Com Plex Motel: Whakatane Rest & Reset
- Jul 2
- 6 min read
Updated: Jul 9
The Com Plex Motel at a Glance
Address: 39-45 The Strand, Whakatane
Website: www.thecomplexwhk.co.nz
Phone: (07) 929 5865
Accommodation: 20 modern studio suites and eight heritage suites.
Dining: The Comm Restaurant and Bar on site.
Facilities: Free parking, free WiFi, air conditioning, private bathrooms and Sky TV.
Best for: SH2 road trips, couples, families, business travellers and overnight stops between Gisborne and the upper North Island.
To view rooms & availability:
State Highway 2 between Gisborne and Whakatane is not simply a road connecting two places.
It is a succession of hills, forest, farmland, rivers, slips, corners and occasional opportunities to wonder whether the person who designed the road was being paid according to the number of bends.
The route carries travellers north from Gisborne through Matawai and the Waioeka Gorge before emerging near Opotiki and continuing towards Whakatane.
It is a beautiful drive, but it deserves respect, daylight and enough time to enjoy it properly.
For travellers continuing beyond Whakatane towards Tauranga, Rotorua, Hamilton or Auckland, attempting the entire journey in one stretch can turn a scenic road trip into a prolonged negotiation between the driver, the passengers and everyone’s lower back.
That is where The Com Plex Motel becomes a particularly useful discovery.
Located in central Whakatane, it provides comfortable accommodation, off-street parking, an on-site restaurant and a proper opportunity to stop travelling for the day.
Whakatane Is Where the Road Trip Can Pause
Whakatane sits naturally on the SH2 journey north of Gisborne.
For travellers leaving Gisborne, it is far enough away to feel as though meaningful progress has been made, but not so far that the driver arrives looking like they have personally fought every corner of the Waioeka Gorge.
For travellers heading south towards Gisborne, it is a practical place to spend the night before tackling the more winding and isolated section of SH2 during daylight.
That daylight point matters.
The Gisborne to Whakatane road is one to enjoy rather than rush.
Staying in Whakatane allows you to approach the road rested, fuelled and equipped with considerably more optimism than someone who has already been driving since Auckland.
A Motel With Two Personalities
The most interesting feature of The Com Plex is that it does not feel like one standard motel repeated across 28 rooms.
Guests can choose between contemporary studio accommodation and character-filled heritage suites.
The modern part of the property contains 20 professionally designed studio suites constructed in 2020 and 2021. These rooms offer the clean lines, modern fittings and practical amenities travellers expect from recently built accommodation.
The heritage side is housed in a restored building dating from 1917. Upstairs are six heritage suites and two larger heritage twin suites, combining period character with modern comforts.
The twin suites provide additional room for families, friends or travellers who have discovered that sharing one small bed after six hours in a car is not conducive to lasting relationships.
This gives guests an unusually genuine choice.
You can stay in a modern studio designed for straightforward comfort, or choose a heritage suite with more personality and a sense of Whakatane’s earlier streetscape.
Modern Studios for Easy Road-Trip Living
The modern suites are particularly practical for road travellers.
Ground-floor rooms allow guests to park close to their accommodation, making it easier to unload luggage, chilly bins, shopping bags and all the other items that somehow multiply during a New Zealand road trip.
Top-floor suites offer more separation from the comings and goings below, while accessible ground-floor suites are available for guests with mobility requirements. These include walk-in showers and flexible bedding configurations.
Across the property, amenities include:
Free WiFi
Free guest parking
Air conditioning
Private bathrooms
Sky TV
Housekeeping
These are not necessarily the things that inspire poetry, but after navigating SH2, air conditioning, a comfortable bed and parking close to the room can feel like the height of civilisation.
Heritage Rooms With a Story
The heritage suites are the more distinctive option.
They occupy the upper floor of the restored former Bank of New Zealand building, a prominent 1917 landmark on The Strand.
The rooms have been designed to retain a sense of the building’s period character while including modern private bathrooms, air conditioning, televisions, WiFi and quality bedding.
This is accommodation for travellers who prefer a room with a little history attached to it.
