Private Queenstown Guided Walk

Five trails, one guide, and the right one chosen on the day.

Queenstown is ringed by good walking, and the best of it is close to town. Rather than fix a route weeks in advance, this half day is decided on the morning itself, between you and your guide, on the strength of how the party is feeling, what you want from the day, and what the weather is doing.

Bob's Cove is among the gentlest, a lakeside track through native beech and manuka to an 1870s lime kiln, with a short steep climb at the end to a lookout over the water. Moke Lake trades the lake shore for farmland and a mirror lake in a fold of the hills, a level loop of about six and a half kilometres with almost nobody on it. Mount Crichton is the walker's choice, a formed loop through beech forest past a waterfall, an old gold tailrace tunnel and the restored Sam Summers Hut. Around Arrowtown there are two more. The riverside walkway follows the Arrow River out of town beneath willows and poplars, an easy, mostly level wander past the restored miners' huts, and at its best when the trees turn gold in autumn. Sawpit Gully is the proper climb, a loop up through the gully and over the tussock tops above the town, with Lake Hayes and the whole Wakatipu Basin laid out below and the marks of the gold rush the whole way.

Whichever you take, your guide carries the natural and human history of the ground you are walking on, and morning or afternoon tea is set out somewhere worth stopping. Sturdy shoes are wise, and if the party would rather take it very gently, say so on the day and the route changes to suit.

Included in your tour

• Private luxury vehicle and dedicated driver-guide
• Door-to-door hotel pick-up and return
• Guided walk on the route chosen with you
• Morning or afternoon tea and bottled water

Not included: Lunch; optional extras arranged on request.