Adventure
Things To Do
Bungy jumping, jet boating, the gondola and luge, skydiving and more.
Explore →About Queenstown
Queenstown sits on the shore of Lake Wakatipu, a long S-shaped lake carved out by glaciers, with The Remarkables mountain range rising almost straight out of the water on the opposite side. It's a small town — the permanent population is well under 20,000 — that punches enormously above its weight, because nearly everything that makes the South Island of New Zealand spectacular is within a couple of hours' drive: fiords, glaciers, alpine passes, vineyards and glacial lakes.
What set Queenstown apart originally was adventure tourism. This is the town where commercial bungy jumping was invented, and it's still the easiest place in the world to try jet boating, skydiving, whitewater rafting or canyon swinging in the same afternoon. But the town has grown into a genuine four-season destination: a winter ski base for Coronet Peak and The Remarkables, a summer hiking and mountain-biking hub, and increasingly a food and wine destination thanks to the nearby Gibbston Valley wine region.
This guide is built around the questions people actually search for before a trip — what there is to do, where to stay, how to get there, what the weather will be like, and how to plan day trips to Milford Sound, Arrowtown, Glenorchy and Wanaka.