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New Zealand > Queenstown
Travel Team Home > Destination Information > Queenstown, New Zealand
Queenstown lies at the outlet to Lake Wakatipu, one of New Zealand's Southern Lakes. It caters for tourists on a wide range of budgets, from backpackers to luxury tourists. In many respects Queenstown can be a tourist trap. However, reasonable prices and bargains can be found for those prepared to look for them. Queenstown is a party town during high seasons. If you plan on getting a good nights sleep, then you might consider staying slightly out of town.
Get In:
By plane
Queenstown has an international airport which is served by two large carriers, Qantas and Air New Zealand. There are connecting flights from all New Zealand's major centres and, during the ski season, direct flights from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia. Queenstown airport also provides for private jets and other aircraft, and there is a huge number of helicopter take-offs and landings each day. Scenic flights and heliskiing are a popular attraction for the regio
n.
From the airport, the cheapest way into town is on the Connect-a-bus service 11/12, which runs every 30 minutes (check that it's going straight into town and not via Arrowtown) and costs $5 one way - pay the driver when boarding. Taxis into town cost about $20-25 while shared shuttle vans work out almost as cheap as the bus if you can get a big enough group together and will take you straight to your accommodation.
By Bus
Daily services from Christchurch, Dunedin, Invercargill, Te Anau, Wanaka and the West Coast.
There are coach lines that operate sightseeing tours to Queenstown from Christchurch and from the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers, and destinations all over the country. Many international tour companies carry holidaymakers into Queenstown by coach.
By car
Allow a full day from Christchurch (about 6 hours driving). The drive is spectacular, through the diverse countryside of New Zealand's South Island, with vast plains, rolling hills, multicoloured lakes and mountain passes. Major international and all national rental car and campervan companies have offices in Queenstown.
What to See and Do:
- Skiing & snowboarding - Four world class ski fields.
- Touring - the scenery surrounding Queenstown makes for excellent touring, with lakes, mountains and bush around vineyards and farmland.
- Bungy Jumping
- Jet boats. Exciting jetboat rides have been operating near Queenstown for 50 years. The jet boats carry passengers at high speeds over shallow waters performing stunts like 360 degree pirouettes in the water.
- Shotover Jet. The original Shotover Jet is billed as "The World's Most Exciting Jetboat Ride"
- Luge is fun filled gravity ride for all ages and abilities. You control your own gravity propelled vehicle down the track. Choose from two tracks, one scenic and gentle, the other advanced and adventurous.
- Horseback riding. There are some great tours that pick up in Queenstown and take you into the valleys, through rivers, etc. Pamphlets can be collected at any hotel or hostel to explore the dozens of horseback tours.
- Parasailing
- Mountaineering
- Parapenting - launching yourself off a hill with a parachute to ride the "thermals"
- White water rafting
- Scenic flights - the helicopter and light aircraft flights around Queenstown and to Milford Sound and Fiordland are rated amongst the best in the world. Tours companies offer scenic flights to Milford Sound, Mount Cook and the Glaciers and flights in & around Queenstown & Milford Sound, Lord of the Rings flights with the pilots who filmed the trilogy.
- Flyfishing
- Hiking.
- Wine tasting - the southernmost vineyards in the world are close by.
- Cycling - hire a bike for the day and use your legs.
- Fishing - Lake Wakatipu is known for it's trout. You cannot buy fishes from lakes in NZ, you have to fish for them yourself.
- Cruising - lake cruises on Lake Wakatipu offer great views of the town, surrounding mountains, etc.
- Gardens - Queenstown has a number of superb private gardens as well as the centrally located public Queenstown Gardens jutting out into Lake Wakatipu. The walking track on the lake edge offers excellent views of Queenstown and surrounding mountains.
Shopping:
The town center contains many tourist and souvenir stores, and bargains can be hard to come by. Top quality knitwear, Sheepskin and Possum Fur products, Greenstone (Jade) and bone carvings, and fine New Zealand wine is available for a price.
Outdoor suppliers are plentiful, with equipment for trampers (hikers), mountain bikers, skiiers and snowboarders, and many others who use Queenstown as the launching-pad for expeditions into the nearby National Parks.
There are a handful of convenience food stores in the town centre, most open until midnight and beyond. Two large supermakets are on the outskirts of town. Most of the stores in Queenstown are open until 8pm or 9pm, 7 days a week.
Dining:
There are a huge variety of numerous eating establishments to be found in Queenstown, from all-hours takeaways to fine dining. Reservations for dinner are important at the best places most times of the year, and most nights of the week. Fine restaurants serve world-class seafood (local mussels, oysters and deep sea fish such as blue cod), game, red meat (farmed venison, lamb and beef).
The wineries of the Gibbston Valley (20 minutes drive) are open for lunch.
Drink:
Nightlife in Queentown is largely about drinking, and there are over a hundred licenced premises in Queenstown. Most are in the downtown area, a number open 24 hours. Most bars have licenses to close at 5am and it is lively most nights.
There are cheap bars popular with backpackers and young locals, and sophisticated and expensive wine, cocktail and imported beer bars. Many bars and pubs have sunny outdoor courtyards in the summer months, and roaring open fires in the winter. Major sports events are normally to be found on screen somewhere in Queenstown. Most bars do not offer food.
Weather:
Queenstown has an alpine climate with winters that have clear blue skies and snow capped mountains, with average temperatures around 50 degrees farenheit. Summer has long warm days with temperatures averaging 70 degrees farenheit during the days.
Check out our New Zealand airfares or visit our New Zealand Independent Tours and Escorted Tours to start planning your next trip to New Zealand.
Some of the information on this page was copied from http://wikitravel.org/en/Queenstown_(New_Zealand). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. The license Wikipedia uses grants free access to our content in the same sense that free software is licensed freely. This principle is known as copyleft in contrast to typical copyright licenses. Wikipedia content can be copied, modified, and redistributed if and only if the copied version is made available on the same terms to others and that acknowledgment of the authors of the Wikipedia article used is included (a link back to the article is generally thought to satisfy the attribution requirement). Copied Wikipedia content will therefore remain free under the GFDL and can continue to be used by anyone subject to certain restrictions, most of which aim to ensure that freedom.
