Wanaka has been blessed with a beauty so dramatic that it’ll change the way you see how you fit into the world, along with the kind of wild soul-stirring backcountry that will make your heart soar along with the wide endless vistas.
The best part is there are myriad ways to enjoy it (either by helicopter, jetboat, kayak) but there’s something very special about experiencing it all in your car on your own steam.
It’s a place that’ll have you craving to see what’s around every turn but to get you started here are 3 of our favourite drives that’ll enrich your mind, alter your perspective and basically make you feel more alive in general.
1. Crown Range Road
Queenstown is the main airport that services visitors to Wanaka and so you’re most likely going to start your trip off here, which is perfect because it leads on to one of the most breathtaking stretches of bitumen on this list. Therefore, try to push for a daytime or even late afternoon arrival. In summer the sun doesn’t set until just past 9pm so you can take your time, stopping at the various lookout points.
This also happens to be the one that takes you right to Wanaka town so bonus points for killing two birds with one stone.
The signs from the airport are clearly marked at the turnoff past Lake Hayes. From there all you need to do put on some super emotional piano music and feel like you’re in the world’s most resplendent car commercial.
No jokes, if you’re the type of person that measures bang for buck while on your holiday you’ll be thanking your lucky stars for the luxury of your own vehicle. We promise you’ll start feeling the wow factor right around the first corner.
Pull over at one of the lookouts on the Queenstown side and take in staggering views across the snow-dotted peaks of The Remarkables and historic Arrowtown.
However, once you cross onto the Wanaka side things take an even more majestic turn, with the road hugged by the lusty ridges of the Cardrona Valley and driving past skyscraper-lengthed waterfalls endlessly pouring off the side of the peaks. It’s legitimately so beautiful we almost tear up just thinking about it.
TIP:
Take it easy around the bends and don’t get stressed out if you see someone trailing behind you. There are a number of places to pull over for overtaking, just slide in and let them pass rather than speed up. Remember this is all about enjoying the view.
Also, in the winter months (May to September) tyre chains are often required so be sure to ask your rental agency about whether they’re included in the cost.
2. State Highway 6 to Makarora
The remote community of Makarora is your go-to destination for experiences like flying through the Siberia Valley or a coffee stop off on route to jumping into the iconically pristine Blue Pools. To be honest though, by the time you’re done with State Highway 6, we think you’ll agree that getting there is half the adventure.
The whole journey from Wanaka should take you about an hour and is approximately 64km of lakeside road, caressing the alpine mountains of Haast Pass.
From town, start the journey by heading northwest McDougall Street towards Warren Street. Follow this course until you turn right onto Brownston Street. Then you take a slight right onto State Highway 84. Finally, veer left onto State Highway 6. From here you just follow this highway all the way. It’s pretty much impossible to get lost.
It’s hard to explain the feelings that overcome you on this drive but it’s something close to fighting the urge the stop and enjoy the views, all the way to wanting to keep going because Lake Hawea on your right just seems to look it’s best while in motion. There’s just so much to see your eyes almost won’t be able to cope.
We’re not overstating it when we say that something about the aspect just taps into your raw humanity and you’ll likely get a pull at the top of your stomach around every corner. That, friends, is awe. Pure and simple.
TIP: On the way out of Wanaka you’ll come across a few one-way bridges. Some of them can creep up on you faster than a Huntsman spider on a windscreen so keep an eye on the speed signs and take them super slow. The reality is if you don’t you could wind up in a head-on crash that’s really going to ruin your day.
3. Wanaka-Mount Aspiring Road to Diamond Lake
Many take this trip to get to Diamond Lake Hike, a particularly striking stretch of wilderness that caters to medium fitness walkers (you can opt to climb to the pristine lake and have a swim, or carry on up the stairs that wrap around the cliffs towards the Diamond Lookout. Trust us, it’s only 20 minutes more and entirely worth the sweat).
But we digress and this is Wanaka so we’ve already established that the route to get here is guaranteed make-your-heart-soar stunning. Leave town via McDougall Street, then turn right onto Ardmore Street which eventually merges into Mount Aspiring Road.
The entire valley that this travels through was carved by ancient glaciers and in summer you’ll pass a number of rushing waterfalls, often only revealing themselves up close and the mysterious fogs that sometimes float around the ridges disperse. When you look at the jagged cuts in the large rock formations (made by thawing ice) you can’t help but feel very small, very humble and temporary — but in a good way.
It’s hard to explain but that’s what makes it so magical.
Don’t want to drive yourself?
That’s okay and totally fair if you’ve taken on one of the suggestions above and are sick of having to pull over every time you turn a corner because your eyes just can’t handle the view.
We get it.
A Wild Hills Safari tour with Ridgeline Adventures Wanaka is one way to guarantee you see a side of Wanaka that some visitors never even see and enjoy views that even 90% of locals don’t even have access to.
The Ridgeline 4x4s have exclusive rights to the iconic cliffside land that wraps around the lake (part of one of the largest working homesteads in the country). It’s the equivalent of 8500 football fields of rolling alpine hillsides dotted with roaming red elk, alpacas and soaring falcons in the skies above.
