Luxury holidays in Queenstown

When to go

Winter (June to September) is peak time for ski buffs, with blue skies, white slopes and crisply cool temperatures. The rest of the year, the city and its spectacular natural surrounds warm up for walking, watersports and more extreme thrills and spills.

Getting there

• Planes

  Catch a direct flight to Queenstown Airport (www.queenstownairport.co.nz), eight kilometres east of town, from Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch with Air New Zealand (www.airnewzealand.co.nz), or from Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, Australia. Qantas (www.qantas.com.au) also flies to Queenstown from Kiwi cities Auckland, Christchurch and Rotorua and major Oz cities; and Jetstar routes in from Auckland and Christchurch (www.jetstar.com). Mainland Air (www.mainlandair.com) offers charter flights across the South Island. From the airport, a taxi into town costs around NZ$25.

• Boats

  Cruise across Lake Wakatipu on the evocative, steam-powered TSS Earnslaw (www.zqn.co.nz/earnslaw), with the option of a barbecue and farmyard tour at Walter Peak High Country Farm.

• Trains

  NZ’s limited, geographically challenged rail service doesn’t extend to Queenstown, but you can hop aboard the Kingston Flyer (www.kingstonflyer.co.nz) for a 14-kilometre heritage steam train ride between Kingston and Fairlight, on the southern edge of Lake Wakatipu.

• Automobiles

  If you’re based in Queenstown you won’t need a car, as it’s small and pleasantly walkable. However, to explore the surrounding area a car is invaluable. All the major car hire firms have offices at the airport or you can try one of the local companies. Around town the Connectabus (www.connectabus.com) has three colour-coded routes.

• Taxis

  There is a taxi rank on Camp Street; local firms include Alpine Taxis (03 442 6666) and Queenstown Taxis (03 442 7788).