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Arthur's Pass is a 'shadow' of its former self. I first visited in the 1970's and for several decades since it has been a vibrant and busy alpine village boasting several cafe's, restaurants, and accommodation choices - plus a large and informative DoC Centre. Not any more. Very little accommodation choice in the village, and just one cafe open only during the day so you must bring your own food & supplies if wanting an evening meal. And the original DoC centre is closed and moved over the road into a container! All a little sad really, although the surrounding mountain views are definitely compensatory! So fine if planning to use AP as a base for day walks & multi-day tramping expeditions, Otherwise it is hard to justify a stay there other than as an overnight transit stop. As we were. But remember to bring food & supplies for dinner!

Overall I thought the place was great. We only wanted to have a nice relaxing break in our journey, so we just did some short walking 🚶‍♂️ tracks to the waterfall ect, the scenery in the area is very good, the place is very beautiful and relaxing. And the Bealey Hotel is a must go to place for dinner with its knockout scenery and top shelf food and drinks.

Enjoyed short walks around Arthur’s Pass village, especially the Bealey Valley walk. Visitor’s Centre didn’t have guide books (out of print),so best to plan online in advance. Exciting to see keas in village and at top of pass (Death’s View car park). Wish we could have stayed longer to explore longer trails.

Arthurs Pass is one of those places I love coming back to. Not just for the Kea but also for the drive there, it is magical. It can get very busy in the summer months though. One thing to note. If you are staying the night, there are no shops there to speak of and the cafe is usually only open from 8 to 5 (at the moment 4.30 due to staffing issues). So best to stock up on your food and fuel (!) before you leave either side.

Its a long drive to see devil's bowl waterfall. You can skip this if you already went for milford sound. The hike is short but had to climb several flights of stairs. Mum who is 73yrs gave up at the start. The experience was gd to be upclose to thw waterfall but it is much smaller than ive expected. There are several other hikes along the same paths but we didnt have time nor the energy to try the rest

Extremely Scenic (we fortunately got superb weather - Sunny :)) We stayed at The Tussocks for 2 nights (highly recommend the Tussocks) and did the Devils Punch Bowl and Bealy Spur Track. Devils Punch Bowl is steep but short, and waterfall is majestic. The Bealy Spur Track is moderately challenging, not very steep but has a nagging gradient all the way through to the Bealy Top Hut which is at 1540m. There was lot of snow near the hut (Mid Sept) and enjoyed and played in the snow while it was sunny. The forests, plateaus with Tussock grass are extremely enjoyable to walk and views of the surrounding mountains are stunning from the top. Took us 2.5 hours to climb and 2 hours to descend for total 4.5 hr return walk. Highly enjoyable. Highly recommended.