Book the good version.
The Shotover jet, the long day out to Milford, a bungy off the Kawarau, pinot in the Gibbston valley. What each one is really like, what it costs, and where to book it.
The seven that make a trip.
First trip or fifth, these carry a Queenstown week: the jet boat through the Shotover canyons, the coach-and-cruise out to Milford, an afternoon among the Gibbston cellars, the steamer across the lake to Walter Peak.
Walter Peak Gourmet BBQ & Lake Whakatipu Cruise
Cruise Lake Whakatipu to Walter Peak for a wood-fired gourmet BBQ, farm dog and sheep show, plus tea at the woolshed.
From $95 per person
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★ 4.8Safe betMilford Sound: 2-Hour Small Boat Scenic CruiseFrom $1012,561 reviews
★ 5.0Books out fastSmall Group, Award Winning Milford Sound Day Experience & CruiseFrom $2352,416 reviews
★ 5.0Crowd favouriteMilford Sound Fly-Cruise-Fly Tour from QueenstownFrom $4621,792 reviews
★ 4.7Worth the splurgeShotover River and Kawarau River Jet Boat RideFrom $891,682 reviews
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Milford is worth the whole day.
Nobody pretends it’s a short trip: it’s twelve hours door to door, over the Devil’s Staircase, through the Homer Tunnel and out onto Mitre Peak by boat. Coach both ways, fly one leg, or fly both — the day changes completely depending on which you pick.
Which adrenaline hit is yours?
This is the town that invented the bungy, and most people leave having done exactly one big thing. Three ways to get the heart going — on the water, off a bridge, out of a plane — each one priced, reviewed, and easier to choose than you’d think.
On the water
The jet-boat blast
from $113 · 2,540 reviews
Fastest and least frightening of the three. A shallow-draught boat threads the Shotover canyons at 85kph, inches off the schist, with a 360-degree spin thrown in whenever the driver feels like it. Wet, loud, over in half an hour, grinning the whole way.
Compare the jet-boat rides →
Off the edge
The bungy
1 hour - 150 minutes · from $191 · 102 reviews
The Kawarau bridge is where commercial bungy started in 1988, and it still runs 43 metres to the river. Want more? The Nevis drops 134. The commitment is all in the first second; after that it’s the best view you’ll ever get upside down.
See the bungy & swings →
From altitude
The skydive
from $222 · 1,438 reviews
Tandem out of the plane at up to 15,000 feet, the Remarkables and both lakes laid out beneath your feet, sixty seconds of freefall before the canopy opens over the valley. The one people are most nervous about and least regret. Weather-dependent — book early days.
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The lake keeps the last of it.
The vintage steamer TSS Earnslaw still runs the crossing to Walter Peak, coal smoke and all, and the best sailings are the evening ones — a farm dinner at the far shore, the Remarkables turning pink behind you, the whole lake gone gold on the way back.
The world’s southernmost pinot.
Twenty minutes from town the Gibbston gorge opens into vineyards, and the schist soils turn out pinot noir the region is now known for. Most tours run four cellar doors and lunch — you taste, someone else drives.
Middle-earth is a real address.
The road to Glenorchy and Paradise stood in for Isengard, Lothlórien and the pillars of Argonath. A good guide gets you to the exact spots with the stills to match — some by 4WD, some by jet boat up the Dart.
Arrowtown remembers the rush.
Fifteen minutes and 160 years from the jet boats: a preserved 1860s main street, the stone huts of the Chinese miners’ settlement along Bush Creek, and a river that still gives up flecks of gold to anyone with a pan and some patience.
One region, a valley at a time.
Queenstown is the base; the good days are out of it. Milford for the fjord. Glenorchy for the road-movie drive. Arrowtown for the gold. Gibbston for the wine. Wanaka over the Crown Range when town gets busy.
What are you in the mood for?
Twelve ways to spend a Queenstown afternoon — on the water, in the air, up a canyon or down a vineyard row. Pick the one that sounds like you; everything behind it is already reviewed and priced.
The best days start with a drive.
Some of these are a full day and worth every hour of it. Milford and the Homer Tunnel. Mount Cook across the Lindis. Glenorchy at the head of the lake. Wanaka over the Crown Range — pick the weather and go.
Your first three days, in order.
You can’t fit the whole of the Southern Lakes into one visit; you can do a very good three days. This is the order we’d put them in for a friend who just checked into town.
Day 1
Get the lay of the lake
Gondola up Bob’s Peak for the view that sells the town, a wander through the bay, then an easy afternoon cruise on the Wakatipu to work out which mountains are which.
Plan day one →
Day 2
The adrenaline day
Book the big one first thing while your nerve holds — jet boat, bungy or raft — then reward yourself with a long lunch and cellar-door tasting out in the Gibbston valley.
Plan day two →
Day 3
The big drive to Milford
Give the fjord a whole day: coach out through Te Anau and the Homer Tunnel, two hours on the water under Mitre Peak, home after dark. Fly a leg if you’d rather trade road time for altitude.
Plan the Milford day →
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