Making the Most of Late January in Queenstown: A Round-Up of Our Favorite Adventures

The last week of January is the best week of the Queenstown summer and the one most people waste. The holiday crowd has thinned, the days are still enormous, and everything is open. It is also the week people run out of ideas, having done the obvious things in the first half of the month. This is where we actually send guests, and most of it needs a car, which is the whole reason Evolve Rentals exists in this town.

How much daylight is left in late January?

More than enough to do two things in a day. On 31 January the sun is up at 6:39am and does not set until 9:16pm, which is over fourteen and a half hours, with usable light for a while after that.

That is the thing to plan around. A drive that would eat a whole day in May is a morning now, and the good light at either end of the day is when the places worth seeing are at their least crowded.

Which drives are worth doing?

The Glenorchy Road is the one to do first if you only do one. It runs along the edge of Lake Wakatipu with the mountains stacking up in front of you, it is sealed the whole way, and there is somewhere to pull over roughly every time you want to. We have ranked the rest by how much effort each one takes in five Queenstown viewpoints, and the longer runs, the ones worth giving a full day to, are in the long summer drives worth doing in January.

Where should you eat without paying peak season prices?

Eat early. Queenstown's better restaurants release their quiet tables at a discount, and late January still has enough early sittings going spare to make it worth planning around. We have written up how that works, and which places are worth using it on, in foodie finds for less.

The other half of eating well here is being able to leave town for it. Some of the best food in the district is a twenty minute drive from the centre, and none of it runs to a bus timetable.

What is the best half day out of town?

Arrowtown, and it is barely a drive. The old gold mining streets are shaded, which matters in a Queenstown January, and the trail network out of the village is flat enough to be a pleasure rather than a workout. There is a full day in it if you want one, and we have written that up in the Arrowtown day trip. If you want to ride it rather than walk it, Going Blue hires bikes and eBikes, and our guests get a discount booking direct with the code EvolveVIP.

Is the Wanaka lavender worth the drive?

In late January, yes, because it is one of the few things here that is genuinely seasonal and you have about a fortnight left of it. The Wanaka Lavender Farm is the destination, the lavender ice cream is the point, and the drive over the Crown Range is half the reason to go.

Build the stop in on the way back. Mrs Jones' Fruit Stall sits on State Highway 6 in Central Otago and makes real fruit ice cream to order, alongside the fresh fruit, dried fruit, nuts and honey. It opens daily from 8:30am to 5:30pm and runs later through summer, so a late return is not a problem. This is the sort of stop that only happens if you are driving yourself, and it is usually the bit people remember.

What do you do if the weather turns?

It will at some point, because this is an alpine town and a January afternoon can change its mind quickly. The saunas, spas and hot pools we wrote about for a warm afternoon indoors work just as well in summer, and a wet day is the right day to use one. The only thing a change in weather really costs you is the plan you were rigid about.

Why does any of this need a car?

Because everything above is somewhere else.

Arrowtown is one way, Wanaka is over a mountain range, Glenorchy is along a lake, and the early dinner you booked is back in town. None of that is impossible on a shuttle, it just has to be decided the day before and it cannot be changed once the weather does something unexpected. Late January rewards the opposite of that.

One thing worth saying once. If the lavender farm afternoon turns into a long lunch at a Gibbston winery, sort out who is driving before you pour anything. It is a good road home and it deserves a clear head.

Book with Evolve Rentals and tell us where you are staying. We bring the car to you, which nobody else in Queenstown does, and the person handing you the keys will tell you which of the above is worth doing tomorrow and which can wait.

FAQs

Is late January a good time to be in Queenstown?
It is one of the best weeks of the year. The peak holiday crowd has thinned, everything is still open, and you get over fourteen and a half hours of daylight, with sunset at 9:16pm on the 31st.

What is the best drive from Queenstown?
The Glenorchy Road, if you only do one. It follows the edge of Lake Wakatipu, it is sealed the whole way, and there are places to stop most of the length of it. Allow longer than the map says, because you will.

How far is Wanaka from Queenstown?
It is a day trip rather than a detour, over the Crown Range. The lavender is at its best through summer and late January is close to the end of it, so it is worth going sooner rather than leaving it.

Do you need a car in Queenstown in late January?
For the town itself, no. For everything worth doing in the last week of the month, yes. Arrowtown, Glenorchy and Wanaka all sit outside the centre, and the good hours are early and late, which is when timetabled transport is thinnest.