Pies Worth the Drive: The Best Pie Stops Around Queenstown

There is nothing more Kiwi than a good pie, and there is nothing more Kiwi than driving an hour and forty minutes to get one. Some of the best pastry in the South Island is not in Queenstown at all. It is on the main street of a town of a few hundred people, and a fair amount of it cannot be bought anywhere else at any price. And if you are doing it by car, Evolve Rentals brings one to wherever you are staying in Queenstown.

Here are five worth the drive, in order of how far you actually have to go, with the honest distances and the two things that will catch you out.

What actually makes a pie worth driving for?

Two things, and neither of them is the filling. The first is that you cannot get it at home, because the best pie shops in Central Otago do not distribute, so the pie exists in one building and nowhere else. The second is where that building sits. A pie in Cromwell is not a detour, it is lunch on a drive you were already doing. Every stop below is on a road you would probably take anyway.

And two things will catch you out. Small bakeries bake to a number and stop when they hit it, so the pie run is a morning activity. And opening days are not what you would assume, which we will come to.

Where is the best pie in Queenstown itself?

Ferg Baker on Shotover Street, and it is open when nothing else is. Everybody knows Fergburger. The bakery next door is quieter and it is where the pastry is. Order the Lamb Kumara and Horopito: slow cooked lamb shoulder and roasted kumara in a gravy spiced with horopito, which is a native pepper tree and tastes like one, warm rather than hot.

The genuinely useful part is the hours. Ferg Baker runs from six in the morning until two the following morning, seven days. It is the only stop on this list still open in the evening, which makes it the one that works after a day on the mountain rather than instead of one.

Which pie is worth a twenty minute drive?

The Arrowtown Bakery at 14 Buckingham Street, open every day from seven until three, everything made on site and a proper range rather than the usual four. Arrowtown is twenty minutes from Queenstown on sealed road, so this is barely a drive at all, and the town gives you a whole day around it if you want one. Our guide to that day is here.

Get there before lunch. A bakery on the main street of a tourist town at one o'clock in January is not a relaxing experience for anybody involved.

What is worth stopping for on the way to Wanaka or Central Otago?

Sanga's Pie Co at 4 Chardonnay Street in Cromwell, sixty kilometres and about fifty minutes from Queenstown through the Kawarau Gorge, sealed the whole way. The menu has more personality than most: the Southlander, Cluckenberry Thyme, Country Classic, the Smashburger, and the Holey Smoke, which is the one people come back for. They do sandwiches, coffee from a local roaster, and fried chicken on Fridays.

Now the catch, and it is the single most useful line in this post. Sanga's opens Monday to Friday, seven until three, and is shut at the weekend. A Saturday run out through the gorge built around lunch there ends in a locked door, and almost nobody mentions it. Go on a weekday, or make the Saturday about something else.

Is a pie worth driving nearly two hours for?

Jimmy's Pies in Roxburgh, and the answer is yes, largely because you have no alternative. Jimmy Kirkpatrick started the bakery in 1960 after moving his family up from Invercargill, and his son Dennis has run it since 1976. In 2020 they took Canstar Blue's Most Satisfied Customers award ahead of twelve other New Zealand pie brands. So far, so ordinary.

The interesting part is what happened in 2018. Jimmy's pulled most of its range out of retail. The mince pies still go to shops around the country, but everything else is now sold over one counter at 143 Scotland Street in Roxburgh and nowhere else. If you want the rest of the range, you drive. That is about an hour and forty minutes from Queenstown through Cromwell and Alexandra, and it is a proper Central Otago run through the gorge and the orchards rather than a slog.

It is the most literal pie worth the drive in the country, because driving is the only way to get one.

And the famous one?

Fairlie Bakehouse, and it is further away than people think. Franz Lieber, an Austrian chef, started it in 2010 at 74 Main Street in Fairlie, and the pork belly pie, with a piece of crackling set on top, has done the rest. It is open seven days from six in the morning until half four. Fairlie is not a Queenstown day trip. It sits on State Highway 8 past Lake Tekapo, so it is a stop on the run north rather than an afternoon out, and it is the natural lunch on the drive up through the Mackenzie.

One thing worth knowing, because it says something about awards generally. Fairlie Bakehouse has never won the Bakels New Zealand Pie Awards. It has taken the South Canterbury People's Choice four times and two categories at the vegan pie awards in 2024, and it entered a lamb pie in 2025 that did not place. It is arguably the most famous pie in the South Island and the national judges have never gone for it. Make of that what you like, then go and eat one.

So who does make the best pie in New Zealand?

Officially, Levain Artisan Bakery. Sean Vo won the 2026 Bakels New Zealand Supreme Pie Award with a bacon and egg. Worth knowing if you were planning a trip around the medals: no Otago bakery took a gold in 2026. The pies on this list are here because they are good and because of where they are, not because a judge said so. Central Otago's pie reputation is built on people driving out and then telling other people, which is a more reliable system than most.

How do you plan a pie run from Queenstown?

Pick the road, not the pie. If you have a morning, Arrowtown and back. If you are heading for Wanaka or Central Otago on a weekday, Cromwell. If you have a full day and you want the drive as much as the lunch, Roxburgh through the Kawarau Gorge and Alexandra. And if you are driving north towards Tekapo, Fairlie is your lunch stop and you will not need to plan anything else around it.

Leave earlier than feels necessary. Every bakery here bakes to a number and the good fillings go first, so anything after two in the afternoon is a lottery you will probably lose.

Getting the car for a pie run

We bring the car to you. Nobody else in Queenstown does that, which is the entire reason Evolve exists. Tell us where you are staying, one of the team meets you there and runs you through the car in person, and you are through the gorge before the good fillings have gone. You can also collect from our office at 153B Glenda Drive in Frankton. Book a car with Evolve Rentals.

If the plan is the long run north and you would rather finish in Christchurch than drive back, get in touch before you book. It is not a standard option but it can usually be arranged.

Not a pie person? Our guide to the dining destinations worth the drive covers the rest of it. And if this is your first time behind the wheel here, driving in New Zealand covers what actually catches visitors out.

FAQs

Where is the best pie near Queenstown?
In Queenstown itself, Ferg Baker on Shotover Street, open every day from six in the morning until two the next. Within twenty minutes, the Arrowtown Bakery on Buckingham Street. Further out, Sanga's in Cromwell at fifty minutes and Jimmy's in Roxburgh at about an hour and forty.

Is Sanga's Pies open at the weekend?
No. Sanga's Pie Co in Cromwell opens Monday to Friday, seven until three, and is closed on Saturday and Sunday. If you are driving out through the Kawarau Gorge at the weekend, plan lunch around something else.

Can you buy Jimmy's Pies outside Roxburgh?
Only the mince ones. Since 2018 the rest of the range has been sold at the Roxburgh bakery at 143 Scotland Street and nowhere else, which is about an hour and forty minutes from Queenstown through Cromwell and Alexandra.

How far is Fairlie Bakehouse from Queenstown?
Far enough that it is not a day trip. Fairlie sits on State Highway 8 beyond Lake Tekapo, so treat it as the lunch stop on the drive north rather than a destination from Queenstown. It is open seven days from six in the morning until half four.