Coffee with a View: Our Favourite Takeaway Spots and Scenic Sips Around Queenstown
Three takeaway coffee stops in and around Queenstown, which one suits which kind of morning, and the view spots worth driving to with the cup.
Some mornings only work in one order. Coffee first, then the car, then a road going somewhere worth looking at. Queenstown is unusually well set up for that, because the town is small enough that a good flat white is never far away and the good views start about ten minutes after you leave it.
These are the three we actually use, which one suits which kind of morning, and where to take the cup once you have it. We supply the car, you supply the enthusiasm for being up that early.
Where is the best takeaway coffee in Queenstown?
Mackenzie on Cow Lane for the coffee itself, the Boat Shed at Frankton for the view you drink it in front of, and Wolf Coffee Roasters if the day already involves a drive to Arrowtown. All three do a proper takeaway cup, and all three suit a completely different sort of morning.
Mackenzie Coffee, Cow Lane and Glenda Drive
Cow Lane is the one most visitors walk straight past, because it is a laneway rather than a street and it looks like it leads nowhere in particular. It leads to coffee. Mackenzie has been in the coffee trade for more than fifty years and roasts for cafes right across the South Island, which is a fair sign they know what to do with their own.
It is Mark's first stop, every time, which we mention only because he never will. There is a second Mackenzie at 38 Glenda Drive in Frankton as well, a short walk from our own office at 153b, and that has done nothing at all for the productivity of the mornings around here.
The Boat Shed, Frankton Marina
About ten minutes from the town centre on Frankton Road, the Boat Shed sits right on the water and looks back across Lake Wakatipu. In practice it is the one you use when you left without coffee and only realised at the roundabout, which happens to everybody more often than anybody admits.
It is a cafe and bistro rather than a hole in the wall, so it works better as a stop than as a grab. If you are heading out towards Kingston or Glenorchy it is already on your way, and the view beats anything else for the next half hour of driving. They also do a very good hot chocolate, if the weather has made that decision for you.
Wolf Coffee Roasters, Arrowtown
44 Buckingham Street, in the middle of the village. Wolf roast their own beans in Arrowtown and open at seven on weekdays and eight at weekends, through until half past three. Arrowtown is about twenty minutes from Queenstown and the drive out is half the reason to go.
Take one out and walk the Arrow River trail from the end of the street, or sit on Buckingham Street and watch the village get on with its day, which is a better way to spend twenty minutes than it sounds. Our guide to a day in Arrowtown covers the rest of what is there.
Which one suits which kind of morning?
Early start with a long drive ahead: Mackenzie on Cow Lane, before the town properly wakes up.
Collecting a car from us at Frankton: Mackenzie on Glenda Drive, which is on your way out anyway.
No plan, decent weather, nowhere to be: the Boat Shed, and sit down rather than take it away.
Already going to Arrowtown: Wolf. There is no sense carrying a cup for twenty minutes when somebody is roasting at the other end.
Where should you actually drink it?
A takeaway coffee is a reason to go somewhere, not something to drink in a car park. This is the part people get wrong, and it is the easiest thing in the world to fix, because the good spots are all a short drive out of town.
We have written up the five best views around Queenstown you can only reach by car, and every one of them improves with a cup in your hand. Kelvin Heights is the quickest at about fifteen minutes and gives you the town with The Remarkables standing behind it. Lake Hayes is a similar distance and flatter, which matters if the plan is to walk afterwards rather than just look.
One piece of practical advice. Anything past about half an hour and the coffee has beaten you. Glenorchy is forty five minutes up the lake and worth every one of them, but drink the first cup before you set off and pick up the second at the Boat Shed on the way through.
Getting the car sorted
We bring the car to you. Nobody else in Queenstown does that, and it is the entire reason Evolve exists. Somebody from our team meets you where you are staying, walks you round the car and hands you the keys, so the morning starts at your own door rather than in a queue at a counter.
Or collect from us at 153b Glenda Drive in Frankton, which as established is a very short walk from a very good flat white. Book a car with Evolve Rentals and make the early start you were planning on anyway.
FAQs
Where is the best takeaway coffee in Queenstown?
Mackenzie Coffee on Cow Lane in the town centre, with a second site at 38 Glenda Drive in Frankton. The Boat Shed at Frankton Marina has the best view to go with it, and Wolf Coffee Roasters at 44 Buckingham Street in Arrowtown roast their own.
What time does Wolf Coffee in Arrowtown open?
Seven in the morning on weekdays and eight at weekends, closing at half past three. It is at 44 Buckingham Street in the middle of the village.
Is there a coffee stop near Queenstown Airport?
Yes. Mackenzie Coffee at 38 Glenda Drive in Frankton is a couple of minutes from the airport end of town, which makes it the easy first stop if you are collecting a car rather than starting in the centre.
How far is Arrowtown from Queenstown?
About twenty minutes by car. The road is sealed the whole way and the drive is a large part of why the trip is worth making at all.
Do you need a car to reach the best views around Queenstown?
For the best ones, yes. The town centre is walkable and the lakefront is lovely, but Kelvin Heights at fifteen minutes, Lake Hayes and the road to Glenorchy all need a car, and those are the places worth taking a coffee to.