About Arrowtown

Gold rush history meets glorious nature - charming, “don’t miss” for Queenstown visitors. Cafés and shops on Arrowtown’s heritage main street, sit in a beautiful outdoors mecca.

You’ll be enchanted by Historic Arrowtown, a New Zealand treasure, with its beautiful buildings and famed nature trails. It is a scenic 25 minute drive from Queenstown, and a popular winter base for international ski teams. Arrowtown is charming and quirky - a delightful gold rush village nestled below the beautiful peaks that surround the sparkling Arrow River.
The heart of its history is Buckingham Street, a procession of small town heritage buildings that stretch into a tree lined avenue of tiny miners’ cottages. The buildings in this lovely precinct, house shops, galleries, bars, and restaurants – many classy, most individual, not one from an international chain. It is a wonderful place to browse and relax, enjoying the dining, the shopping, and soaking up Arrowtown’s lively heritage.
This alpine setting hosts the famed Arrowtown trails, a network of attractive walking and cycling routes, many suiting beginners. Also loved, are three beautiful golf courses only five minutes from the main street– Millbrook Resort, The Hills, and Arrowtown Golf Club. Many of Arrowtown’s early gold miners were adventurous Chinese, and the remains of their very separate village lie by the river.
Buckingham Street is home to the Lakes District Museum with its memorable display of life in a goldfields town. It’s also the Information Centre - a first stop for maps and local information, where you will be well looked after. If you’d enjoy making Arrowtown the uncrowded holiday base for your visit to New Zealand’s Queenstown region, there are varied accommodation choices. Expect a friendly welcome.