Queenstown, New Zealand, is one of the world’s most famous mountain town destinations. It has branded itself the “Adventure Capital of the World,” due in part to being the birthplace of commercial bungy jumping.
While perhaps bungy jumping is what Queenstown is best known for, the number of adventure sports you can enjoy is seemingly endless. It’s renowned as one of the best downhill ski destinations in the Southern Hemisphere, and with that terrain and infrastructure naturally come mountain bike trails. The region’s bike parks and trail network are widely known to riders around the world due in large part to the professional athletes that flock to Queenstown when it’s cold and snowy in the Northern Hemisphere.
After spending two weeks exploring Queenstown, here’s my uncensored take on this iconic destination.
One of the most beautiful downtown views you’ll find anywhere
Despite doing a fair bit of research before landing in Queenstown, I was still astounded by the incredible beauty of the views directly from downtown. Most of the mountain bike photos and footage from Queenstown are taken on or near the famous (and incredibly scenic) Rude Rock trail, but the terrain Rude Rock passes through is high on a mountainside, and the grasses are usually dry and brown. The city of Queenstown, on the other hand, lies along the shores of expansive Lake Wakatipu, with waters ranging from clear blue to emerald, depending on how the light hits them. Opposite the city, towering mountains rise directly from the water’s edge.
Most of the development is confined to the Queenstown side of the lake, with the opposite side being wild and ruggedly beautiful. The craggy, rocky mountains, cascading waterfalls, and glaciated peaks on the distant ends of the lake are truly breathtaking. The closest comparison I can come up with in the USA are the views of Lake Tahoe, but that doesn’t even come close. Instead, I’m more closely reminded of my time spent along the fjords of Norway — especially the deeper you travel into the nearby wilderness.
Is Queenstown over-touristed?
Unfortunately, since this epic destination is no secret, the city itself can feel chaotic and crowded with tourists from all corners of the globe. There is a particular emphasis on tourism from Australia, China, and Japan, but Brits, Americans, Canadians, and travelers from other European countries also make themselves known.
As one of the most famous mountain destinations in the world, Queenstown is also the #1 tourist destination in New Zealand. I asked numerous locals if they think New Zealand in general and Queenstown in particular are over-touristed, and the responses varied depending on the person. In general, the consensus is that if there’s one place that’s threatening to buckle from the weight of visitation, it is Queenstown.
However, when speaking with locals in the tourism industry with a global perspective, they shared that the challenges New Zealand contends with are nothing compared to cities like Venice and Barcelona. In those terms, the crowds Queenstown has to cope with are still manageable, and the local government is working diligently to chart a path forward so that it will continue to be sustainable in the future.
If you visit with this context in my mind, you won’t be shocked by the throngs of tourists downtown or the commercial offerings on every street corner when you visit. And if you can look past the clamor of tourism and commercial enterprises, you’ll find endless kilometers of rad mountain bike trails to explore.
Queenstown isn’t a great destination for trail riders
While I’ve done a fair bit of bike park riding over the years, my personal MTB preference swings toward long backcountry rides in the high mountains. I’m totally down for long climbs followed by endless descents, and I am more than willing to put in the sweat equity to make it happen (although if there’s a shuttle available, it’s tough to say no). As you may have intuited from my previous article, with three bike parks less than an hour’s drive from downtown, Queenstown is unequivocally a gravity mountain biking destination.
After riding in Queenstown, I realized that lately, I’ve become too quick to assume that every famous mountain bike destination will offer a bevy of trails for all types of riders, no matter the type of mountain biking they enjoy. While it seems like this is the case in many famous North American destinations, as I started exploring the trails in Queenstown, I had to be reminded that this is not true for all destinations.
Morzine, France, highlights this reality. It’s one of the most famous mountain bike destinations in the Alps, but once the lifts stop running, the mountain bike season is over. There are essentially zero pedal-accessed trails in the region.
