5 Days in Queenstown, NZ (Dec-23)

In this blog:

Lake Tekapo

Rees Hotel Review

Skyline Queenstown Luge

Milford Sound

Walter Peak Farm

We had heard lots about Queenstown and knew we wanted to spend a good amount of time there.  To make the most of our time, we decided against making multiple stops in South Island and instead, flew from Auckland to Christchurch, spent a night there, then road tripped it in one day down to Queenstown.  We split up the 6.5 hour drive by stopping for lunch at beautiful Lake Tekapo, which I’d highly recommend – and the drive once you get about 1.5 hours outside of Christchurch becomes incredibly scenic, with lots of cows, sheep, and horses along lush green rolling hills with snow capped mountain tops in the background.  We kept Sienna busy with her iPad, coloring books, and games of “I Spy”, and she did great! Lake Tekapo itself is gorgeous - it was this intense aqua blue color and the crisp air was so refreshing! There are a couple of casual eateries there and you can walk around the lake, but our 1.5 hour stop was plenty.

Once we rolled into Queenstown, the beauty of this ski resort town, which is also known as the outdoor adventure capital of the world, took our breath away.  The crystal clear-blue lake was surrounded by jagged mountain ranges, some snow capped (we were there in December, the early part of the NZ Summer).  We stayed at the Rees Hotel, which although not located in town centre, I’d highly recommend.  We got one of their 2-bedroom lakeview suites, which came with a full kitchen, living room, washer/dryer, and separate bedrooms, so very much felt like home during our week there.  And waking up to the lake and mountain view could not be beat!  They had a small gym onsite, but you could access the walk/bike trail that goes around the lake right outside of the hotel, so it was easy to grab a scenic morning run.  The service was outstanding and the hotel runs a free hourly shuttle to/from downtown, making it super easy to get around.  Try their espresso martinis at the lobby bar – absolutely delicious!

Here's what we did in our 5 days in Queenstown:

-       Day 1: Explored Queenstown and took the gondola ride up the mountain.  Up top, rode the Queenstown Skyline mountain luge, which was super fun!  Kids under 110cm have to ride tandem with an adult, otherwise if over 6 years old, can ride a cart solo.  The café is great for a casual lunch and the food was quite good – I’d skip the formal restaurant, which was pretty empty when we passed it. We bought the 3-ride pass, which was a perfect amount of fun for us! And the views from the top of the mountain just can't be beat!

-       Day 2: Rented mountain bikes and toured the lake.  We didn’t get super far on this first ride, as the bikes we rented had rock hard seats and the path isn’t paved and could get quite rocky in spots – that did not feel great on our bums!  We cut our ride short a bit early and checked out the fun playground at the Queenstown waterfront and shopped a bit.  Note that bike rentals with rear child seats were hard to find, most have the pull cart that the kids sit inside.

-       Day 3: Milford Sound – we booked the ½ day Air and Boat tour and I can’t recommend this enough.  The 35 minute flight over the glacier mountaintops was stunning and as close to a spiritual experience I’ve had.  Despite the windy conditions, the ride was actually pretty smooth, and Sienna did great in the 12-person Cessna aircraft.  We then got onto a 1.5 hour boat ride through the fiords and to the Tasman Sea – we saw dolphins and seals, and lots of amazing waterfalls – truly a once-in-a-lifetime trip!  We felt like we were on a movie set, the natural beauty around us just blew us away.  It does get very windy – we are told that we caught a very warm and sunny day and even then we were glad we wore layers and brought warm rain coats, so pack accordingly!  But this is truly one of those experiences you HAVE to find the time and money to do while in NZ, you won’t regret it! We were told that we got lucky and had a very nice weather day for this excursion as it was mostly sunny for us - we still bundled up in sweaters and rain jackets and were still quite cold on the boat, so take that into advisement! It apparently rains on average 200 days a year in the fiords, and often, those doing the flight will have their trip rescheduled due to weather conditions. The alternative is to take a bus tour, which takes about 5 hours each way plus the boat ride, so makes for a very long day. I'd imagine the drive is beautiful as well - but for us and a 5-year old, we definitely wanted to spend a bit more and do a 35 minute plane ride instead!

-       Day 4: Gave bike rentals another shot, this time renting eBikes with a pull cart for Sienna rather than kids bike seat like we did earlier.  These were MUCH more comfortable and the pull cart was surprisingly fun for Sienna (we thought the terrain might be too bumpy but she enjoyed the lively ride) – we biked for about 2.5 hours around the lake up around Frankton and to the other side of the bridge.  Absolutely gorgeous and relatively easy ride, highly recommend! We stopped for lunch at the Water Shed, which was great!

-       Day 5: Hung out around town then headed over to Walter Peak Farm for their BBQ dinner and farm show.  A 100 year-old steamboat picked us up at Queenstown harbor for the 45 min ride to the beautiful farm, where we had a delicious buffet style dinner and then got demos of how sheep get sheared and how sheep dogs herd – super interesting and fun for the whole family! 

Best things we ate in Queenstown (generally speaking, the food was good but not amazing, Auckland was definitely the foodie stop in NZ for us):

• The Fergburger at Fergburger – CNN named this the best burger in the world, so we had to try it.  Lines are long here all day and night – you can avoid them by calling ahead but we went for the whole experience and stood in line.  The burgers were good; they are big and came with aoli and ketchup on them.  We got the traditional beef burger but they have everything from lamb to venison to falafel burgers.  They also have a kids menu with smaller versions of the burgers.  The fries are the hand cut ones, which I normally don’t like, but these were pretty good and had a little crisp on them, which many hand cut fries don’t.  I’m not a big burger person overall so hard for me to say whether it lives up to the hype, but it was a filling and tasty meal for all of us.

• Pizza and pasta at Farellis – Wonderful handmade pastas cooked perfectly al dente and outstanding pizza; we went traditional and ordered the pepperoni pizza, spinach & ricotta ravioli and spaghetti Bolognese and all hit the spot.  Sienna shared with us and loved everything but the ravioli (green, yuck).

• Brunch at The Water Shed – we stopped here in Frankton on our bike ride and had a great brunch on the water.  They have a nice kids menu and some healthier options like smashed peas and asparagus on toast with poached egg, which I loved.  Rich had their chorizo and egg platter, which he also thoroughly enjoyed.  Definitely a great stop if you’re biking!

• Okonomiyake and gyozas at Tanoshi at Cow Lane – although I had read that Tanoshi has the best sushi in South Island, there were only a couple of raw fish options on the menu.  The rest of the menu consisted of traditional Japanese items, including Okonomiyake, a cabbage based pancake with various options that we had tried in Tokyo.  We actually liked it better here and the gyozas were also delicious!  We got Sienna the sashimi and white rice, and she left happy.

Overall, Queenstown was one of the highlights of our NZ and Australia trip - it's absolutely beautiful and I could easily have spent another week here! If you're skiers, we hear they have world class skiing in their Winter season as well - so it's year-round entertainment for the whole family! It's an absolute must-visit and worth making it a destination!