Lovely little 'town' with working steam train and loads of history on the gold rush that happened on the west coast during the 1800s, which I knew little about. Recommend booking beforehand if you want to dress up in old style costumes and have a photo shoot as it was fully booked when we tried on the day! Great fun and interesting!

A wonderful way to spend a couple of hours. Beautifully presented and untouched by time. Still as wonderful as last time I came 30+ years ago. Love the gold panning and the coffee at the cafe is great ?

A fabulous step back in time. The train trip was a real treat and the hologram theatre is just the cutest. The hospital is plain scary but makes you realise how far we've advanced in medical procedures, thankfully. I had picked up a souvenir book on Shantytown I had found at a garage sale and it had heaps of information about most of the buildings. I was pleased I had bought it. Only one downside was the old time photo was dbl booked and even though we arrived early, the person running it had decided to take a family over us. I was really disappointed.

So much to see and do. Make sure you give yourself several hours here to make the most of the experience.

The kids had a good day exploring and all the staff we came across were friendly and helpful.

This was bigger then expected! When you enter you feel like this is it, but then you hop on the train and there’s so much more. I love how they recreated this, it’s awesome ! I highly recommend this if you love the learn about history !

We had a great day at shantytown. Both my 2 and 3 year old were constantly entertained by all the attractions. The new attractions were good and the food and coffees were amazing.

Nice place, well put together with lots to see. We went on a whim and bought the tickets 15mins before the check in time and they were all good with it. We even found some gold!

We had a great day exploring and there is a lot to explore we did gold panning a steam train ride which was shortened due to maintenance to the track brought some lovely old fashioned boiled lollies and got some great photos.

We enjoyed immersing ourselves in the rich history of the West Coast through the stream train ride, old buildings and many artefacts on display from the past. Being quiet season when we went, we could only imagine how much more the experience would have been in summer, with more staff present and in old-time role. Very enjoyable.

Awesome experience and so much to see and do..and the little cafe food delish

Had a great time, great place to take the family and enjoy a day out, learning about new zealands history.

Great place for families, plenty to see and do, fun train ride. Try gold panning and leave with some gold. Definately visit again when over the coast again

Enjoyed our visit ! Spent 2.5hours just enjoy the history . Amazing staff so helpful and pleasant ?

Great flight with Ben, flying over the mountains. He's warm and personable, has been flying with his dad since a kid, and knows the mountains like the back of his hand. The view of the mountains from the sky cannot be compared with anything else. It's gobsmacking! So glad we did this!

Really nice introduction to jade carving ! We started with a little explanations of the différences between the names green stone and jade, then we got to pick our stone and the shape we wanted to make (only the outline with this time : not enough time to carve the inside), and de got carving ! Really nice time, really happy with what I was able to make !

Tony is just amazing, he is extremely friendly, helpful and great at what he does. You will have a great time. My husband and I had just the greatest time it was more than we ever expected. This was a great experience and you shouldn't miss this opportunity.

Wonderful staff, amazing facility in the heart of Hokitika. Excellent value for money, our family loved it.

Dispite the weather well worth it

I loved the old time photos and buildings kids loved the train ride to. highley recommended.