AORAKI/MT COOK VILLAGE

Driving to this secluded alpine village on a road that leads nowhere else gives this spot oodles of mountain mystique. Nestled near the base of Aoraki/Mt Cook and dwarfed by alpine giants, Aoraki/Mt Cook Village is national-park-quiet and unsurprisingly one-eyed in its focus. The bronze statue of Sir Edmund Hillary that stands near the Hermitage Hotel looking out at that alpine tableau signposts the village's unabashed mountain reverence.