Explore Queenstown by Car and Bike with Evolve Rentals and Going Blue
Drive to the good end and ride the rest. How a car and a bike fit together in Queenstown, which trails suit which people, and the Evolve discount on bike hire.
Queenstown by Car and by Bike
The best way to see Queenstown is to drive to the start of something and ride the rest of it. There are over 150 kilometres of off road trail running from Queenstown to Gibbston by way of Arrowtown, and very little of it is a loop you can do from your accommodation door. The car gets you to the good end. The bike does the part a car cannot. Here is how the two fit together, and the discount that comes with using both.
What Is the Discount for Evolve Customers?
20% off bike hire with Going Blue, using the code EvolveVIP when you book on their site. It is an Evolve customer discount and it has run since we first paired up with them.
What Bikes Can You Hire?
Going Blue run Trek Marlin 6 pedal bikes and Trek Powerfly 4 electric bikes, from half a day up to multi day hire, out of Camp Street in the CBD. The electric ones are the answer for a mixed group, because they flatten out the gap between the person who rides every weekend and the person who has not been on a bike since school.
Where Do You Drive To, and Where Do You Ride?
This is the part worth planning before you leave. Three that work:
- Drive to Arrowtown and ride from there. The Arrow River Bridges Trail heads out towards Gibbston, and Arrowtown itself is worth an hour before you get on a bike at all.
- Drive out to Gibbston and ride the wine trail. The Gibbston River Wine Trail is a section of the network with the cellar doors sitting along it, and Going Blue run guided electric bike tours of it if you would rather not plan the route yourself.
- Take on the Shotover River Trail. Going Blue set this one up self guided, and it is the ride that feels most like being out of town while still being close to it.
Is the Queenstown Trail Suitable for Children?
Much of it is. The sections carry Easy, Intermediate and Advanced gradings, and the Queenstown Trail site has a route finder to match a ride to whoever you have with you. Some stretches are marked wheelchair and pushchair friendly, which is a fair proxy for how flat and how wide they are. The Arrowtown Millennium Trail and the Lake Hayes Trail are the two that come up most often for families.
What About the Wine Trail and the Drive Home?
The Gibbston cellar doors are the obvious pairing with a bike, and they are also the reason to think about the drive home before you set off rather than after. A guided tour or a designated driver sorts it. So does treating Gibbston as the ride and Queenstown as the evening. Driving in New Zealand covers what the roads out that way are like.
What Does the Car Actually Do?
It gets the people and the gear to the far end. Nearly every good ride around here runs one way, and a one way needs a car at one end of it. It also means the day does not have to finish when somebody gets tired, because you are never far from where you started.
In Queenstown we bring the car to you. Nobody else here does that, and it is the entire reason Evolve exists. It is at your accommodation in the morning, which counts for something on a day that starts with loading gear into a boot.
What Else Is Out That Way?
Arrowtown sits on the trail and is worth the stop in its own right, and Best Dining Destinations in Queenstown Worth the Drive covers the places along the same roads for when the riding is done.
Book the Car, Then the Bikes
Pick your dates and we will bring it to you. Evolve Rentals. Then use EvolveVIP at Going Blue for 20% off the bikes.
FAQs
How do I get 20% off bike hire in Queenstown?
Book with Going Blue and enter the code EvolveVIP on their website. It is an Evolve customer discount and it applies to their bike hire.
How long is the Queenstown Trail?
Over 150 kilometres of off road trail, running from Queenstown to Gibbston by way of Arrowtown, split into sections you can ride on their own.
Do you need an electric bike?
No, but it helps with a mixed group. Going Blue hire both pedal bikes and electric ones, from half a day upwards.
Is the Queenstown Trail suitable for kids?
Large parts of it. The sections are graded Easy, Intermediate and Advanced, and the Arrowtown Millennium Trail and Lake Hayes Trail are the ones most often suggested for families.