12 Essential Experiences in Queenstown: TSS Earnslaw, Bob's Peak, Arrowtown & Milford Sound

Whether you come to Queenstown for high-country hikes and cool-climate Pinot Noir or because it invented commercial bungy jumping and canyon jet-boating, the region rewards pairing half-day lakeside classics with full-day alpine road trips.

1. Lake Wakatipu, Alpine Summits & Gold-Rush Heritage

1. TSS Earnslaw (1912) Coal Steamer & Walter Peak High Country Farm: Watch stokers shovel coal into the furnaces of the Southern Hemisphere's last commercial coal-fired passenger steamer on a cruise across Lake Wakatipu to Walter Peak.
2. Skyline Gondola & Gravity Luge on Bob's Peak (790m): Ascend 450 vertical metres at a 37.1-degree angle to panoramic viewing decks and banked Luge tracks above Queenstown Bay.
3. Ben Lomond Summit Hike (1,748m) or Queenstown Hill Time Walk (907m): Climb through tussock to the Ben Lomond Saddle and 1,748m peak for views of Mount Earnslaw and Mount Aspiring, or take the 3-hour Queenstown Hill loop past the Basket of Dreams sculpture.
4. Queenstown Gardens Peninsula Walk & Disc Golf (1867): Follow the flat 3.2-kilometre lakeshore trail under giant sequoias and Douglas firs past the 1913 Scott Memorial.
5. Arrowtown Buckingham Street & 1868 Chinese Settlement: Pan for gold in the Arrow River and walk among restored 19th-century stone miners' huts in Arrowtown.
6. Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge (1880) & World-First Bungy: Walk across Harry Higginson's 43-metre-high Category I historic bridge (or leap from the 1988 birthplace of commercial bungy jumping).

2. River Canyons, Gibbston Pinot Noir, Glenorchy & Milford Sound

7. Shotover River Canyons Jet Boat & Skippers Canyon: Skim over 10-centimetre-deep shingle rapids between vertical schist walls at Arthur's Point or join a guided 4WD heritage tour into 1880s Skippers Canyon.
8. Gibbston Valley Pinot Noir Cellar Doors & Underground Wine Cave: Cycle the Queenstown Trail along the Kawarau River to taste single-vineyard Pinot Noir at Gibbston Valley Winery's schist cave, Chard Farm, and Kinross.
9. Glenorchy Scenic Drive, Red Boat Shed & Lagoon Boardwalk: Drive 45 minutes along the northern arm of Lake Wakatipu to Bennetts Bluff, the Glenorchy Red Boat Shed, and mirror-still wetlands.
10. Routeburn Track Day Walk (Mount Aspiring National Park): Hike across swingbridges through ancient red-beech forest to Routeburn Flats or Routeburn Falls.
11. Milford Sound / Piopiotahi Cruise or Scenic Flight: Cross Fiordland National Park via the Homer Tunnel (or a 35-minute alpine flight) to sail beneath 1,692-metre Mitre Peak and Stirling Falls.
12. Crown Range Road (1,076m) to Lake Wānaka & Four Ski Fields: Drive New Zealand's highest sealed main road to Wānaka and Roys Peak, or ski Coronet Peak and The Remarkables between June and October.