Now, Queenstown isn’t quite as bad as Morzine, but I still had to dig deep to find a few rides worth the cranking. Here are five fantastic trail rides I discovered outside the bike parks in Queenstown.
Rude Rock and the Dirty Four
The Dirty Four route is a ripping descent from the top of Coronet Peak to the bottom of the valley far below. While only six miles (10km) long, this fantastic trail plummets down 3,700 feet (1,127m) of vertical in that distance. The classic route follows the Dirt Serpent, Rude Rock, Morning Glory, and Hot Rod trails, and some alternative routes are available.
Yes, if you do complete the entire “Dirty Four” route, you’ll begin in the Coronet Bike Park and then descend out of the park. However, you can choose to skip the lift and begin the ride at the top of Rude Rock, thereby staying outside of the bike park.
If you fancy a long climb, the entire ride can be pedal-powered, and you can even pedal to the top of Coronet Peak before the bike park opens via the Coronet XC trail. However, Coronet also runs shuttles from a variety of lower trailheads up to the base of the ski area, which can be booked online. If you simply want to run the Dirty Four from the top of the mountain to the base and don’t want to spend an entire day in the bike park, you can also choose to book a shuttle and a single-ride lift ticket to get you all the way to the top.
Rude Rock is famous for a reason: this gorgeous trail hugs an iconic ridgeline with spectacular views in all directions. And this isn’t just a historic backcountry trail: instead, all four segments of the Dirty Four are purpose-built flow trails with superb berms, tabletop jumps, drops, and more. If anything, the quality of the jumps improves the lower down the trail you go, with the finale on Hot Rod.
Even though you drop almost 3,700 vertical feet, the ride is over way too quickly!
Fernhill and McNearly Gnarly
Fernhill is located directly adjacent to the Ben Lomond trails, but this distinct trail system provides a fantastic — albeit steep — pedal ride from downtown Queenstown. To get to the top, follow Fernhill to the Skyline Road. At the top of the Skyline Gondola, continue climbing on Beeched As to reach the McGazza memorial on top of the mountainside.
From there, you have a variety of descent options ranging from grade 4 to potentially grade 6, depending on who you ask. I ripped down the grade 4 BluGazi, and found the steep, rutted trail to be plenty entertaining.
At the end of BluGazi riders will reach a landing and trail hub. While there are a few options for completing the descent, the McNearly Gnarly flow trail is one of the true local classics: a perfectly-sculpted grade 3 jump trail. It is arguably one of the best-built jump tracks in all of Queenstown.
This impression could be due to the fact that I rode it literally the day after the Queenstown Mountain Bike Club (QMTBC) finished rebuilding the track, so it was in absolutely pristine condition. The QMTBC is responsible for maintaining and building Queenstown’s incredible trail system, and the quality of their work is impeccable.
Coronet Face Water Race to Bush Creek
While staying in historic Arrowtown at the Arrowtown Lodge, I pieced together a loop using trail maps that turned out way better than anticipated! My wife and I pedaled out of Arrowtown using the gravel valley paths to reach the Dan O Connell Climb trail, which grinds up the mountainside adjacent to Hot Rod and Morning Glory — the bottom two segments of the Dirty Four.
We cranked our way up to the junction with the paved road and enjoyed a well-earned snack, admiring the views of the valley below before dropping into the fantastic jumps on Morning Glory.
While you could choose to rip all the way down (and thus have a true pedal-driven singletrack loop on part of the Dirty Four without dealing with shuttles), at the end of Morning Glory, we turned left to traverse across the mountainside on Coronet Face Water Race. This trail follows an old water flume, which was used to divert natural streams toward nearby mining operations.
The views from this elevated ridgeline turned out to be spectacular, and the quality of the singletrack was equally superb! The narrow trail winds across the mountain, with a few short ups and downs. While most of the trail was exposed with great views, in a few spots it dropped into a narrow valley, passing below a small waterfall and winding through towering trees before popping back out into a meadow. In other places, the trail skirts below towering cliffs formed of schist rock, with steep no-fall zones below.
