Our 7 Day Queenstown Itinerary
Our Queenstown Itinerary
I think we can all agree that we must be the luckiest country in the world to freely explore our backyard without a face mask.
Liam and I were truly pinching ourselves when we arrived at the Auckland Domestic Airport a couple of weeks ago, off on our only trip we had booked for 2020 that was actually planned before Covid-19 was anywhere near hitting New Zealand. We booked this trip at the end of January, but we never anticipated how lucky we were going to feel during the plane lift off into the sky, while millions of people all over the world are still isolating at home to trying to flatten the curve for their country.
Not only were we feeling exceptionally grateful, lucky and privileged in more ways than one, we were also excited to spend a week in our tourism capital supporting the local restaurants, cafes, wineries, car hire companies and hotels that are still making up for lost business during our country lockdown. We drank a lot of beautiful wine, ate until we couldn’t and soaked up enough scenery and fresh winter air to make up for the weeks of isolation back in April — gosh I STILL feel like we are the luckiest people in the world right now!
Naturally I wanted to share our trip with you all, so here is our full week itinerary for those of you who have upcoming trips! I am SO excited for you!
Day One
Morning flight from Auckland to Queenstown via Air New Zealand
Picked up our hire car from NZ owned company Apex Rentals
Checked into our beautiful hotel, the Hotel St Moritz where we spent 4 nights in the One Bedroom Alpine Suite Lake View with Balcony. The St Moritz is by far my favourite hotel in Queenstown where I have now stayed twice. It’s got the ultimate cosy, fireplace upon entrance luxury lodge vibe which is exactly what you need on a winter trip to Queenstown! It’s also a 4 minute walk into town, there is a slight hill to walk up and down but that’s what you get for staying in a hotel with the most incredible view of the whole city. (Disclaimer: two nights were gifted and two nights were booked with an industry discount).
Time to relax and do some ski shopping in town complete with a Ferg Burger for lunch. Try and go around 11 as the line isn’t full of the lunch rush just yet! My personal favourite is the Southern Swine and Liam loves the Ferg Deluxe. There are also vegan & vegetarian options so there is a burg for everyone!
Pop back to the hotel for a little rest and freshen up for an evening walk into town for dinner.
Ferg Burger is always a super filling meal so we opted for a light dinner, you could go to any restaurant and just share a meal or order some sides! We went to the rooftop wood fire pizza parlour Miss Lucy’s where we had wood fired wings and jalapeño poppers. In all honesty they weren’t the best and next time I would definitely just opt for pizza instead!
Day Two
Unfortunately we woke up to a day of rain, but we still had a bit of ski gear shopping to do so we took this day as another relaxed shopping and eating day which really neither of us complained about!
Brunch at Yonder. Now I feel a bit uncomfortable giving negative reviews to businesses that need support, however you’re spending a lot of money on your trip to Queenstown and with so many options down there, it’s still important for me to let you know about the places we loved and didn’t love so much. Unfortunately, we didn’t love Yonder. The service was extremely average, the coffee tasted either burnt or too milky and while Liam enjoyed his Pork Eggs Benny, I really wasn’t a fan of my ‘Apple Crumble Pancakes’ that just tasted like ginger. You might find that other things on the menu are great, but I certainly wouldn’t recommend the coffee! You’re better off grabbing a takeaway from Ferg Baker or SLOW.
Time to wander around town and check out our favourite ski shops! Including Burton, Alta, NZ Shred, Snowboard Workshop but if you wander around enough you will find so many good ones. If you’re going to make a purchase, make sure you compare prices in different stores to make sure you get the best deal! We also decided to buy our ski day passes from the Cardrona office on Camp Street for the following day, it saves you from waiting in line once you get to the mountain in the morning so you can get straight onto the slopes! Now is also a good time to hire your gear if you need to, we recommend Brown’s Ski Hire on Brecon Street.
Naturally on a rainy day, you crave a bit of a cosy dinner so The Cow was by far our first option! Queenstown’s oldest running restaurant built in an old cow milking shed is the #1 best place to go for incredible pizza and pasta. It’s beautifully rustic, full of character and by far my favourite place to visit in Queenstown for a meal! Make sure you get the garlic bread as a starter and the Spaghetti Bolognese is incredible. As the restaurant is tiny and you can’t book a table, my best advice is to show up for an early dinner around 5 pm. This also works well if you’ve only had brunch so you’ve got an empty stomach! There might still be a waiting list but you’ll only be waiting 20 mins max, if you try and show up at peak dinner time you could be waiting hours for a table.
Time for dessert and hello warm cookies! We took this as an opportunity to have our first of many trips to the Cookie Time Cookie Bar where the cookies are warm and baked fresh. I’m also a huge fan of their raw cookie dough! SO yummy and I promise the line is worth it.
Back to the hotel for a bath and an early night watching TV in bed! Divine start to the trip.
Day Three
Our first ski day! All thought it’s the furtherest away, we love Cardrona for its scenic drive through the Crowne Range and its wide runs which is perfect for someone still learning (I’m definitely a beginner snowboarder still!).
We were warned by locals that the carparks are filling up faster because so many kiwis are on ski holidays, so we left QT around 6.30 AM, arrived with a good carpark at 7.30 and relaxed/got ourselves sorted before hitting the slopes when they opened at 8.30. We didn’t on this occasion, but hitting the famous old Cardrona Pub on the way home from a ski day is a great idea!
