Do You Need a Car in Queenstown? Walking, Buses, Ferries and Driving Compared

Queenstown is small enough to walk across in twenty minutes and big enough, once you count the valleys around it, to keep you busy for a fortnight. Whether you need a car depends on which of those two Queenstowns you came for. Here is an honest look at walking, the buses, the ferry and driving, so you can work out what your trip actually needs.

Do You Need a Car in Queenstown?

You do not need a car to enjoy central Queenstown, and you do need one to enjoy the region around it.

The town centre is compact, walkable and full of restaurants, bars and activity operators within a few streets of each other. Almost everything that makes this part of Otago worth the flight, though, sits outside it. The Glenorchy road, Arrowtown, the Gibbston vineyards and the Crown Range are all between twenty and eighty minutes away by road, and the public network was built for residents commuting rather than for visitors sightseeing.

So the honest answer depends on your itinerary rather than your budget. Two nights of restaurants and a lake cruise needs no car. Five days of hikes, wineries and small towns needs one from the moment you land.

What Can You Reach on Foot in Queenstown?

If you are staying in the town centre, you can walk to almost everything you have already booked.

The Queenstown Gardens, the lakefront, the ferry wharf, the main strip of bars and restaurants and the base of the Skyline gondola and luge all sit within roughly ten minutes of each other on foot. For a first trip built around the town itself, that is enough.

Walking stops working the moment your accommodation is not central. Fernhill, Frankton, Kelvin Heights and Arthurs Point are all short drives and long walks, and the footpaths between them are not always continuous. Where you stay decides how much you will use a car, which is worth thinking about while you are still choosing where to stay.

How Good Is Public Transport in Queenstown?

Better than most visitors expect, and built for commuters rather than for sightseeing.

Queenstown has a real bus network, Orbus, run by the Otago Regional Council. Five routes cover the district:

• Route 1, Sunshine Bay to Remarkables Shops, through the town centre, Frankton Hub and Queenstown Airport
• Route 2, Frankton Hub to Arrowtown
• Route 3, Kelvin Heights to Quail Rise
• Route 4, Jacks Point to Arrowtown via Queenstown
• Route 5, Lake Hayes Estate to Queenstown

Route 1 is the one most visitors use. Queenstown Airport says buses generally run every 15 minutes during the day and every 30 minutes in the evening. Fares are paid with a Bee Card or with cash on board. Bank and credit cards cannot be used to pay a bus fare, which catches people out at the airport stop.

What the buses will not do is get you to a trailhead at eight in the morning, back from a Gibbston winery in the late afternoon, or anywhere near Glenorchy at all.

Is There a Ferry Across Lake Wakatipu?

Yes, and it is part of the same public network rather than a tourist cruise.

Orbus Ferries run between Queenstown Bay and Frankton Marina, stopping at the Hilton and Bayview on the way. It is probably the most scenic commute in New Zealand and a useful link if you are staying on the Kelvin Heights side of the water. Fares are paid with a Bee Card or a bank card.

It is a lovely way to travel and a narrow one. The ferry connects four points on one stretch of lake, and everything else in the district is still a road journey.

What Do You Actually Miss Without a Car?

Most of the scenery, and nearly all of the flexibility.

These are the drives people talk about when they get home. The distances and times below are the ones published by Queenstown's own regional tourism office:

• Glenorchy, 45 km, about 45 minutes along the lake shore
• Arrowtown, 19 km, 20 to 30 minutes
• Gibbston wine country, 25 km, 25 to 30 minutes
• Kingston, 47 km, about 40 minutes
• Wanaka, 68 to 113 km depending on the route, 70 to 80 minutes

Arrowtown is the one you can reach without a car, because Route 2 and Route 4 both run there. Our guide to Arrowtown covers what is worth your time once you arrive. The rest are not on any timetable. There is no bus along the Glenorchy road at all, which is a shame, because the drive out to Glenorchy is the one most people put at the top of the trip in hindsight.

The same goes for the lookouts above the town, several of the best views in the region having no walking route worth attempting and no service stopping anywhere near them.

What Is Driving Around Queenstown Actually Like?

Straightforward for most of the year, and worth respecting in winter.

The roads are sealed, clearly signposted and quiet by international standards. Distances are short and you will spend more time stopping for photographs than sitting in traffic.

The exception is the Crown Range Road between Queenstown and Wanaka, the highest main road in New Zealand at roughly 1,121 metres. Tourism New Zealand's advice is unambiguous: if you plan to drive it between May and September, carry chains and know how to fit them. Our guide to snow chains walks through what that involves. Frost also sits in shaded corners well into the morning through winter, and the light drops quickly in the valleys, so allow more time than the map suggests.

Visit in autumn and the driving stops being the means and becomes the point itself. The colour through Arrowtown, Lake Hayes and Gibbston is best seen at your own pace and in your own order.

Should You Hire a Car for the Whole Trip or Just a Day or Two?

Both work, and where you are staying usually decides it.

If you are central and most of your days are activities booked in town, hiring for the two days you want to explore is sensible. If you are out at Frankton, Kelvin Heights or Jacks Point, a car for the whole stay tends to cost less in time and taxi trips than not having one.

Queenstown is also where Evolve Rentals started as the region's first and only delivery car service, so the car can come to your accommodation rather than the other way round. You can also collect from the office at 153B Glenda Drive, Frankton. Either way, your first morning is not built around a rental counter queue.

A Word on the Drive Home

Queenstown's bars and restaurants are a large part of why people come, and the roads out of town are dark, narrow in places and busier with wildlife than you expect. If the evening involves a drink, decide how you are getting home before you leave: a designated driver, a taxi, a rideshare, or a night within walking distance. A vineyard lunch or a scenic coffee stop makes for a far better day behind the wheel than a tasting flight does.

Book Your Car for Queenstown

Ready to see the parts of the region a timetable cannot reach? Book with Evolve Rentals and we will have the car ready when you are.

FAQs

Do you need a car in Queenstown?
Not if you are staying centrally and your plans are in town. The centre is compact and walkable, and the buses and ferry cover the suburbs. For hikes, wineries, lookouts and towns like Glenorchy and Wanaka, a car is the only practical way there.

Is there public transport in Queenstown?
Yes. Orbus runs five bus routes covering Sunshine Bay, the town centre, Frankton, Queenstown Airport, Arrowtown, Kelvin Heights, Quail Rise, Jacks Point and Lake Hayes Estate, plus a passenger ferry on Lake Wakatipu. Buses take a Bee Card or cash, not bank or credit cards.

How far is Arrowtown from Queenstown?
About 19 km, or 20 to 30 minutes by road. Orbus routes 2 and 4 both serve Arrowtown, so it is the easiest day trip to do without a car.

How long does it take to drive from Queenstown to Wanaka?
Between 70 and 80 minutes. The Crown Range Road is the shorter route at around 68 km, and State Highway 6 through Cromwell is longer at around 113 km but easier going, particularly in winter.

Do you need snow chains to drive around Queenstown in winter?
For the Crown Range Road between May and September, Tourism New Zealand advises carrying chains and knowing how to fit them. Conditions change quickly, so check the road report on the morning you travel, and tell us when you book so we can make sure your car is set up for where you are heading.