Hi all, Please help me plan a 7 Day Itinerary - Queenstown & Surrounds. Travelling March 2025. Husband, Wife and 11 year old boy
Boy loves adventure, we like nature and general sightseeing
Please recommend places to visit, eat, stay and number of days in each location.
Milford sound or doubtful sound?
Scenic train worth it?
Glaciers, snow in March?
What’s wrong with Fergburger? I loved that place! Although it was 10 years ago since I was last there.
Avoid Fergburger
Too late obviously if they have a son
Fergburger?? I hardly know ‘er!
Avoid Fergburger
why? Yes it's full of tourist but they serve good food and worth a visit tbh.
5 years ago we lined up at least 60 mins, burger is okay okay. Living in Sydney, seriously, heaps are way way better
well that's true they have crazy line on busy hours. But I think it's still worth to visit if you can go there early in the morning.
Don't avoid Ferg just go at an off peak time for a better than average burger. The bakery next door does some excellent pies too.
Used to be able to call and make an order. Not sure if they're still doing it.
OP just needs to go to Tripadvisor and search for Queenstown
There are plenty of recommendations complete with reviews about everything around Queenstown
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Yeah I agree Milford Sound is stunning, but it is a long trip from Queenstown. I recommend a night or two in Te Anau, which will make a much more relaxing jouney. It is quite little town that has some glow worms as well.
While your in Queenstown it is expensive but it is worth going up on the gondola and doing a couple of trips on the luge. The views are stunning up there!
The glaciers are nice too but a decent drive from Queenstown. If I had to chose one I'd go to Milford sound.
Another tip is stay in Wanaka which is about an hour away, much less hectic and just as beautiful.
Or hike to the top via the Tiki Trail. Although coming back down isn't kind on the knees.
I agree with what you said regarding Wanaka. I usually skip QT these days and spend my time there.
which glaciers do you recommend to visit in March?
Fox and Franz Josef are the most accessible, unless you plan on doing a helicopter flight
Seeing how much the glaciers receded made me really sad.
In March 2011 I did helicopter to fox glacier, it was such beautiful weather. I did the milford sound overnight boat tour, again really beautiful.
Milford sound was great. We took the plane tour so it wouldn't take as long out of our itinerary. Very pretty
Honestly, I think that's too long in Queenstown. I'd much prefer to travel similar to part of our itinerary (albeit backwards), and fly out from Christchurch. Spend at least 1 night in Lake Tekapo
But that's just me. After a 2 week trip through both islands (not very long on the North island unfortunately), I just loved getting away from the major cities. Some great driving roads
Side note, don't forget to check out Arrowtown while in Queenstown. So pretty!
Side note, try as many NZ pies as you can! They hands down win the best pie competition
Big agree on this, the pies over there are fantastic!
I love visiting Arrowtown :-) It's one of my earliest childhood memories staying there and playing Cluedo for the first time, getting a pie and going to the Gold ming area, bakery, ice cream place etc.
Go for a soak in the onsens in Queenstown; visit the Cookie Time store
Cookie Time 1000%. When I was last there, I picked up a good amount of stuff there haha. Well worth it.
We did a day tour for Milford Sound - that was really nice, well worth it.
Did the night sky star observing near the gondola - the luge would've been fun but we missed out.
Wanaka day trip was good - Lake Tekapo was great for an overnight stay.
Fergburger was ehh. We made the mistake of driving down from Christchurch via the western route, very scenic but that 14 hour drive was a bummer.
Visit the Mt Cook alpine village (wish we stayed overnight there) and it awesome seeing falling snow
Milford Sound, Luge, hikes, onsen, sky dive/bungee jump/jet boat, 7 days is pushing it but 5 is perfect.
Spend some time in Wanaka - much more relaxed than Queenstown itself
Wanaka has Maze World. OP’s 11yo will love it.
Just got back from my 9th or 10th South Island visit.
Queenstown is a place I love and hate. It's got a great vibe and atmosphere, but it's extremely congested and crowded, seems to have constant roadworks (roadworks that were going during my 2022 trip are still going in 2024) and it's definitely a bit of a tourist trap. Lots of fun activities to do there, some free, some very expensive. Typical touristy-type activities doable there or in the area include bungy jumping, jetboating, luge, gondola, scenic flights - all of these will cost $ (to varying degrees.)
In terms of cheap/free there's lots of great hikes in the area, pick based on fitness and capability, certainly no shortage. Definitely get up to Wanaka, and maybe the Haast Pass too if you base yourself in Wanaka - some cool stuff to see there. If you want to see glaciers without driving to the West Coast or Mt Cook (or paying for a scenic flight) you could do the Rob Roy Glacier Valley hike, this starts near Wanaka and is spectacular.