The first ski day of the season is always exhausting, so we booked in for a complimentary dinner at the Hotel St Moritz Lombardi Restaurant. It was such a treat to have a quick evening shower and pop downstairs for a lovely dinner! We ordered the Truffle Fries and Mac ‘n’ Cheese as a starter, for main Liam ordered the Lamb Back Strap and I ordered the Eye Fillet on Mash Potato. The food was beautiful and during this dining experience I found my new favourite red wine! Order a glass of the Mt Edward Pinot Noir, you won’t regret it.
Day Four
Brunch at Vudu Cafe & Larder. Amazing food and great coffee (yay), the only downside is that the cafe is tiny, so you’re always waiting in line on the lake side of the cafe. Make sure you get the banana bread!
Explore day! The great thing about having a car is the freedom to check out the scenery surrounding Queenstown. We drove straight to the quaint Arrowtown, the historic gold mining town is one of the cutest places you will ever visit, full of incredible restaurants, bars and little stores. A great place to grab lunch, a coffee, a drink and to go for a walk down by the stream!
We then drove over to Lake Hayes for some stunning lake views, I cannot recommend it enough, just be careful of the duck poo.
Next up on the day trip we popped over to Akarua Winery for a well deserved glass of Pinot. I’m a huge fan of Akarua because it feels less pretentious than some of the other popular wineries and they also do amazing breakfast!
Back in town for dinner, we went to Flame Bar & Grill which we loved so much we went back twice! If you love a rack of ribs, this is the place to go. We aren’t fancy when it comes to dinner spots, places like Rata just aren’t for us. Flame is kind of like a premium Nando’s, all the delicious flame grilled meat and heaps of great sides to choose from! This would be a great place to take kids, too.
Day Five
We checked out of Hotel St Moritz and checked into our next hotel (cheap and cheerful) Novotel Lakeside which is definitely a good option if you’re on a budget!
We were pretty sore from our first day of snowboarding, so opted for a half day at Coronet Peak. We took the risk of struggling to find a park mid day but ended up scoring one that wasn’t to far of a walk!
To keep dinner really easy and relaxed, we went for Fat Badgers Pizza, it’s like Sal’s Pizza, but a local version with more pizza toppings to choose from. Pizza is by FAR my favourite thing to eat ever, so I was one happy girl.
Day Six
Pick up take away brekky from Ferg Baker for another day of exploring.
We drove out to Glenorchy, but I recommend you go on a clear day because we literally couldn’t see a single thing, the clouds were too low. Last year I went over to Walter Peak Farm and I wish we did it on this day! It’s a lovely experience and I couldn’t recommend it enough!
As the clouds were too low, we drove back towards Arrowtown (again) and out to Millbrook Resort which is definitely worth checking out if you’ve got a car. They have accomodation, but heading in for a lovely walk around the lake and a coffee/lunch at their cafe is absolutely perfect.
Back to Queenstown for a lovely couples massage at Forme Spa (gifted experience). If you’re heading down to ski, or even not to ski, I highly recommend booking in for a couples massage! It’s especially rewarding with sore snowboarding/skiing muscles. The team at Forme are amazing, and you can even book in for a facial or a mani/pedi while you’re there too.
Dinner back at Flame Grill.. we wanted to try more on the menu! The burger and wings were epic.
Day Seven
We definitely saved the best for last in terms of brunching. Bespoke Kitchen was by far my favourite place for breakfast, the vibe of the cafe is really cosy and cool and their food + coffee was 10/10! We ordered eggs, avo and bacon on toast and it was great. It’s a bit of a walk, so try and catch an uber or grab a close carpark.
Finally, the only way to complete a trip to Queenstown.. Onsen Hot Pools. This was my first time visiting and it was truly the most relaxing way to end our trip! Soaking our muscles and taking in the last views of scenery over the Shotover River was perfect and I already cannot wait to go back!
We reorganised our luggage, dropped the hire car back at the airport and headed back to Auckland feeling incredibly content knowing the ol’ travel bug has been tamed.. for now.
Top Tips
If you’ve got a hire car and your hotel is slightly out of town, the Wilson carparks aren’t too expensive but it pays to do a good drive around town so see if you can find a good pay and display carpark (usually cheaper) or a carpark that offers the best day rate.
Keep your meals to just ‘brunch’ and ‘early dinner’, this way you never need to book restaurants and you can walk in at 5 pm without putting your name down on a waiting list. This also means you’re finished for the day earlier and you get some nice relaxation time in your hotel for the evening! If you have a decent brunch, it also means you’ll have more room in your belly for dinner and let me tell you, Queenstown servings are huge.
Bring layers! If you’re an Aucklander and you don’t go down south often, you’ll be quite shocked by how cold it is. You need more than just a t-shirt and a puffer jacket.
Make sure you take a good scarf and gloves, some days I couldn’t keep my hands bare out of gloves because the low temperature would hurt my hands! Just keep them in your handbag at all times.
Book everything far in advance. If you’re doing a summer trip to QT I would be booking everything now. The flights and accommodation will be cheaper and you’ll have more booking time options for things like Onsen.
If you have any further questions about Queenstown, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment below.
Happy domestic travelling!