Must-see attractions in Queenstown & Wanaka

  • Tourists relax at the shore of Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown.

    Lake Wakatipu

    Queenstown

    Shaped like a cartoon lightning bolt, Lake Wakatipu is NZ's third-largest lake. It reaches a depth of 372m, meaning the lake bed actually sits below sea…

  • The Cardrona Distillery and Museum sign board with hundreds of bras hanging on the fence known as Bradrona.

    Cardrona Distillery

    Queenstown & Wanaka

    Enter past the fence of bras (Bra-drona!) and you'll find the beautiful cellar door of this fledgling single-malt distillery inside a building made of…

  • Skyline gondola and bungy platform.

    Skyline Gondola

    Queenstown

    Hop aboard for fantastic views as the gondola squeezes through pine forest to its grandstand location 400m above Queenstown. At the top there's the…

  • Bridge in Queenstown Gardens.

    Queenstown Gardens

    Queenstown

    Set on its own tongue of land framing Queenstown Bay, this pretty park is the perfect city escape right within the city. Laid out in 1876, it features an…

  • Wānaka Station Park

    Wanaka

    Wānaka Station Park is a piece of Wānaka that existed before Wānaka did. This remnant of the sheep station that once covered the entire south side of the…

  • St Patrick's Catholic Church

    Queenstown & Wanaka

    Apart from its impressive Star of David–shaped rose window, this 1874 stone Gothic Revival church, built from local schist rock, wouldn't be worth noting…

  • Arrowtown Chinese Settlement

    Queenstown & Wanaka

    Strung along the creek, near the site of Arrowtown's first gold find, is NZ’s best example of an early Chinese settlement. Interpretive signs explain the…

  • Wanaka Beerworks

    Wanaka

    Push past the Barbies to get to the beer – the tasting room for the Wanaka Beerworks is rather incongruously at the rear of the toy museum gift shop. Get…

  • National Transport & Toy Museum

    Wanaka

    Mixing Smurfs with Studebakers and skidoos (and an authentic MiG jet fighter flown by the Polish Air Force), this completely eclectic and absorbing…

  • Gibbston Valley

    Queenstown & Wanaka

    The area's oldest commercial winery (established in the early 1980s) offers tours of the winery ($35) and NZ's largest wine cave ($20). It also has a…

  • Arrowtown Gaol

    Queenstown & Wanaka

    With gold rushes came lawlessness. Arrowtown's prisoners were originally manacled to logs, but in 1876 this schist jail, now surrounded by homes, was…

  • Lakes District Museum & Gallery

    Queenstown & Wanaka

    Exhibits cover the gold-rush era and the early days of Chinese settlement around Arrowtown. Kids are kept engaged by the likes of an 'Odd One Out' game…

  • Kiwi Birdlife Park

    Queenstown

    These 2 hectares are home to 10,000 native plants, geckos, skinks, tuatara (an endemic reptile) and scores of birds, including kiwi, kea (alpine parrots),…

  • Time Tripper

    Queenstown

    Located in the old underwater observatory beneath the main pier, this 30-minute experience promises a journey back in time, explaining Lake Wakatipu's…

  • Rippon

    Wanaka

    It's worth raising a glass to the view alone at Rippon since the Tuscan-styled cellar door has surely the finest winery view in NZ. In a bid to contain…

  • Peregrine

    Queenstown

    Peregrine by name, peregrine by design…the award-winning construction of the cellar door, shaped a bit like a falcon's wing in flight, looks particularly…

  • Pisa Conservation Area

    Queenstown & Wanaka

    Covering much of the Pisa Range, this conservation reserve has several walking trails through the tussock grass. To get the full show, the 19km tramp to…

  • Puzzling World

    Wanaka

    A 3D Great Maze and lots of fascinating brain-bending visual illusions serve to keep people of all ages bemused, bothered and bewildered at this…

  • Chard Farm

    Queenstown & Wanaka

    The most picturesque of the Gibbston wineries, Chard Farm's rustic cellar door is reached by a precipitous 2km road overlooking the Kawarau Bridge Bungy…

  • St Peter's on Church St

    Queenstown

    This pretty Anglican church, built in 1932 from local greywacke stone, has colourful stained glass and an impressive gilded and painted organ. Take a look…

  • Rockburn

    Queenstown & Wanaka

    Producers of one of the region's most acclaimed pinot noirs; its cellar door is in the front yard of the rustic Gibbston Tavern.