A Day Trip to Glenorchy: The Drive, the Walks and the Road to Paradise
Forty five minutes from Queenstown sits a wetland full of birds, a viewpoint used to sell New Zealand, and a gravel road running into Mount Aspiring National Park.
Glenorchy sits at the head of Lake Wakatipu, 45 km from Queenstown, and the road out to it is the reason most people go. The village itself is small enough to walk across in ten minutes. What surrounds it is a wetland full of birds, a viewpoint used to sell New Zealand to the world, and a gravel road running into Mount Aspiring National Park. Here is how to do the whole thing in a day. It is all easier with your own car, and Evolve Rentals delivers one to your accommodation in Queenstown.
How Long Is the Drive from Queenstown to Glenorchy?
About 45 minutes for 45 km, but you should allow considerably longer than that.
The road hugs the western shore of the lake the whole way, and nobody ever does it in 45 minutes. There is a lay by worth pulling into every ten minutes or so and you will use most of them. The road only opened in 1962. Before that, DOC records, people reached Glenorchy by boat and pack track. The road is younger than the village it serves.
Two of the region's best short walks sit on this road or just off it before you even reach Glenorchy, at Bob's Cove and Moke Lake, both covered in our guide to the viewpoints around Queenstown. If you have the day, take them on the way out and save Glenorchy for the afternoon light.
What Is the Best Stop on the Glenorchy Road?
Bennetts Bluff, and it costs you fifteen minutes.
The car park sits half way between Queenstown and Glenorchy, and DOC grades the walk easiest at 630 metres and 15 minutes return, on a steady gradient that suits wheelchairs and buggies. It starts through shrubland and climbs a rock knoll, and from the top you get Lake Whakatipu, Mount Earnslaw or Pikirakatahi, and the whole Glenorchy basin. On a clear day it reaches all the way to Mount Aspiring National Park.
DOC's own note on it is the giveaway: this is the view often used to promote New Zealand and the Queenstown region. If you have seen a photograph of this part of the country, there is a fair chance it was taken from here. There is plenty of parking for cars, campervans and buses, and there are toilets, which matters more than it sounds on a road with almost none.
What Is There to Do in Glenorchy Itself?
Walk the lagoon boardwalk, look at the red shed on the wharf, and eat. That is genuinely the list, and it is enough.
The Glenorchy Walkway is graded easy by DOC at one to two hours, and it is a boardwalk over wetland rather than a hike. It is one of the better birdwatching spots in the district: pied stilts, South Island pied oystercatchers, New Zealand shovellers, grey teals, scaups and the occasional Australasian bittern, with a New Zealand falcon or karearea sometimes working the wetland from above. Mount Earnslaw sits at the end of every view.
Two things DOC is firm about. Start from Mull Street at the northern end of the village, and do not park on or access the track from the Glenorchy Paradise Road, which it calls a hot spot for accidents. And after heavy or prolonged rain the lagoon section floods, so check before you commit small children to it.
For food, Mrs Woolly's General Store does coffee, baking and a gallery of work by New Zealand artists, with a walled garden out the back that most visitors walk straight past. The Trading Post is the other option and the better one for picnic supplies if you are carrying on to Paradise.
Where Is Paradise, and Can You Drive There?
It is about 15 km past Glenorchy on the Glenorchy Paradise Road, and it is a place name rather than a settlement. There is nothing there but the view.
The road runs into the Dart and Rees valleys on the edge of Mount Aspiring National Park, and this is the stretch that has done most of the film work. DOC's own locations list puts Dan's Paddock on the Glenorchy Paradise Road and names it as Isengard, the scene where Gandalf rides up to Nan Curunir. It is farmland with a mountain behind it, and it is still farmland, so stay on the road and off the paddocks.
About 8 km past the village the seal ends and the surface turns to gravel, and once you are onto the side roads into the valleys it stops being a road in any normal sense. There are fords. In settled weather an ordinary car gets out to Paradise comfortably. In or after heavy rain it is a different proposition, because DOC warns that rivers here rise and fall very quickly with rain and snow melt. And worth knowing before you set off: underbody and flood damage are not covered by our insurance on any option, and a ford is exactly how a car gets both. If one looks deeper than it did on the way in, it probably is. Turn round.
What Can You Do Besides Walking and Driving?
Horses, jet boats and a zipline, all running out of a village of a few hundred people. With children in the car, our guide to the Glenorchy Animal Experience adds another easy stop.
Three operators work out of the village. Lighthorse Adventures rides out of Glenorchy into the Dart Valley, from half day rides to multi day treks, and they are set up for beginners and kids as much as for people who can already ride. Dart River Adventures takes jet boats up the braided Dart into the national park, and Paradise Ziplines runs an eight line course through native forest as a half day. All three are worth booking before you drive out rather than turning up and hoping.
What Should You Know Before You Drive Out?
One fact matters more than the rest: your phone stops working.
- Mobile coverage. DOC states there is coverage only in the Glenorchy township. Download your map before you leave Queenstown and tell somebody your plan if you are heading up the valleys
- Weather. It changes fast here at any time of year, and the rivers rise and fall quickly with rain and snow melt
- Road surface. Sealed to Glenorchy and for about 8 km beyond it, gravel after that. Slow down and expect loose stones on the corners
- Supplies. Glenorchy is the last of everything. Sort food, water and fuel before you head up the Paradise road
How Much Time Do You Need for Glenorchy?
A morning is enough. It is 45 minutes each way, so the round trip with a stop at Bennetts Bluff and a coffee in the village is easily done by lunch. Give it the whole day and you add the walkway, Paradise or a jet boat.
- Morning: leave Queenstown early, stop at Bennetts Bluff for fifteen minutes, arrive in Glenorchy by mid morning
- Late morning: the Glenorchy Walkway, one to two hours over the boardwalk, then coffee in the village
- Afternoon: out to Paradise and back, or a horse trek or jet boat if you booked one
- Evening: drive back with the light behind you, which is the better direction for the view anyway
Season changes the day more than the plan does. In autumn the light is low all day and the drive is worth doing for its own sake. In winter the wetland is quieter and colder and the boardwalk can be icy. In summer you get the long evening, which is when the head of the lake is at its best.
Book Your Car for the Glenorchy Road
There is no bus to Glenorchy, so this is a drive or a tour, and a drive lets you stop where you like. Book with Evolve Rentals and we bring the car to you. Nobody else in Queenstown does that. You can also collect from our office at 153B Glenda Drive, Frankton.
FAQs
How far is Glenorchy from Queenstown?
About 45 km, or 45 minutes of driving along the western shore of Lake Wakatipu. Allow longer, because you will stop.
Is the road to Glenorchy sealed?
Yes, the whole way from Queenstown. The Glenorchy Paradise Road stays sealed for about 8 km past the village, then turns to gravel and has fords on some side roads into the valleys.
How long is the Glenorchy Walkway?
DOC grades it easy at one to two hours. It is a boardwalk across wetland starting from Mull Street. Do not park on the Glenorchy Paradise Road, which DOC calls an accident hot spot.
Is there phone reception in Glenorchy?
Only in the township itself, according to DOC. There is no coverage up the valleys or out at Paradise, so download maps before you leave Queenstown.
Was Lord of the Rings filmed near Glenorchy?
Yes. DOC's own filming locations list names Dan's Paddock, on the Glenorchy Paradise Road, as Isengard, where Gandalf rides up to Nan Curunir.