New Zealand · South Island
Queenstown
The adventure capital of the world, wrapped around a lake nobody can photograph badly.
Queenstown sits on a bend of Lake Wakatipu with the sawtooth wall of The Remarkables rising straight out of the water behind it, and it has built an entire economy on that view. This is where commercial bungy jumping began, and the town still runs on jet boats, gondolas, canyon swings and helicopters, with four ski fields inside an hour in winter. It is also the base for Fiordland and the Great Walks, with a wine gorge on its doorstep and a restored gold town up the road. Small, expensive, busy and hard to argue with.
Suggested stay
3–6 days
Language
English, Māori
Currency
NZD
Timezone
NZST (UTC+12)
Why you'll love Queenstown
The setting a glacial lake shaped like a lightning bolt, ringed by peaks that hold snow well into summer, best seen from the water or the top of the gondola
Adrenaline bungy, jet boats, canyon swings, skydiving and paragliding, run year round and at professional scale from a town you can walk across
Winter four ski fields within an hour, and a centre that fills with skiers, steam off the lake and early dark
Beyond town Fiordland, the Routeburn, a gold-rush village and a pinot valley, all inside a day's return trip
Best time to visit
Jun-Aug, Oct-Apr
Autumn · 8-23° days
45.032° S, 168.661° E
UTC+12 · Pacific/Auckland
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Weather & when to go to Queenstown
Month by month: typical highs and lows, rainfall and rain days.
✓ Best Jun-Aug, Oct-Apr
Conditions Mar Autumn · Apr Autumn color · May Cool · Jun Ski starts · Jul-Aug Ski season · Sep Spring thaw · Oct Spring · Nov Mild spring
Cards tinted by verified verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
When to avoid Queenstown
No bad season here, just different ones: the town is at its busiest and priciest over Christmas and January, and again in the July ski holidays. May and September fall between seasons, too late or too early for reliable snow and awkward for the alpine tracks. The road to Milford closes for avalanche clearing after heavy winter snow.
Top things to do in Queenstown
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Skyline Gondola and Bob's Peak - the town's balcony
scenic 👍 PopularThe steepest cable-car lift in the southern hemisphere hauls you up over the roofs to a terrace looking down the length of Lake Wakatipu to The Remarkables. At the top there is a luge track on rails, a paragliding launch and the start of the Ben Lomond climb.
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Kawarau Bridge - the original bungy jump
adventure 👍 PopularAJ Hackett turned this 1880 suspension bridge over the Kawarau Gorge into the world's first commercial bungy site in 1988. It still operates, twenty minutes from town, and the viewing deck lets you watch other people go over without committing to anything yourself.
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Shotover Jet - the canyon jet-boat run
adventure 👍 PopularRed boats tear along the Shotover River between sheer schist walls, skimming the rock and spinning full turns in water barely deep enough to float them. Short, loud, extremely well drilled, and the ride much of Queenstown's reputation is built on.
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Coronet Peak and The Remarkables - ski the home fields
snow ⭐ Highly recommendedTwo commercial fields sit within about half an hour of the centre: Coronet Peak, closer and lit for night skiing, and The Remarkables, higher in a basin with wide beginner terrain. Cardrona and Treble Cone lie over the Crown Range. The season usually runs from mid-June into October.
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Ben Lomond Track - the big climb above town
hiking ⭐ Highly recommendedA steep full-day return walk from the gondola top to a 1,748 m summit, with the lake, the Remarkables and a wall of the Southern Alps laid out around you. Snow lingers on the ridge well into spring, so outside summer it is an alpine trip rather than a walk.
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TSS Earnslaw - steam across the lake to Walter Peak
historyA coal-fired 1912 steamer, still stoked by hand, crosses Lake Wakatipu to a working high-country sheep station with dog and shearing demonstrations. You can stand over the open engine room the whole way across, which is half the point of going.
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Gibbston Valley - pinot noir in a gorge
foodThe Kawarau Gorge is one of the most southerly wine districts on earth, planted almost entirely in pinot noir. Cellar doors line the valley about twenty minutes from town, and a cycle trail threads between them so nobody has to be the driver.
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Arrowtown and the Chinese settlement - the gold town
historyA preserved 1860s main street of miners' cottages, with the restored huts of the Chinese goldminers who reworked the tailings along Bush Creek. The avenue of poplars and sycamores turns in April, which is when the whole district drives out to look at it.
