We had a brief stay in Jindabyne as part of a trip to nearby ski resorts. Luckily we travelled in June, because when we’d researched travelling in the peak season a few months prior, it seemed that most accommodation was already sold out. 2022 has been a strange year of unprecedented demand which has contributed to inflating already high prices. To save money, we’d initially thought about camping at one of the caravan parks, but with prices of about $145 a night for a site, we gave that a skip. We ended up staying at the Rydges Horizons Snowy Mountains in a studio. Whilst it was lovely to have views across the lake, the room was rather dated and it felt like it didn’t provide good value for money for accommodation that wasn’t even at a ski resort or above the snowline.

Along a similar vein, we ate at a couple of cafes and were also very surprised at the mark-up of basic food for tourists in a town below the snowline that doesn’t involve difficult transport logistics to source ingredients. Even in Dinner Plain, a town above the snowline near Mt Hotham, that requires transport of goods up a gnarly mountain road, has cafes that provide food at very reasonable prices. I guess it all comes down to what the influx of tourists are willing to pay.

Conversely, we visited the Takayama Japanese restaurant, which was fantastic and provided good value for money. Not surprisingly, it was incredibly popular and we could only get in for an early dinner.

The town had an energetic vibe and was amazing how many different ski shops one town had. It would be interesting to visit during peak season to see how crazy busy it gets.
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