Many road-trip motels provide a reliable bed beside a reliable car park. The heritage suites at The Com Plex offer something more memorable, particularly for couples spending a night in Whakatane rather than merely passing through it.
There are also two heritage twin suites with two queen beds and flexible sleeping arrangements, making them suitable for families and groups travelling together.
Dinner Is Already Downstairs
One of The Com Plex’s strongest road-trip advantages is The Comm Restaurant and Bar, located in the heritage building.
It serves coffee, breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner, with indoor, streetside and garden-bar seating available. The motel’s heritage rooms are directly above the restaurant, while the modern suites are alongside it.
This means that once you have checked in, the car can remain parked.
There is no need to search for another restaurant, study parking signs or appoint a designated driver. You can walk to dinner, enjoy a drink and return to your room without reopening Google Maps.
This is a small luxury that becomes significantly larger after several hours behind the wheel.
The restaurant also offers takeaway meals, which may appeal to guests who prefer to eat quietly in their room while pretending they are still energetic enough to plan tomorrow’s itinerary.
A Proper Town-Centre Stop
The Com Plex is on The Strand, within a short walk of central Whakatane.
That location changes the nature of the stay. Rather than stopping at an anonymous roadside property on the edge of town, guests can park the car and explore on foot.
The town centre, shops and Whakatane riverfront are nearby. Wairere Falls is located less than 100 metres behind the motel, while riverside walkways and the town’s main commercial area are also within easy walking distance.
Ohope Beach is around a six-minute drive away, making it an easy addition for travellers arriving early enough to explore before dinner.
This creates several possible versions of the stopover.
You can arrive, check in and do absolutely nothing beyond finding dinner.
You can stretch your legs beside the river.
You can explore the town centre.
Or you can drive out to Ohope Beach and remind yourself that the road trip was meant to be a holiday.
From Gisborne to Whakatane
For travellers beginning in Gisborne, Whakatane works well as the first overnight destination on a longer northbound trip.
Instead of pushing on towards Tauranga, Rotorua or Auckland in a single day, you can enjoy the SH2 drive, arrive in Whakatane during the afternoon and stop while everyone is still capable of polite conversation.
The following morning, you begin the next stage rested and already beyond the most winding part of the route.
This approach is especially sensible for:
International visitors unfamiliar with New Zealand roads
Families travelling with children
Motorcyclists
Older travellers
Drivers towing trailers
Anyone who believes road trips should include more scenery than suffering
From Whakatane to Gisborne
Travelling south, The Com Plex provides an equally useful staging point before the drive to Gisborne.
Stay overnight in Whakatane, have breakfast, check the road conditions and enter the Waioeka Gorge in daylight.
That is considerably more appealing than arriving from Auckland late in the afternoon, looking at the remaining journey time and making the sort of optimistic decision that usually begins with, “It should be fine.”
The route may appear manageable on a map, but maps rarely show driver fatigue, winter darkness, temporary traffic lights or the passenger who announced two towns ago that they urgently needed a bathroom.
A night in Whakatane turns the final Gisborne leg into its own road trip rather than the exhausted conclusion to a much longer day.
Who The Com Plex Motel Suits
The Com Plex is particularly well suited to:
Travellers driving SH2 to or from Gisborne
Couples wanting a character-filled heritage room
Guests who prefer newly built modern accommodation
Families and friends needing twin-room options
Business travellers staying in central Whakatane
Visitors who want a restaurant and bar on site
Anyone who wants to park the car and explore the town on foot
Make Whakatane Part of the Journey
The best road trips are not always the ones completed in the shortest possible time.
Sometimes the better decision is to stop, order dinner, walk beside the river and continue the next morning without a takeaway coffee trembling in the cup holder.
The Com Plex Motel makes Whakatane more than a refuelling point between Gisborne and the upper North Island.
Its combination of modern suites, heritage rooms, central location and on-site dining makes it a genuinely convenient place to divide the SH2 journey.
Whether you are leaving Gisborne behind or looking forward to arriving there, Whakatane is exactly the kind of stop that can make the drive feel like part of the holiday.
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