Best Dining Destinations in Queenstown Worth the Drive

Queenstown Dining That Is Worth the Drive

The best meal you have in Queenstown is probably not in the middle of Queenstown. Some of the best places to eat around here sit anywhere from 6 to 44 kilometres out of town, at a marina, up a canyon, on a golf course, or in a gold rush pub on the Crown Range. Here are five of them, with the real distances, what each one is good at, and what to do with the rest of the day once you are out there. If you would rather do it by car, Evolve Rentals can have one at your door in Queenstown before you start.

Where Can You Eat With a View of The Remarkables?

The Boat Shed Cafe, on Frankton Road at the marina. It is about 9 kilometres from the town centre, so allow around fifteen minutes when the road is busy.

Breakfast and lunch, done properly. The chorizo scramble and the French toast are what people come back for, and the coffee is good enough to justify the drive on its own. The tables look straight across the water at The Remarkables, which is a view Queenstown charges a lot of money for elsewhere. There is a bakery under the same name a minute's walk along the marina if you would rather take something with you.

Where Can You Get Wood Fired Pizza Near Queenstown?

Canyon Brewing, at 1 Arthurs Point Road. It is under 6 kilometres from town, roughly ten minutes up Gorge Road, and it is the easiest of the five to do on a whim.

Canyon brews on site and the kitchen is built around it. Wood fired pizza, shared plates, a big patio, and the Shotover Canyon dropping away below you. The beer list runs from hazy pale ales through IPAs and lagers to stouts, and there are alcohol free options on it, which matters if you are the one driving back down Gorge Road.

Is There Anywhere Good to Eat Out Towards Lake Hayes?

11th Avenue by Frank's, at 25 Eleventh Avenue in Lower Shotover. It is about 12 kilometres from the centre, so allow twenty minutes.

This is the local option on the list. The menu is broad enough to keep a mixed group happy, the coffee is fair trade and organic, and the produce is free range and local. There is a big outdoor patio with Coronet Peak in the distance. If you are staying out at Lake Hayes Estate or Shotover Country it is on your doorstep. If you are not, it is a good reason to drive out.

Is the Cardrona Hotel Worth the Drive From Queenstown?

The Cardrona Hotel is the one on this list that is a day out rather than a meal. It sits at 2312 Cardrona Valley Road, about 44 kilometres from Queenstown over the Crown Range, and you want to allow close to an hour each way.

The hotel was established in 1863 and is one of the oldest in New Zealand. It went up in the gold rush as one of four in the township, outlasted the settlement itself, closed in 1961 when the licence could not be sold with the building, and was bought in 1970 by a local farmer who simply did not want to watch it fall down. The restaurant opened in 1983 and it has been in use ever since.

It opens at 8am seven days. Breakfast runs to 10.30am, the bar and snack menu from late morning until late, and dinner from 6pm by reservation. There is a bakery attached that opens at 6.30am. The front of the building is the one everybody stops to photograph, and the garden behind it is where you will actually want to sit.

Can You Eat at Jack's Point Without Playing Golf?

Yes. Jack's, the clubhouse restaurant at Jack's Point, is open to anyone. It is on McAdam Drive, 16 kilometres out, and Jack's Point puts it at twenty minutes from the Queenstown town centre and ten minutes from the airport.

It opens at 8am seven days. Breakfast to 11.30am, lunch from midday until 3.30pm, bar snacks through the afternoon, and dinner on Friday and Saturday nights only. The kitchen works with Central Otago produce and the wine list follows suit. The room sits on the edge of Lake Tewa with The Remarkables straight ahead, and nobody will ask you a single thing about golf.

How Do You Make a Day of It?

Most of these are better as part of something bigger.

• Cardrona works as a loop. Over the Crown Range, stop at the hotel, carry on to Wanaka, then come back down State Highway 6 through the Kawarau Gorge. The Crown Range road runs past Arrowtown, so that is an easy addition on the way out or back.
• Jack's Point pairs with an airport run. If you are dropping someone off or collecting them, it is ten minutes further on and a far better wait than the terminal.
• Canyon Brewing is the short one. Arthurs Point is close enough that you can go out for an early dinner and still be back in town for the evening.
• The Boat Shed and 11th Avenue both sit on the Frankton side, so if you are staying out that way you can do both in a morning.

If you want something quicker, Pies Worth the Drive and Coffee with a View cover the stops that do not need a whole afternoon.

What About the Drive Home?

Two of these five are built around beer, and the roads back from both want you sharp. Gorge Road out of Arthurs Point is narrow and dark at night. The Crown Range is high, exposed, and in winter it can want chains. Sort out who is driving before you leave, or build the day around coffee instead. Canyon Brewing keeps alcohol free beer on the list for exactly this reason. Driving in New Zealand covers the conditions worth knowing about before you set off.

Why the Car Is the Thing That Makes These Work

Every place on this list is a drive. That is the point of the list, and it is also the thing that decides whether you actually go. A shuttle or a taxi will get you to one of them and back, expensively, on somebody else's timing. It will not let you leave Cardrona when the light goes gold, or add Arrowtown on the way home because you felt like it.

In Queenstown we bring the car to you. Nobody else here does that, and it is the entire reason Evolve exists. Tell us where you are staying and the car is there, so the day starts when you decide it starts rather than when you have found the rental desk.

Book Your Car for the Drive

Pick your dates and we will bring it to you. Evolve Rentals.

FAQs

What are the best restaurants worth driving to near Queenstown?
The Boat Shed Cafe at the marina, Canyon Brewing at Arthurs Point, 11th Avenue by Frank's in Lower Shotover, the Cardrona Hotel over the Crown Range, and Jack's at Jack's Point. All five are within an hour of the town centre.

How far is Canyon Brewing from Queenstown?
Under 6 kilometres, or roughly ten minutes up Gorge Road to Arthurs Point. It is the closest of the five.

Is the Cardrona Hotel worth the drive from Queenstown?
Yes, if you treat it as a day out rather than a meal. It is about 44 kilometres over the Crown Range and takes close to an hour each way, and the hotel has stood there since 1863.

Can I eat at Jack's Point without playing golf?
Yes. The clubhouse restaurant is open to anyone, seven days from 8am, with dinner on Friday and Saturday nights.