The adventure capital of the world on a lake under the Remarkables — bungy, jetboats, Pinot Noir and Milford Sound four hours down the road
✈ International🛂 Visa — NZ Visitor Visa💱 NZ$
NZ$8,213
Est. total budget
6
Days
10
Attractions
16
Meals planned
💡 Recommended trip length for Queenstown: 6 days — the Skyline gondola, a Milford Sound day, the Earnslaw to Walter Peak, Glenorchy, Arrowtown and a bungy if you dare.
🗓 Prices & visa rules verified: August 2026
1
Arrival Day
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2
Day 2 — a free sample of your itinerary
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☕
08:00
☕Breakfast
Eggs and a flat white at a lakefront café.
NZ$16.05 /person (est.)
🍇
10:15
🍇Gibbston Valley Wineries· Gibbston
🕒 10:00–17:00 · Last entry 15:00 · Tastings are NZ$15-30 and often refunded against a bottle. Do NOT drive this yourself after tasting — NZ enforcement is strict and the limit is low. Guided tours from town are NZ$120-180, or ride the Gibbston River Trail between the cellar doors.
NZ$25.00⏱ 2 hours
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12:30
🍔Lunch
A Fergburger, or a pie from the bakery in Arrowtown.
NZ$32.09 /person (est.)
Gibbston Valley Wineries → Kawarau Bridge Bungy
🚌~20 min by bus · 20 km east, tour or bike trail → 23 km east on SH6
🪂
13:50
🪂Kawarau Bridge Bungy· Gibbston
🕒 09:00–17:00 · Last entry 15:30 · NZ$205 including the T-shirt and a shuttle from town. Minimum age 10, minimum weight 35 kg. The viewing platform and café are free, so the non-jumpers in your group lose nothing. Photos and video are a further NZ$60 and they will push hard for it.
NZ$205.00⏱ 2 hoursadventure
Kawarau Bridge Bungy → Arrowtown
🚌~40 min by bus · 23 km east on SH6 → 20 km northeast, bus or car
🏘
16:30
🏘Arrowtown· Arrowtown
🕒 Open all day · The town is free to walk; the Lakes District Museum is NZ$12 and hands out gold pans. Come in April for the Autumn Festival if you can — the whole valley turns and the town is at its best. Twenty minutes from Queenstown, and easy to pair with Gibbston on the same loop.
NZ$12.00⏱ 2.5 hoursculture
🍷
19:15
🍷Dinner
Lamb or green-lipped mussels with a Central Otago Pinot.
NZ$57.05 /person (est.)
3
Day 3
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4
Day 4
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5
Day 5
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6
Departure Day
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🔒 You're viewing 1 of 6 days. Unlock to open the other 5 fully-planned days.
✈️FlightsNZ$3,530
Per person · return from IndiaNZ$1,765
Total · 2 adultsNZ$3,530
🏨AccommodationNZ$846.85
3-Star hotel · per night (per room)NZ$169.37
5 nights × 1 roomNZ$846.85
🎭Attractions & ActivitiesNZ$1,694
Milford Sound Day TourNZ$500.00
Skyline Gondola & LugeNZ$162.00
TSS Earnslaw & Walter PeakNZ$210.00
Kawarau Bridge BungyNZ$410.00
ArrowtownNZ$24.00
Gibbston Valley WineriesNZ$50.00
Shotover JetNZ$338.00
Total (all pax)NZ$1,694
🍽️Food & DiningNZ$1,116
🌅 Breakfast × 5d × 2 paxNZ$160.46
☀ Lunch × 6d × 2 paxNZ$385.10
🌙 Dinner × 5d × 2 paxNZ$570.51
Total food & diningNZ$1,116
🚇Local TransportNZ$144.00
Per person · per day (public transit)NZ$12.00
6 days × 2 paxNZ$144.00
🛂Visa — NZ Visitor VisaNZ$882.01
Entry typeVisitor visa — Indians are NOT eligible for the NZeTA
FeeNZ$341 application + NZ$100 IVL = NZ$441 per person
ProcessApply online at immigration.govt.nz (RealMe), or on paper via VFS
ProcessingOnline typically 6-9 working days; allow 3 weeks to be safe
StayUp to 9 months, visa valid 18 months
TipThe fee is non-refundable if declined. Show funds (~NZ$1,000/month), return tickets and ties to India.
Estimated Grand Total
Queenstown · 6 days · 2 adults
NZ$8,213
Estimate · 2 adults, 3-star. Your dates, group & final plan set inside the full itinerary.
In your Itinerary
10 attractions
✓ All 10 attractions with descriptions, opening hours & ticket prices. Your personalised day-by-day plan unlocks with the full itinerary.
✓ Day 2
01 / 10
🪂 Kawarau Bridge Bungy
Gibbston
adventure
2 hours
🕒 09:00–17:00
The bridge where commercial bungy was invented in 1988 — 43 metres over the Kawarau river, with the option of being dipped in it. Watching from the platform costs nothing and is nearly as good.
✓ Day 2
02 / 10
🏘 Arrowtown
Arrowtown
culture
2.5 hours
A gold-rush town of 1860s cottages under an avenue of sycamores, with the restored huts of the Chinese miners' settlement along the creek — and in April, the best autumn colour in the country.
✓ Day 2
03 / 10
🍇 Gibbston Valley Wineries
Gibbston
leisure
2 hours
🕒 10:00–17:00
The world's southernmost commercial wine region, growing Pinot Noir on schist terraces above the Kawarau gorge — cellar doors along a few kilometres of road, and a wine cave cut into the hillside.
