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 Queenstown, New Zealand travel tales
Our customers share their travelling experiences in Queenstown, New Zealand.
Read about first hand stories on travel tips and guides, events, entertainment,shopping, food, business and transportation.
Also, you might want to read our
Auckland city guide,
Bay of Islands city guide,
Dunedin city guide,
Queenstown city guide,
and Wellington city guide.
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| S Chan |
26 May 2005 |
Stayed at Rydges Lakeland Resort Queenstown - Queenstown, New Zealand.
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For a little action, I tried bungy jumping at the Kawarau Bridge, and the Shotover Jet boat ride. Both were excellent and tons of fun. Rather expensive, but worth the money. For scenery, I booked the Nomad Safari LOTR tour. There are 2 tours to choose from and both cover different locations. I asked the booking desk to recommend and the 2 people who worked there both recommended the Glenorchy area saying that they've been there and it's extremely beautiful. Since we were going on a 4W drive, we expected a bumpy ride. But the ride going away from town was about 45 minutes to an hour and was on curvy roads. So if you get car sick, don't do this tour!!! Anyway, we did stop at Glenorchy, but only because the driver needed to go to the bathroom. Was it as beautiful as the booking desk ladies said? I'll never know because I only saw a small town restaurant and a public bathroom next to it. The major sites we stopped at was Isengard and the site where Sam cooked rabbit stew. It's just some dried bits of land but its background sceneries of the mountains are nice. We drove by some wooded area (which may have been the forest of Lothlorien, part of the tour), but never went through it, and I don't believe it was even mentioned. We did drive by miles of sheep farms and that was different and nice. For the money, I thought this tour was not worth it...and a waste of time. There were nice background sceneries, but you get these beautiful sceneries anywhere your head turns in Queenstown, and it's free. Also, definitely take the gondola up to the peak for wonderful views and there's no rush to go down. Try the luge ride, great for adults as well as kids. Nice little cafe there too. Food prices are unexpectedly reasonable as I always expect to get "robbed" when I'm at these type of tourist places.
As for food, I always like a good mix of higher end restaurants and affordable restaurants. One of my favorite "affordables" is the Express Diner. I believe it's on Shotover Street. Great wait staff, fair prices, and pretty good food. I went during low season and most of the restaurants are quite empty, except for the Express Diner. Don't let the name fool you. It's a few notches above the average diner in the United States.
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| T Lynch |
10 April 2005 |
Stayed at Mercure Grand Hotel St Moritz Queenstown - Queenstown, New Zealand.
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Hired a car for a couple of days which was brilliant as we went to a few places which would have been difficult to get to otherwise, ie Glenorchy, which has the most amazing walks around it from 1 hour to 3-4 hours. Arrowtown which is an old mining town and extremely interesting and the ski slopes ( no snow ) but very interesting. Took a coach booked through hotel to Milford Sound which was wonderful. Too much to see to think of driving and the coach Great Sights was wonderful with a great driver/commentator. We took a coach with the same company from Christchurch to Queenstown which was well worth it as the scenery was amazing. Of course the drivers know all the good places to stop for the photographers! Best meal was a restaurant called The Captain, brilliant food and service. Queenstown a wonderful experience. Recommend it to everyone.
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| J Goldberg |
28 March 2005 |
Stayed at Sherwood Manor - Queenstown, New Zealand.
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Glenorchy (about 45 km from Queenstown) was stunning, beautiful and very much worth the drive.
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| H Day |
15 January 2005 |
Stayed at Sherwood Manor - Queenstown, New Zealand.
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We hired a car from Avis which we were very pleased with and loved the flexibility it gave us to explore such a beautiful place! I'd definitely recommend NZone tandem skydiving (located in the Town Centre) - very professional and fun and it's definitely worth buying the DVD! We also did Off Road Quad Biking, good value for money and a decent time on the quads - make sure you wear old clothes as you get very dirty!!! The gondola/luge is also quite a fun way to spend a couple of hours and see the amazing views.
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| J Wolf (2nd stay) |
23 December 2004 |
Stayed at Garden Court Suites & Apartments - Queenstown, New Zealand.
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Definitely do the luge & drive to Milford Sound. Avoid the Real Journeys tour of the Sounds. That's a waste of money, especially since you see the same things over and over again.
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| M Minick |
19 November 2004 |
Stayed at Scenic Circle A-Line Hotel - Queenstown, New Zealand.
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Queenstown is a "must visit" if on the south island. One of the most beautiful locations on earth, rivaling Lucerne with a lake surrounded by mountains. It is the center for "adventure" travel.
It is also an expensive town, owing to both it's desirablity and remote location.
One dining surprise was Speight's, a brew-pub associated with Speight's ales. The beer was good (I particularly liked the Classic), and the food was both good and a bargain by local standards.
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| W Purnell |
18 March 2004 |
Stayed at Scenic Circle A-Line Hotel - Queenstown, New Zealand.
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Queenstown is all about adventure. Hiking, Bungee jumping, sky diving, jet boats in the canyons, cruises, etc.... Great place for the adrenaline junkie! No visit to Queenstown is complete without a trip to the Kurawru River bridge. I did the bungee from there even though I'm terrified of heights. It is just one of those things I had to do! Am I sorry I did it?? Never! Will I do it again? Not likely! Also, take a day and at least hop on a coach and take the cruise on Milford sound. That trip is well worth it and VERY beautiful. The next time I visit Queenstown, I'll do more of the hikes and try to plan in advance to do the big hike to Milford!
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| S Hurst |
11 December 2003 |
Stayed at Sherwood Manor - Queenstown, New Zealand.
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Don't stay too long in Queenstown, it's not a good reflection on NZ, very expensive, even the locals don't shop there, Wanaka is just down the road and a lot nicer. If you like empty beaches Able Tasmin is the place to go, Coromandel in the North is also very beautiful with excelent beaches. If you want to find out the history of NZ Rotorua is the place.
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| T Bancroft |
01 August 2003 |
Stayed at Scenic Circle A-Line Hotel - Queenstown, New Zealand.
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Skiing options are within 45 minutes. We also booked a trip to Fiordland National Park from the hotel which was highlight of our month holiday!
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| A Wilding |
12 April 2003 |
Stayed at Rydges Lakeland Resort Queenstown - Queenstown, New Zealand.
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Fantastic views from lake facing rooms.
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