Queenstown Walks: Every Track With The Authority's Own Time

The Queenstown Trails Trust is the charitable trust that plans and builds the shared-use network, one of New Zealand's 23 Great Rides. DOC publishes the same trails in its brochure, quoting the trust for some figures and measuring others itself. Where the two differ, we print both.

The rule that unlocks all of it

DOC states its own convention at the top of the brochure: all times and distances given are one way and based on walking, unless otherwise stated, and the times given are an approximate guide only. But for the Queenstown Trail sections it adds a second convention — those times are for biking. So a single DOC figure can mean a one-way ride while the trust's figure for the same trail means a return walk.

The practical habit: before you commit to a trail day, note which authority the number came from and whether it says one way, return, walking or biking. On this page every figure carries all four.

And one disagreement inside a single authority

DOC's own two publications differ on Ben Lomond. Its track page summary says 11 km return to the summit; the route description on the same page says 14 km return; the March 2025 brochure says 13 to 15 km. The times are identical everywhere — 5 hours to the saddle, 6 to 8 hours to the summit. The Ben Lomond page prints all of them and plans on the clock instead.

DOC runs the Routeburn's 2026/27 Great Walk season from 1 November 2026 to 30 April 2027, and bookings for it are open. Inside that season a bunk in a hut costs a New Zealand resident $51.40 (NZ$88) a night, while an international visitor pays $77.10 (NZ$132) for the same bunk. Outside the season the two-tier pricing disappears entirely and everyone pays the same $20.40 (NZ$35) or $17.52 (NZ$30) a night, because DOC stops servicing and managing the track — and that is the catch, not a bargain.

What the cheaper months actually mean

DOC's own wording for the shoulder is that from May to late October conditions can be challenging, and the practical version is harder than that sounds: outside the Great Walk season the avalanche hazard on the track is not managed, and the Routeburn crosses more than thirty avalanche paths. Walkers have to read the avalanche terrain rating and the New Zealand Avalanche Advisory themselves. Risk can run into December.

So the low-season price is the price of a mountaineering trip, not a discounted Great Walk. Book the summer season, pay the fee for your residency, and treat the winter rate as irrelevant unless you are equipped for alpine travel.

Getting to the start

The Routeburn Shelter sits 25 km beyond Glenorchy on a partially unsealed road, Glenorchy is about 45 km up the lake from Queenstown, and the far end of the track, The Divide, is 85 km from Te Anau — which is why the shuttle is part of the plan rather than an extra. The Glenorchy page covers the road up the lake.

Four of the walks on this page start where a bus stops, which is more than most visitors realise. Orbus route 1 runs Sunshine Bay to Remarkables Shops through the town centre; route 2 links the Frankton Hub with Arrowtown; and the passenger ferry crosses between Queenstown Bay and Frankton Marina, which turns the Frankton Arm walkway into a one-way walk with a boat home — the single best carless plan in the district. Fares below are the Otago Regional Council's own, and two buses inside 45 minutes count as one journey.

The ones that genuinely need wheels

Moke Lake is 6 km west of town with about 7 km of gravel road, 4WD-only in winter by DOC's own description. Bob's Cove is 14 km along the Glenorchy road. The Remarkables ski area road climbs with an unsealed final stretch and a road toll outside the ski season that DOC mentions but does not price.

Lake Hayes has three start points and no bus. For those, hire a car for the day or take a guided day that already drives the route — the day trips hub sets out which destinations have a coach or minibus option.

Dogs. The Queenstown Trails Trust states that all its listed trails are dog friendly, which covers the Frankton, Twin Rivers, Arrow River Bridges and Gibbston routes. DOC bans dogs on Ben Lomond outright. For most other DOC tracks in the brochure the dog rule is simply absent, so assume nothing and check the signage at the trailhead.

Bikes. The shared-use trails are built for them and DOC asks walkers to keep left while riders pass on the right. Mountain biking is banned on both sides of the Moke Lake peninsula because of erosion, with riders directed to the western side of the lake, and it is not permitted on the loop to Picnic Point at Bob's Cove. On Ben Lomond the problem runs the other way: downhill bike tracks cross the walking track and DOC calls those crossings unsafe for walkers.

Fires. The area between Rat Point and Arthurs Point, Ben Lomond included, is a designated High Fire Risk Zone with a year-round ban on outdoor fires.

What nobody publishes

It is worth knowing what does not exist. DOC prints its grade scale in the brochure but attaches no grade symbol to Queenstown Hill, Sunshine Bay, Bob's Cove, the Gardens loop or the Tiki Trail. No elevation gain is published for any short walk in the district.

The trust never uses the word free about its trails: it publishes no charge, ticket or pass anywhere and funds the network by donation and sponsorship, which is a different statement and the honest one to repeat. And its live banner outranks any printed time — when we last read it, parts of the Arrow River Bridges Trail, Bush Creek and Coronet Loop were closed for heavy-rain damage and works, with a detour on the Frankton Track.