Manapouri Regional Information

Manapouri | Regional Information | Activity Highlights | Scenic Highlights | History

Manapouri is a popular holiday destination, nestled amongst the towering mountains of the great Fiordland National Park. The small town rests on the banks of beautiful Lake Manapouri.

Manapouri Overview

Fiordland, New Zealand

Nestled in amongst the towering mountains of the great Fiordland National Park, Manapouri offers some stunning scenery and has long been regarded as New Zealand's most beautiful lake. Lake Manapouri is dotted with various islands jutting out of the surface.

Manapouri township is a very small settlement, filled mostly with holiday homes with a single dairy and petrol station. Manapouri is about 20 minutes drive from Te Anau where most items can be brought.

Lake Manapouri

Lake Manapouri is a picturesque lake with unspoiled natural beauty. Its surface covers an area of 143 square kilometres, and has a maximum depth of 444 metres. Its banks are densely forested with beech and its horizon dominated by the magnificent Kelper Mountains.

Lake Manapouri penetrates deep into the very heart of Fiordland, with several arms filling the valley between mountain ranges. The Lake is the gate way to the Manapouri power station and the unforgettable Doubtful Sound.

Lake Manapouri has many beautiful sandy beaches scattered all over the lake, making it absolutely ideal for mooring up your boat and having a walk through the bush, or having a BBQ on the beach, or relaxing in the sun, or bathing in the clear pristine water.

Image Source: Tourism New Zealand. Fiordland National Park, Fiordland, New Zealand

Fiordland National Park
Fiordland
Photographer: Gilbert van Reenen
(www.cleangreen.co.nz)

Lake Manapouri is the gate way to Doubtful Sound. The journey often starts with tourists being driven from Te Anau, then ferried across Lake Manapouri, then driven again through the mountain range and pass on the other side, and then another cruise in Doubtful Sound and back again.

Manapouri Hydro Power Station

Once the scene of a mighty environmental battle, Manapouri now stands as a pioneer of environmental consciousness in New Zealand.

In the 1960s a proposal was drafted to raise the lake level about 12 metres to join it with neighbouring Lake Te Anau to create one super lake, this would have destroyed Manapouri's picturesque scenery and submerged its stunning sandy beaches.

Eventually the large Manapouri Hydro Power Station was built but hidden from view with little if any impact on the environment, it was a huge victory for the new passion of environmental conservation for which New Zealand is now famous.