04 / 10
🏔 Milford Sound Day Tour
Fiordland
nature
4 hours
🕒 09:00–17:00
Through Te Anau and the Homer Tunnel into a fiord where 1,200-metre walls drop straight into black water — Mitre Peak, Stirling Falls close enough to soak the bow, and seals and dolphins if the day is kind.
05 / 10
🚡 Skyline Gondola & Luge
Queenstown
leisure
2.5 hours
🕒 09:00–21:00
The steepest cable car lift in the southern hemisphere up Bob's Peak, to a terrace looking straight down on the town, the lake and the Remarkables — plus a concrete luge track you ride a cart down.
06 / 10
🚗 Glenorchy & Paradise Scenic Drive
Glenorchy
nature
3 hours
Forty-five kilometres along the lake on what is regularly called New Zealand's finest road, to a red boatshed, a braided river delta and the beech valleys beyond that stood in for Isengard and Lothlórien.
07 / 10
🚢 TSS Earnslaw & Walter Peak
Walter Peak
leisure
3.5 hours
🕒 10:00–19:00
A 1912 coal-fired steamship — still burning coal, engine room open to walk through — crossing the lake to a high-country sheep station for a sheepdog demonstration and shearing on the far shore.
08 / 10
🌲 Queenstown Gardens & Lakefront
Queenstown
nature
1.5 hours
A peninsula of old sequoias and rose beds jutting into Lake Wakatipu, with a frisbee golf course, a pond, and a shoreline walk back into town past the jetty where the Earnslaw ties up.
09 / 10
🚤 Shotover Jet
Arthurs Point
adventure
1.5 hours
🕒 09:00–16:30
Twenty-five minutes at 85 km/h through the Shotover canyons, centimetres from rock walls, with a 360-degree spin whenever the driver raises a finger — the only operator allowed in the canyons themselves.
10 / 10
🌅 Lake Wakatipu Sunset
Queenstown
leisure
2 hours
The Remarkables turn pink first, then the light goes down the lake in a long fade — from the beach by the gardens, from Queenstown Hill, or from the deck of a bar on the waterfront.
✓ All 3 stops on your Day 2 route. Unlock to see all 10 attractions mapped across your full itinerary.
✓ All 10 tips — visa, airport transfer & ways to spend less.
🛬
Airport → your hotel
Queenstown Airport (ZQN) is only 8 km from town and the approach between the mountains is famous in its own right. The Orbus route 1 runs to the town centre every 15 minutes for a flat NZ$4 with a Bee Card (NZ$5 in cash) — one of the best-value airport buses anywhere. A taxi or Uber is NZ$35–45, and most hotels run shuttles. Note there are no international flights from India: you will connect through Auckland, Christchurch, Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane. Verified Aug 2026.
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Ways to spend less
The scenery is free and the adrenaline is not. Queenstown Gardens, the lakefront, Queenstown Hill, the Glenorchy road, Arrowtown and every viewing platform at the bungy sites cost nothing. Pick one or two paid thrills rather than all of them.
Milford Sound from Te Anau instead of Queenstown cuts four hours of coach time and about NZ$70 — worth it if you are driving the South Island anyway.
Combo passes from AJ Hackett (bungy + swing) and Skyline (gondola + luge + dinner) save 15-25% against buying separately.
A Bee Card makes every Orbus route NZ$4 flat, including the airport and Arrowtown — the same trips are NZ$5 in cash.
Book accommodation early and avoid late December to early February if you can; Queenstown room rates in peak summer are roughly double the shoulder season.
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Emergencies
111 — police, fire and ambulance. Free, 24/7. Queenstown has a 24-hour medical centre; anything serious goes to Dunedin or Invercargill. ACC covers accident treatment even for visitors, but not illness — take insurance anyway.
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SIM & data
One NZ, Spark and 2degrees sell prepaid SIMs at the airport and in town. Coverage is good in Queenstown and patchy to non-existent on the Milford road and beyond Glenorchy — download offline maps before you drive.
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Best time to visit
Remember the seasons are inverted. December to February is warm summer with 22:00 daylight and peak prices; March to May brings the autumn colour that Arrowtown is famous for; June to August is ski season (Coronet Peak, the Remarkables) and the town is busy again; September to November is the quietest and cheapest, with snow still on the tops.
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Getting around
Queenstown town centre is entirely walkable. Orbus routes cover Arrowtown, Frankton and the airport at NZ$4 flat with a Bee Card. For Glenorchy and the wineries you really want a car — NZ$60-90 a day. Drive on the LEFT, as in India; roads are narrow, winding and often single-lane bridges, and the police enforce the drink-drive limit hard.
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Visa for Indians
Indian passport holders need a full Visitor Visa — the NZeTA does NOT apply to India. Apply online through Immigration New Zealand's RealMe portal: NZ$341 plus the NZ$100 International Visitor Levy, so NZ$441 a head, non-refundable. Online decisions usually take 6-9 working days but allow three weeks. If you are combining with Australia, note they are entirely separate visas.
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Food to try
Lamb, green-lipped mussels, whitebait fritters in season, hokey pokey ice cream, and Central Otago Pinot Noir from the valley next door. Queenstown has several Indian restaurants and a couple of pure-veg options — but book, because the town's restaurant capacity is small for the number of visitors.
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This is an expensive town
Queenstown prices are high even by New Zealand standards — activities are NZ$100-300 each, a main course is NZ$35-45, and peak-summer rooms are roughly double the shoulder season. The trip is very controllable, though: the walks, viewpoints, gardens and drives are all free, so the budget is really a question of how many paid activities you book.
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Milford Sound eats a whole day
It is 290 km each way with no fuel between Te Anau and the sound, and the road can close for avalanche control in winter. A coach tour is 12-13 hours door to door. Do not schedule anything for that evening, do not attempt it as a self-drive on the day you fly out, and take the rain as a bonus rather than a disappointment.