After passing through a saddle, we dropped into Bush Creek for the final descent of the ride. This natural-style backcountry trail is open to two-way traffic, as the multitude of signs telling us to “slow down” emphasized.
Despite the threat of uphill traffic, this classic backcountry descent was too fun to go too slow, so we proceeded with caution, but let ‘er rip! Despite being a weekend, we only saw a handful of people on this trail, and nobody on Coronet Face Water Race. It seems like all the riders are too enamored of the purpose-built flow trails to bother with historic singletrack anymore.
7 Mile Riding Area
The 7 Mile Riding Area is located right on the shores of Lake Wakatipu, just a few miles outside of Queenstown. This tightly-wound network of singletrack is rideable all year long, providing Queenstown locals a welcome singletrack escape even during the doldrums of winter.
The network is divided into two halves: flow and tech. The tech trails have a tight, up-and-down old-school feel to them. The features and the flow (or lack thereof) feel quite similar to the flat, janky trails in Whistler.
The flow side of the network is what you’d imagine, with some fantastic intermediate jump lines.
If you search for it, there’s more woodwork to be found at 7 Mile than in most other places in Queenstown. In particular, the short Buck Land trail has some rad wooden bridges, a wooden roller coaster, skinnies, and drops.
Moke Lake Loop to Lake Dispute
7 Mile doesn’t offer much in the way of sustained pedaling, so for a longer loop, consider beginning at the same trailhead (Wilson’s Bay), pedaling through the 7 Mile network, and then climbing up to nearby Moke Lake. Most of the climb follows a dirt road, but according to locals, the views from the lake are spectacular!
“Moke Lake is a lovely, peaceful multi-use track enjoyed by bikers and walkers alike,” said Nikki Atkinson, Marketing for QMTBC. “It is an undulating track that takes you right around the outskirts of the lake with a great viewpoint at the top of the lake and surrounding mountains.”
The rip back down the mountainside follows a backcountry-style trail past Dispute Lake that’s mostly singletrack, with a few wider 4WD sections mixed in. According to Atkinson, this remote section of trail is also remarkably beautiful. The Dispute Lake trail “then links up with Phoenix, which is a fun MTB-only grade 3 trail that pops you out at Wilson’s Bay, meaning you can end your ride with a refreshing dip in the lake!”
Off the bike
Accommodation and dining: The Sherwood
The Sherwood is an eco-friendly hotel that offers so much more than mere accommodation. Beautiful rooms encircle a courtyard with a common area, reception, and amenities like a yoga room and a sauna. The Sherwood is also home to a delectable upscale restaurant that serves organic food grown on-site which is renowned throughout the community. The restaurant is so popular that it routinely attracts diners who aren’t even staying at the hotel. Consequently, dinner reservations are highly recommended.
While many companies greenwash their operations to make them appear more eco-friendly than they actually are, the Sherwood truly follows through on their environment-friendly initiatives. Their commitment began by purchasing a distressed property and choosing to renovate it instead of building an entirely new complex. While oftentimes it’s easier (and even cheaper) to simply construct a new building, the Sherwood went through the hard work of turning an existing building into a trendy, modern facility that’s highly rated by travelers who’ve stayed there: it is ranked in the world’s top 10 most sustainable hotels by Expedia travelers.
Prices start at ~$270 NZD per night, and several different types of rooms are available. Book at SherwoodQueenstown.nz.
Accommodation: more recommended options
Activity: Winery tour
If you’d prefer a more relaxed activity than bungy jumping, consider a winery tour in the Gibbston Valley. Even though this is included in the “off the bike” section, one of the best ways to tour the many Gibbston Valley wineries is, in fact, by bike. The network of gravel valley paths leads to most of the wineries in the region, including the eponymous Gibbston Valley Winery & Restaurant — the oldest winery in the region.
While you can easily coordinate your own winery tour for free using your mountain bikes, some commercial operations offer e-bike rentals and even shuttle services for point-to-point rides.
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