Milford Sound is ~3.5-4 hrs from Queenstown if you drive quickly (in winter this is easy as there is little other traffic, somewhat harder if the roads are clogged with campervans). Stay at least one night in either Te Anau, or Milford Sound Lodge (you'll need to open your wallet to stay here.) Milford Sound is spectacular, as is the drive in. Do the boat cruise. Don't be disheartened if it rains - it looks best in the rain! Clear blue skies are the worst time to visit IMO. Doubtful Sound is only worth it if you do the overnight cruise IMO, again $$.
For a seven night visit I'd suggest no more than three of those in QT. If you don't fancy driving all the way up to Mt Cook (note it isn't really any longer to do this than Milford Sound), split the rest of the time between Wanaka and Te Anau. 1, 2 nights max in Te Anau, depends if you will do any hikes etc in the area - there are some really nice day hikes.
Finally, not sure if March is locked in, but if you delay a month you will get peak autumn colours which are spectacular.
Thank you for the details writeup
Thanks all for your feedback. Will consider in my planning!
Here is a note from my recent NZ trip.
1. If you're Australian resident or permanent resident, you do not need visa to go to NZ, you need to pay for NZeTA - beware of clicking on third party scam site asking for more than NZ $17 per person.
2. Staying one night per city is tiring, try to get a 2-3 night in one spot. In your case I recommend Lake Tekapo, Lake Te Anau, and Queenstown.
3. Long drive in most places but most of the time is just straight and 100km/hour. Set your car to cruise - don't overspeed as NZ does have police check. My sister get fined $88 - luckily is not as high as Sydney.
4. There is no shortcut to Milford Sound - it's 4 hours drive to and 4 hours return. If you want to take it easy, you can just take bus tour or fly cruise fly tour if you have the money. If you pay for cruise and drive yourself there, note you still need to pay for parking.
5. If you're car renting - try to get a hybrid one - it will save you fuel quiet a lot. I did roughly NZ $230 for 1100km drive.
6. AVIS gas service option, if you opt in - means you can return the car close to empty tank and they will charge you $129.25+GST - don't do what I did - return the car at 75% full, thinking I only need to pay 25% - but I still pay for full tank.
7. Most places accept tapping from your phone/card - don't remember I ever need to pay cash.
8. Location: Christchurch, Lake Tekapo, Mount Cook, Wanaka, Queenstown, Lake Te Anau, Milford Sound
9. Car rental is quiet expensive in south island. Thus if you settle in your last days in Queenstown, return the car and take the bus instead. It is as low as $2 per person.
10. I stayed in Sherwood for 3 nights, quiet pricey but they're really good.
I don't think you need a NZeTA if you are an Australian citizen, soon I don't think you'll even need a passport
I go to NZ often for work on Australian passport. You don't need NZeTA. You do, if you have PR. From NZ Immigration site :
If you are an Australian citizen or permanent resident you can visit, work and live in New Zealand. You do not need a visa before you travel to New Zealand. If you are an Australian permanent resident you will need an NZeTA.
Correct. My mistake.
PR’s also need a re-entry permit for Aus.
PR visa expired on re-entry?
I like a good trip to Queenstown, I've been a couple of times and mostly just do QT and surrounds to have a more relaxing time.
In Queenstown:
* The TSS Earnslaw is cool to do once, kids would likely enjoy it if they like steam boats and then there's some farm animals on the other side.
* The gardens in queenstown are always nice to just have a calm walk around
* There's so many action activities you could do, paragliding, parasailing, the shark hydro attack on the lake, fear factory, kayaking, their indoor mini golf is pretty cool, the gondola with luging and the restaurant with the view is really nice. I like Devil Burger more than fergburger
* Outside of QT at Glenorchy theres a funyaking experience which I did in 2011, was a full day including jet boat ride, inflatable kayak and gentle paddle down the dart river. There's also white water rafting, canonyoning (a bit cold at first but was really fun, ziplining and abseiling and little water slide rock formations). I love the drive through the crown range to wanaka, via arrowtown first for a look at the gold mining town.
I did the milford sound overnight boat, but I did it after driving from lake te anau to milford, parking overnight, then driving to queenstown. It would have been a hugeee day to drive to milford from QT. It's also doable to drive from QT to Bluff (right at the bottom) and back in a day, but again a very big day. Also a big drive from QT to fox glacier, but I think you can sometimes get helicopter from QT onto it?
Don't forget jet boating on the Shotover River. Yes, it's very touristy and expensive but it's such a thrilling ride. We did three rides on our last visit.
Milford Sound is the best part of our trip, so it is a must. Avoid Fergburger.