers, complemented by the lodge's own kitchen garden. Menus change daily. Every dish is a considered expression of the Hawke's Bay region's particular agricultural gifts: the warm, dry climate that produces exceptional stone fruit, heirloom tomatoes, and fine olive oil; the Pacific waters that supply line-caught rock fish, ora king salmon, and crayfish; the farmland that provides New Zealand lamb, beef, and venison.

Image: Eric Rosen / The Points Guy — The Dining Room glassed atrium overlooking the Cape Kidnappers clifftop and Pacific Ocean

A recent menu featured line-caught rock fish with Panang curry, pickled lychee and garden herbs; smoked Ora King salmon with wild fennel, local lemon and horseradish cream; and slow-roasted beef tenderloin with Te Mata mushrooms, chard, horopito (New Zealand pepperwood), and celeriac. The wine list covers the full register of New Zealand's finest regions — Hawke's Bay Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, Central Otago Pinot Noir — with particular depth in the local appellations.

Guests receive complimentary pre-dinner drinks and canapes each evening, typically enjoyed beside one of the lodge's fireplaces or in the Snug before moving to the Dining Room.

04Cape Sanctuary and the Gannet Colony

The lodge is part of Cape Sanctuary — New Zealand's largest privately owned and funded conservation project, co-founded by the Robertson family. The sanctuary has successfully reintroduced native flora and fauna to the Cape Kidnappers peninsula, including kiwi, weka, takahe, and a range of native bird species that had been absent from the area for generations.

Image: Eric Rosen / The Points Guy — The Cape Kidnappers gannet colony, the largest and most accessible mainland nesting site in the world

The gannet colony at Cape Kidnappers is among the most extraordinary natural spectacles available in New Zealand — the largest and most accessible mainland colony of Australasian gannets in the world, with thousands of birds nesting on the clifftop headland at the tip of the peninsula through the breeding season. The lodge offers breakfast by the gannet colony — a guided experience that combines one of New Zealand's finest wildlife encounters with the unhurried rhythm of a lodge morning.

Night tours of the sanctuary offer the chance to observe kiwi foraging in their natural habitat, alongside glowworms, Ruru (native owl), and the broader nocturnal character of the native bush. Both tours are available exclusively to lodge guests.

05Can-Am Tours and the Full Property

The standout experience for guests who are not golfers is the Can-Am tour — all-terrain vehicles that allow guests and a guide to traverse the entire 6,000-acre property, including secluded beaches, clifftop viewpoints, and areas where the conservation rewilding is visibly transforming the landscape. Described by independent reviewers as the favourite excursion of their stay, the Can-Am tours reach terrain that walking or cycling cannot access and provide a physical sense of the scale of the property that looking at it from the lodge windows does not.

Image: Eric Rosen / The Points Guy — Can-Am tour across the Cape Kidnappers 6,000-acre estate

Additional on-property experiences include farm tours and sheep herding demonstrations, hiking and cycling trails, horse riding, and guided ecology walks. The spa — a small hilltop facility with Pacific views — offers massage, facials, nail services, and a signature manuka honey facial that uses ingredients sourced from the Hawke's Bay region. Off-property, the lodge arranges architecture tours of Napier's Art Deco district, half- and full-day winery tours across Hawke's Bay's celebrated vineyard estates, and helicopter excursions along the coastline.

06Why Hawke's Bay and Why Now

Hawke's Bay has been recognised as one of the Great Wine Capitals of the World — a distinction shared with Bordeaux, Napa Valley, and Cape Town. Its combination of a warm, dry climate, diverse soils, and proximity to the Pacific produces Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah of a quality that most international wine drinkers have not yet encountered. For buyers and investors approaching New Zealand through the wine and lifestyle lens rather than the Queenstown adventure lens, Hawke's Bay represents the clearest alternative: a region with a distinct identity, a developing international reputation, and a property market that has not yet fully priced in what it offers.

Napier, the Art Deco capital, is 45 minutes north. The Pacific is immediate. The region's climate — the sunniest in New Zealand — is an increasingly significant factor as international buyers assess lifestyle property across the country. — explored in our New Zealand luxury property market 2026. — explored in our New Zealand's top luxury lodges 2026.

07New Zealand's Most Underrated Lodge Setting

Cape Kidnappers occupies a part of New Zealand that most people have not seen — and that is precisely the case for going. The gannet colony at the tip of the peninsula, the Tom Doak course perched above the Pacific, the wine country that begins just beyond the property gate, and the Art Deco city 45 minutes north together constitute a destination argument that stands entirely on its own. The lodge that Rosewood now operates there is simply the finest way to inhabit it.

For those exploring residential and lifestyle property in Hawke's Bay and the wider North Island, nzluxuryhomes.nz provides private access to the most considered properties in this market — including opportunities not available through conventional listing portals.

To enquire about Rosewood Cape Kidnappers directly: capekidnappers@rosewoodhotels.com or +64 6 873 1000.