From Road Trip to Race Track: A Thrilling Day Out at Highlands in Cromwell
Highlands in Cromwell is 50 minutes from Queenstown through the Kawarau Gorge. What you can actually drive, what there is for everyone else, and the road there.
From Road Trip to Race Track: A Day Out at Highlands
Highlands is the one attraction near Queenstown where the drive there is part of the point. Highlands sits at the corner of State Highway 6 and Sandflat Road in Cromwell, about 50 minutes out of Queenstown through the Kawarau Gorge, and it is a motorsport park built for people who like cars. Here is what is actually there, what suits who, and what the road is like in both directions. And if you are doing it by car, Evolve Rentals brings one to wherever you are staying in Queenstown.
How Far Is Highlands From Queenstown?
About 56 kilometres, or roughly 50 minutes, straight out on State Highway 6 through the Kawarau Gorge. Highlands is open 10am to 4pm, seven days. The gorge is the reason to enjoy the trip rather than endure it: the road runs along the river most of the way and it is a genuinely good hour of driving without ever being difficult.
What Can You Actually Drive There?
Two kinds of thing: the ones where you drive, and the ones where somebody who does this for a living drives and you hold on.
- Go karts on a 650 metre track, up to 50 kilometres an hour, in single seaters or tandem so a smaller passenger can ride along.
- The Radical. Seven laps of the 1.5 kilometre circuit with a professional instructor in the car beside you.
- A V8 muscle car. Same circuit, same seven laps, an entirely different noise.
- The Subaru WRX experience, which runs as a group activity and needs four or more of you.
- The Supercar Fast Dash, where a professional driver takes the full circuit at up to 225 kilometres an hour and you are the passenger.
- The Highlands Taxi, two laps with up to four passengers, for the group where not everybody wants the wheel.
Is There Anything for People Who Do Not Want to Race?
Rather more than a waiting room. The National Motorsport Museum is on site, along with an 18 hole themed mini golf course, a cafe, a virtual reality room, and a toilet block they have deliberately given a view. A group can split up here for a few hours and everybody gets something out of it, which is not true of most attractions built around one activity.
Does It Work With Children?
The go karts run tandem, so a child too small to drive can still go round. The museum and the mini golf carry the rest of an afternoon. Highlands does not publish age and height limits for every experience, so if you have a particular child in mind it is worth a call before you commit to the drive out.
What Is the Drive Back Like?
Slower. Considerably slower, and it takes a minute to recalibrate. Everybody comes off that circuit quietly convinced they have got quicker, and the Kawarau Gorge is not the place to test the theory. Give it ten minutes and a coffee, then enjoy the gorge at the speed it was actually built for. Driving in New Zealand covers the roads here properly, including the bits that catch visitors out.
What Else Is on That Road?
The Gibbston Valley sits between Queenstown and Cromwell, so the return leg has options. Explore Queenstown by Car and Bike covers the Gibbston trail if you would rather split the day between a circuit and a bike. And if it is cars specifically that brought you here, The Ayrburn Classic is the other motoring day on the local calendar.
Why the Car Matters
There is no version of this day that does not start with a drive. Highlands is 56 kilometres away, it shuts at 4pm, and the whole appeal is getting there under your own steam and leaving when you are finished rather than when somebody else is.
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, so the day starts with the gorge rather than with a queue.
Book Your Car for the Run to Cromwell
Pick your dates and we will bring it to you. Evolve Rentals.
FAQs
How far is Highlands from Queenstown?
About 56 kilometres, or roughly 50 minutes on State Highway 6 through the Kawarau Gorge. Highlands is open 10am to 4pm, seven days.
What can you do at Highlands?
Go karts, drive it yourself experiences including a Radical and a V8 muscle car, passenger runs with a professional driver, the National Motorsport Museum, mini golf, a cafe and a virtual reality room.
Can children go to Highlands?
The go karts run tandem so a smaller child can ride with an adult, and the museum and mini golf cover the rest. Age and height limits are not published for every experience, so check with Highlands before you drive out.
Do you need a car to get to Highlands?
Effectively, yes. It is 56 kilometres from Queenstown, at the corner of State Highway 6 and Sandflat Road in Cromwell, and it closes at 4pm.