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Nevis and Shotover canyon swings - the bigger drops
adventurePast the original bridge there is a 134 m bungy from a pod strung on a cable over the Nevis valley, and a canyon swing that drops you in a free-fall arc off a cliff above the Shotover. Several release styles, all of them undignified.
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Onsen Hot Pools - cedar tubs over the Shotover
wellnessPrivate wooden baths cut into the hillside above the Shotover canyon, with a wall that slides open onto the gorge and the mountains. Book well ahead; it is the standard way to undo a day on the hill or a long walk.
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Fergburger - the queue everyone ends up joining
foodA late-opening burger counter on Shotover Street with a line down the block most evenings, a bakery and a bar of the same name either side of it. Not remotely sophisticated, and part of the town's furniture at this point.
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Moke Lake and Lake Hayes - the quiet water
scenicTwo easy escapes when town is loud: Moke Lake up a gravel road behind Queenstown Hill, still enough most mornings to mirror the tops, and the flat loop track around Lake Hayes on the way to Arrowtown.
Best areas to stay in Queenstown
$ Budget $$ Mid-range $$$ Premium
Town centre
First-time visitors $$$Compact lakefront grid, busy day and night
Explore hotels in Town centre →
Frankton
Families and drivers $$Airport-side flats at the head of the bay
Explore hotels in Frankton →
Fernhill and Sunshine Bay
Views and quiet $$Steep hillside streets above the lake
Explore hotels in Fernhill and Sunshine Bay →
Kelvin Heights
Calm and scenic $$$Golf-course peninsula across the bay
Explore hotels in Kelvin Heights →
Arrowtown
Out-of-town charm $$Restored gold village under old poplars
Explore hotels in Arrowtown →
Live nightly prices from Booking.com, Agoda and others, centred on Queenstown
Getting to & around Queenstown
Getting there
Fly into Queenstown Airport at Frankton, then about 15 min by bus or car along the lake into town
Flight
Queenstown Airport (ZQN)
The runway sits on the valley floor at Frankton, roughly 8 km east of the centre with the Remarkables alongside it, and the approach through the mountains is famously steep. A frequent public bus, shuttles and taxis all run the lake road into town in 15 to 20 minutes.
Flight
Queenstown Airport
Direct services from Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, plus trans-Tasman flights from several Australian cities. Terrain and weather mean diversions to Christchurch or Invercargill happen often enough to plan around.
Coach
Queenstown centre
Intercity coaches run from Christchurch in around eight to nine hours via the Lindis Pass, from Dunedin in about four and a half, and from Te Anau or Wanaka in under three.
Drive
Frankton or the town centre
Most visitors arrive by hire car on a South Island loop. The Crown Range road from Wanaka is the highest sealed road in the country and can need chains in winter.
Getting around
Orbus buses
A flat-fare network links the centre with Frankton, Fernhill, Arthurs Point and Arrowtown, running early to late.
TBC
Walking
The centre is tiny and part-pedestrianised; almost everything downtown is inside ten minutes on foot.
Free
Lake ferry
A small passenger ferry crosses from the town wharf to Kelvin Heights and Frankton, on the same card as the buses.
TBC
Hire car
Worth it for Glenorchy, the ski roads and the wine gorge. Town parking is scarce and metered, and winter means carrying chains.
TBC
Ski and activity shuttles
Operators run mountain transfers in season, which saves driving the switchbacks up to Coronet Peak and The Remarkables.
TBC
Day trips from Queenstown
Milford Sound
Full dayFiord and cruise
The long day out: through Te Anau and up the Eglinton Valley to a fiord where Mitre Peak rises straight from black water and waterfalls pour off every wall. Coaches leave before dawn and get back after dark; flying, or flying one way, cuts the day dramatically.
Getting there
car | bus | tour | flight
About 4 hr each way by road, or a short scenic flight
Glenorchy and Paradise
Half dayHead of the lake
The road along Lake Wakatipu is one of the country's great drives, ending at a red wharf shed and a wide braided valley used for Middle-earth and half the films shot in New Zealand since. Gravel carries on to Paradise and the Routeburn trailhead.
Getting there
car | tour
About 45 min drive up the lake road
Arrowtown and Gibbston Valley
Half dayGold town and wine
Pair the 1860s cottages and the Chinese settlement with cellar doors in the Kawarau Gorge on the way back. Go in April and the poplars along the Arrow River do the work for you.
