Ben Lomond Track
Ben Lomond, Queenstown, New Zealand
The Ben Lomond Track is Queenstown's classic day hike — an 11-kilometre return track that climbs from the top of the Skyline Gondola at 450 metres to the 1,748-metre summit of Ben Lomond, via a saddle at 1,326 metres and a final scramble up rocky ridge terrain.
Coronet Peak Ski Field
Coronet Peak Rd, Coronet Peak, Queenstown, 9371, New Zealand
Coronet Peak is Queenstown's oldest ski field — opened in 1947 as New Zealand's first commercial ski field, and still regarded as one of the best in the country for its combination of reliable snow, well-groomed intermediate terrain, and the novelty of night skiing (Wednesday-Friday in the main season, with floodlit runs and an apres-ski atmosphere).
Glenorchy (Day Trip)
Glenorchy, New Zealand
Glenorchy is a tiny settlement (population 450) at the head of Lake Wakatipu — 45 kilometres from Queenstown via one of New Zealand's most scenic drives, a 45-minute road that hugs the lake shore with mountain views that have been used as filming locations for Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, X-Men Origins, and countless other productions.
Kiwi Birdlife Park
Brecon St, Queenstown, 9300, New Zealand
The Kiwi Birdlife Park is Queenstown's native-bird sanctuary — a 2-hectare nature reserve beside the Skyline Gondola base station that houses the country's most intensive collection of captive kiwi, tuatara, kea, kākā, morepork (native owl), and other threatened native species, with a strong focus on breeding and release programs.
Lake Hayes
Arrowtown-Lake Hayes Rd, Lake Hayes, Queenstown, 9371, New Zealand
Lake Hayes is a small, picture-perfect lake 12 kilometres northeast of Queenstown — a 280-hectare glacial lake that is one of the most photographed in New Zealand, especially in autumn (April-May) when the mature willows, cottonwoods, and poplars around its shore turn brilliant gold and reflect in the still water.
Lake Wakatipu
New Zealand
Lake Wakatipu is the 80-kilometre-long glacial lake that defines Queenstown's geography — a narrow, zigzag-shaped body of water (reaching 380 metres depth in places, making it one of the deepest lakes in the world) formed by glaciers that carved the valley between the Southern Alps about 15,000 years ago.
Lake Wakatipu Cruises (Non-Earnslaw)
Marine Pde, Queenstown, 9300, New Zealand
Beyond the TSS Earnslaw, several operators run scenic cruises on Lake Wakatipu using modern boats — the most popular being the RealNZ Jet Boat trips (combining jet-boat speed with scenic content), the Spirit of Queenstown Spray (a smaller fast catamaran doing 1.
Milford Sound (Day Trip)
39 Lucas Pl, Frankton, Queenstown, 9300, New Zealand
Milford Sound (Piopiotahi) is New Zealand's most iconic natural wonder — a 15-kilometre glacier-carved fiord in Fiordland National Park whose sheer cliffs rise 1,200 metres directly from the dark water, where waterfalls cascade hundreds of metres from clouds hanging between the peaks, and where the 1,692-metre Mitre Peak rises straight out of the sea.
Queenstown Gardens
Park St, Queenstown, 9300, New Zealand
The Queenstown Gardens are a peninsula of 23 hectares jutting into Lake Wakatipu immediately south of the town centre — laid out in 1867 as a public garden on what was then a bare shingle spit and now forested with mature exotic and native trees (oaks, larches, and some massive Douglas firs).
Queenstown Hill Time Walk
Belfast Tce, Queenstown, 9300, New Zealand
The Queenstown Hill Time Walk is one of the town's best short hikes — a 3-hour return climb to the 907-metre Te Tapu-nui summit through native beech forest, Douglas fir plantation, and alpine tussock, with sculptural installations along the trail representing the human history of the area (Māori legend, gold rush, sheep farming, tourism).
Queenstown Trail (Cycling)
Queenstown, New Zealand
The Queenstown Trail is a 130-kilometre network of dedicated cycle paths connecting Queenstown, Arrowtown, Gibbston Valley, and Jack's Point — completed in 2012 and now one of New Zealand's 22 Great Rides.
Routeburn Track
Queenstown, New Zealand
The Routeburn Track is one of New Zealand's 10 Great Walks — a 32-kilometre, three-day tramping route that crosses the Southern Alps from the Routeburn Shelter near Glenorchy to The Divide near Milford Sound.
The Remarkables
Queenstown, New Zealand
The Remarkables are the dramatic jagged mountain range that frames the eastern side of Queenstown — a 22-kilometre ridge whose highest peak, Double Cone, reaches 2,324 metres and whose name was coined by European surveyor Alexander Garvie because the range is one of the few on Earth that runs exactly north-south.
TSS Earnslaw Steamship
Queenstown, New Zealand
The TSS Earnslaw is the oldest coal-fired passenger steamship still operating in the Southern Hemisphere — a 51-metre twin-screw steamer that has crossed Lake Wakatipu since 1912 and is known as 'The Lady of the Lake.
Underwater Observatory & Beach
Main Town Pier, Queenstown
The Queenstown Underwater Observatory is a small underwater viewing chamber at the end of the main town pier — 20 metres long, 3 metres below the surface, with large windows that allow visitors to observe native New Zealand trout (both brown and rainbow, escaped from the 19th-century European introductions and now flourishing wild), eels, scaup ducks swimming underwater, and the occasional long-finned native dwarf galaxias.
Walter Peak Farm
Queenstown, New Zealand
Walter Peak High Country Farm is a 68,000-hectare working sheep and cattle station on the opposite side of Lake Wakatipu from Queenstown — reached by the TSS Earnslaw steamship and functioning both as a commercial farm and as one of New Zealand's most theatrical farm-tourism operations.
Explore nature in Queenstown
GPS-guided narration at every landmark. Tap a spot on the map, hear the story. Every fact verified.