Most first-time visitors to New Zealand’s South Island put Queenstown on their itinerary without much thought. It’s the Adventure Capital of the World – a deserved title and reputation and, as such, one of New Zealand’s must-visit destinations.
Most people have heard of Queenstown even if they can’t tell you where it is in New Zealand, but once they know that its small airport handles international flights from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast as well as domestic flights, it becomes the default answer when someone asks where to base in the South Lakes.
That’s not wrong, but Wānaka is 45 minutes away and travelers there tend to stop wondering if they’ve made the right call quickly enough.
Queenstown: where to start Just to put the label of adventure capital into perspective: bungee jumping was invented here. The original site of AJ Hackett’s Kawarau Bridge still runs along the Nevis, which drops 134 meters above a remote river gorge and remains one of the most serious things you can do voluntarily on a Tuesday afternoon. The Shotover Jet is probably the second most famous adrenaline thrill, as it propels you through a narrow shale canyon at almost 90 km/h.
At the other end of the spectrum, the TSS Earnslaw, a coal-fired steamship built in 1912, still crosses Lake Wakatipu to Walter Peak Station, where the high-altitude agricultural demonstration is less cheesy than it seems. It operates all season and even when the Earnslaw is wintered, there are still lake cruise options. For those who prefer to have fun hitting the slopes on snow, two ski resorts – The Remarkables and Coronet Peak – operate within a thirty-minute drive. If you prefer downhill riding on two wheels, Coronet and the trails around Skyline Luge in summer are your playground.
Beyond Queenstown, the Sounds and Glenorchy are very magnetic on Wakatipu’s must-see list. Taking a day trip to Milford Sound or Doubtful Sound (the latter being slightly more breathtaking and therefore booked more quickly) is a long but manageable day trip – unless you opt for a magnificent overnight cruise, or even a lavish fly-cruise-fly option.
Glenorchy is home to Paradise. And until very recently, it was exactly that, and still is if you’ve never been there before. Forty-five minutes from Queenstown, along a lake road that passes between pewter-colored water and mountains that drop almost vertically into it, the town sits where the Dart River meets the northern end of Lake Wakatipu. The peaks above served as Rohan and Lothlórien in the Lord of the Rings films. A jet boat down the Dart (or a jet boat and kayak back), or a morning on horseback in the valley beyond, is a totally different New Zealand to what most visitors see. Making it your must-see could therefore be the highlight of your trip.
The Gibbston Valley, twenty minutes east of Queenstown towards Central Otago, is a designated international dark sky park with groundbreaking vineyards and fabulously friendly cellar doors. Much of the grapes here are Pinot Noir growing on shale soils with cool nighttime temperatures and hot, dry summers. Several cellar doors operate along the gorge road; The architecture of Peregrine alone is worth the detour and for something a little less commercial, pop into the church.
Queenstown offers location (it really is a beautiful lake), adventure and thrills, a powerful and varied food scene and access to the areas of New Zealand where “those” photos are taken. It’s an obvious, easy and beautiful place to start your Southern Lakes trip and, although people avoid it due to its adrenaline-pumping reputation and fear of commercialism, we know how to find these places that still feel authentic.
Wānaka: falling in love with lakeside living Although we are here to make a comparison, Wānaka really deserves its own platform and positioning. It’s my favorite place in the Southern Lakes having visited it many times and even before living in Central Otago, but for visitors on a one-off trip it can be overlooked. Here’s why (and why you definitely don’t want to miss it)…
Smaller town, wider lake, everything is calmer. Life takes place around the lake in Wānaka and this reflects the town’s work to preserve its size and limit development or commercialization over the years. It is also your gateway to the Matukituki Valley, which stretches west from the lakeside to Mount Aspiring National Park. There, beech forest gives way to open valley floors and eventually to the east face of Mount Aspiring itself. Just walking a short path through the valley with a picnic will leave you glued to your camera, but there are also hiking options for a range of experiences and abilities.
Wānaka’s most famous hike is Roys Peak, particularly a pre-dawn hike in time to watch the sunrise over the lake. If you’ve seen almost aerial images of Lake Wānaka, they were probably taken from this trail. This is the trail where the parking lot is smaller than you might imagine and always busy, except in the middle of winter.
If you’re heading towards Mt Aspiring, you’ll pass the gate to one of Wānaka’s two ski areas: Treble Cone (the other being Cardrona). You can be at the bottom of the ski lifts within a 40-minute drive of the city center – no ski-in/ski-out here but still incredible access.
Treble Cone’s north-facing terrain and elevation holds snow until spring, and the lack of queues at the Queenstown lifts on a Saturday is something skiers notice immediately. The fact that Treble, or TC as the locals call it, only has two lifts tells you just how much terrain there is to play on, and that’s before the hike to the Summit for those looking for a deep powder game.
Lake Wānaka is swimmable from a myriad of locations around the shore and, as it is a glacial lake, its temperature barely fluctuates. There are enough kayaks and SUPs for everyone to rent. The hiking trails are not crowded.
To hint at Wānaka’s year-round appeal: access for heli-skiing and heli-biking from here reaches ground that ski lift systems don’t touch. Cottonwood trees return in April (southern hemisphere autumn), golden against the Buchanan Peaks. This Wānaka tree in the calm water at first light. These things are real and they’re not played up for tourists, which is part of the reason why people who come here keep coming back.
Arrowtown: where heritage and beautiful things reside Twenty minutes from Queenstown and about 45 minutes from Wānaka, Arrowtown lies along the Arrow River in the Wakatipu Basin, with the Crown Range rising steeply behind it to the west. The main street, Buckingham Street, was created during the Otago Gold Rush and has the heritage buildings to prove it. The Chinese settlement on the outskirts of town, where miners lived in the 1860s, is more touching than most people think, partly because it is not presented as an attraction but simply left there.
Autumn here is something specific: much like the Wānaka tree, it’s something that locals simply accept and love, but social media has introduced it to the rest of the world and made it a thing. Fall colors inject an energy of color into and along the hills. old world streets when autumn arrives, at the end of March. The Arrowtown Fall Festival runs through April each year.
A few restaurants here have built a reputation that extends well beyond the region. Others, like Swiftsure of Waiheke Island’s Man ‘O War winery, spotted an opportunity to bring something of the North Island to the discerning palates of South Lakes residents and the teeming international crowds passing through each year. And since tipping is not part of New Zealand culture, your entire budget can be spent on these delicious menus and superb wine lists.
Everything you need to plan your trip in 2026 Three or more nights in each stay makes more sense than trying to decide. Queenstown for the first nights if you arrive abroad, to get your bearings and live the great experiences. Wānaka for the middle of the journey, when you have adapted to the scale of the landscape and want the space to move through it at your pace. Arrowtown for a few nights at the end before heading back to the airport and when you want a place that doesn’t seem optimized for visitors.
It’s a significant time investment if you’re not here for long, but if you have six weeks or more, it gives you the space to get to know each destination, its highlights and its quirks. You will then know where to settle down when you come back for longer next time!
Kate Stinchcombe-Gillies Kate Stinchcombe-Gillies is Marketing Director of Liberate New Zealand. Release NZ represents a portfolio of luxury holiday accommodation in Wānaka and Queenstown – their passion being to connect guests to everything that makes this part of the world so special. If you would like to become a guest blogger on A Luxury Travel Blog to raise your profile, please Contact us.
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