We expected a basic but nice motel. They impressed us at every turn! As soon as we arrived Jen helped us with our local arrangements for kayak rentals and a tour to nearby Montague island. When we wandered home late to find the restaurant closed, they put together a delicious local cheese platter and some homemade ice cream - Scrumptious! And the views from the dining room were a treat each morning. I'd recommend Whale Motor Inn heartily.

So I booked this place based on the good reviews for the restaurant and in one word WOW! After a long day of work and travel I booked in with whom I assume was the owner. She was friendly and polite. As I travel a lot for work the quality of the room does not matter too much as long as it is comfortable (not too hot or cold), quiet and has a decent bed and bathroom. The room had all of that. It also had a little balcony which had lovely views out over the inlet. Unfortunately the night I was there it rained so could not enjoy a wine with a view. Speaking of wine I went up to Lynch's hotel which has a bottle shop (It's the closest pub to the Whale) and was pleasantly surprised to get a decent bottle of NZ Sav Blanc at a good price. The publican gave me a discount for take away. I think it is probably more in their restaurant (which I've also heard is very good). Anyway on to the whole reason I chose the Whale. THE FOOD. I was not disappointed. I had the pork with seasonal veggies which I know came straight out of the on site garden because I saw the chef picking them myself. It was beautiful. Lovely complex and yet subtle flavours. As noted by a previous reviewer this is up there with some of the more noted hatted places. What a find.

We stayed here for one night on our way down the south coast. We booked the spa room and were very pleasantly surprised when we arrived! The room was huge and was more like a one bedroom apartment rather then a hotel room. Everything was clean and modern and the balcony views were fantastic. The morning of check out we decided to eat breakfast in the restaurant but upon ordering we realised we were running late so requested to have our breakfast brought to our room instead. This was no problem at all for the woman working there and within 15 minutes she was delivering our food to our door for no extra charge. This is a great little place for all kind of travellers and the staff were just lovely! Highly recommend!

Food was delivered to our room without a lid on the plates in the cold, guest by who, the chef himself , and when asked about it he replied "The food will look like crap if covered"