Getting there
car | bus | tour
20 to 30 min drive, or the Arrowtown bus
Wanaka and the Crown Range
Full dayLake town over the pass
Over the highest sealed pass in the country to a quieter lake town with its own ski fields, the Roys Peak climb and the willow standing in the shallows that everyone photographs. The Cardrona valley and its old pub sit on the way.
Getting there
car | bus
About 1 hr over the Crown Range, or 1 hr 20 via Cromwell
Routeburn Track day walk
Full dayGreat Walk section
Walk in from the Glenorchy side to Routeburn Flats or the Falls Hut and back, through beech forest and river flats under the Humboldt Mountains. The full crossing is a Great Walk with a booked season from late October to April.
Getting there
car | walk | tour
1 hr 15 drive to the Routeburn Shelter, then walking
Doubtful Sound
1-2 daysRemote fiord
Bigger, wetter and far emptier than Milford, reachable only by a lake crossing and a road built to service a power station. Overnight cruises get the silence and the dark sky; as a day trip from Queenstown it is a punishing haul.
Getting there
bus | ferry | tour
Coach to Manapouri, boat across the lake, then a bus over Wilmot Pass
A little history of Queenstown
Ngai Tahu knew this lake as Whakatipu Wai Maori long before Europeans did, travelling through for pounamu from the valleys at its head and telling its slow rise and fall as the heartbeat of a giant burned into its bed. Runholders took up the surrounding country for sheep in the 1850s, and the bay stayed a handful of huts until 1862, when two shearers found gold in the Shotover River. Within two years the Shotover had a reputation as one of the richest gold-bearing rivers in the world, and a canvas town of thousands had appeared on the shore.
The rush burned out fast. Chinese miners arrived to rework claims the Europeans had abandoned, settling on the edge of Arrowtown, and by the early 1900s Queenstown was a small farming town living on a trickle of summer visitors who came by steamer. Skiing started on Coronet Peak in the 1940s, jet boats followed in the 1960s, and in 1988 a bridge over the Kawarau became the first commercial bungy site anywhere. The town has been selling adrenaline and scenery ever since.
Ngai Tahu travel the lake, named Whakatipu Wai Maori, for pounamu and seasonal food
Nathanael Chalmers, guided by Reko, becomes the first European recorded at the lake
William Rees establishes a sheep station on the bay where the town now stands
Gold is found in the Shotover River and thousands arrive within months
Chinese miners begin reworking abandoned claims and settle at Arrowtown
The steamer TSS Earnslaw is launched to service stations around Lake Wakatipu
Coronet Peak opens with New Zealand's first commercial ski tow
AJ Hackett opens the world's first commercial bungy operation at Kawarau Bridge
The Lord of the Rings puts the valleys around Glenorchy in front of a global audience
Know before you go
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+64
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FAQs about Queenstown
▸ When is the best time to visit Queenstown?
It depends what you came for. December to March gives long days, warm lake water and the alpine tracks at their best, and it is the busiest stretch of the year. June to August is ski season, cold and clear and just as full in the school holidays. April is the quiet favourite, for autumn colour around Arrowtown.
▸ How many days do you need in Queenstown?
Three days covers the gondola, a jet boat or a bungy, and an afternoon in Arrowtown or the Gibbston valley. Five or six lets you add Milford Sound, a day up the lake to Glenorchy, and either a ski day or a long walk without cramming any of it.
▸ Is Queenstown expensive?
Yes. It is the priciest town in New Zealand and accommodation is where it hurts, peaking over Christmas and the July ski holidays and worth booking months out. Hostels, holiday parks and self-catering around Frankton take the edge off, and the walks and lookouts cost nothing.
▸ Do you need a car in Queenstown?
Not to stay in town. The centre is walkable and buses reach Frankton, Arrowtown and the ski-field roads. A car earns its keep for Glenorchy, Wanaka and your own timetable, though winter driving here means carrying chains and checking whether the passes are open.
▸ Can you do Milford Sound as a day trip from Queenstown?
Yes, and thousands do, but it is a long one: roughly four hours each way by road, so coaches leave before dawn and return after dark. Flying, or a fly-cruise-coach combination, shortens it a lot. Staying in Te Anau the night before is the calmer option.
▸ When is the ski season in Queenstown?
Usually mid-June to early October, snow depending. Coronet Peak and The Remarkables are the local fields, with Cardrona and Treble Cone about an hour over the Crown Range. July is the peak and it collides with school holidays, so lifts and beds are both at their fullest.