Bookabach®, New Zealand’s original holiday home website, today revealed its top ten holiday homes and baches in the annual Bach of the Year Awards to recognise its best-in-class whole home rentals across New Zealand. The stunning medallists include a gold medal winning architecturally designed home in Omaha Beach that beat a Martinborough olive grove villa and Waiheke Island heritage cottage to the top honour. 

‘Omaha Beach House’, the gold medal winning home, is a uniquely designed home at Omaha Beach that was designed by the architect owner and sleeps eight people. The four-bedroom home is 100 metres from the beach, is modern in design and blends the indoor and outdoor spaces seamlessly. This dog friendly home has a sheltered outdoor room with an open fireplace for al fresco living, and guests rave about the outdoor relaxing spa pool.   

The 2022 Bookabach Bach of the Year Award finalists are all located in popular holiday destinations across the country and met a required selection criteria, including a combination of 4 to 5-star ratings, positive guest reviews, number of bookings, and family-friendly amenities available. 

“The Bach of the Year Awards properties each year exemplify why families have booked with Bookabach for decades. We know that there is much debate about how baches have evolved over the years to be more renovated whole homes that are comfortable in size and space, but at the heart of what a bach is all about, bringing your loved ones together under one roof “said Simone Scoppa, Bookabach Travel Expert. “We also know every family has different tastes and holiday preferences, so this list represents a variety of price points, destinations, types of properties and design features.”  

Silver has been handed to ‘Olivio~Nor’, a Tuscan like villa nestled in the hills of the Martinborough region, and a good weekender location for Wellington locals. The home lived its former life as a barn and has been tastefully renovated to house items from the owners travels and bring a taste of Italy to the winery filled destination. 

The ‘Island Villa’ on Waiheke Island is a four bedroom dog friendly home that sleeps eight and is unlike a lot of the upscale modern style homes that people may know Waiheke Island for. The cottage was transported from Auckland to Waiheke Island by boat more than 50 years ago as the owners wanted their Auckland based home to be their new summer abode on the island. Passed through the generations, the home now welcomes travellers and is a comfortable and modern renovated cottage. Traveller reviews of the property feature brides to be that have used the home to get ready before walking down the aisle.  

The seven other whole holiday homes on the shortlist include: 

• A converted barn at The Pear Orchard overlooking the Waimea Plains in the Nelson region for those wanting to experience the farm life  

• The Lake Rotorua based Toka Ridge Koko that is a modern semi-rural getaway, featuring four bedrooms and an outdoor cedar hot tub. 

• Mangawhai Heads Haven, the biggest of the shortlisted homes this year, a multi-story six-bedroom private home, with six bathrooms and four lounge rooms! 

• Onemana’s original farmhouse, Onemana Pararaiha in the Waikato region with its prime beach location and awarded for its views from the bedrooms and three family rooms 

• The Glasshouse at Block 295 in Raglan is resort style living in your own private home. Perched on Mount Karioi 

• The Muriwai based Kula Retreat Studio is a modern two-bedroom studio and has skylights positioned over the bed so you can gaze at the stars at night 

• The mountain top Whangamoa based home View Retreat that delivers a villa experience that the group you travel with will always remember. Complete with a helicopter pad and wood fired hot tub, guests are also welcomed with a basket of local gourmet treats. 

Full details of the 2022 winners list can be found at Bookabach.co.nz/awards and you can save the Bookabach Award winners trip board to your Bookabach profile here.