10 Queenstown Hotels on the Lake Side of the Road

Queenstown sits on a bend of Lake Wakatipu with the Remarkables rising straight out of the far shore, and the town is squeezed between the water and the hills. There is essentially one road along the lake in each direction, and the hotels sit on one side of it or the other.

The lake side means the water is at the bottom of the garden and the Remarkables fill the window. The hill side means a road, a car park and a view over a roof, at a rate that is frequently only slightly lower.

Why the road is the dividing line

Queenstown is a small town that receives a very large number of visitors, and its lakefront is short. The stretch from the town centre round through Sunshine Bay and out to Fernhill on one side, and toward Kelvin Heights and Frankton on the other, is where the lake-facing rooms are, and there are not many of them.

The town centre itself is walkable, loud in season and where the bars and restaurants are. The lakefront properties a few minutes out are quiet, and in a town where the point is the view rather than the nightlife, that trade usually goes the right way.

The other consideration is Arrowtown, twenty minutes away: a preserved gold-rush village with the best autumn colour in New Zealand and a completely different pace.

The ten below are grouped by position on the lake.

The lake edge, in and beside town

Water at the bottom of the garden.

Eichardt's Private Hotel occupies the original 1860s building on the town's waterfront, with a handful of suites facing directly down the lake and a bar that has been the centre of Queenstown for over a century. It is the best position in town and the smallest hotel on this list.

Rosewood Matakauri sits on a hillside above the lake a few minutes from town, with a lodge of suites facing the Remarkables across the water, a spa and a level of service that is the best in New Zealand.

Azur Lodge occupies a wooded site above the lake with individual glass-fronted villas among the trees, each with an uninterrupted view and complete privacy. It is the most secluded property here.

The Spire Hotel Queenstown sits on the Kelvin Heights peninsula across the bay with a long lakefront, several restaurants and the widest view of the town and the mountains. It is a ferry or a ten-minute drive from the centre.

The town centre

Walkable to the restaurants, the gondola and the bars. Louder, and closer to everything.

Hotel St Moritz, Queenstown - MGallery Collection occupies a position above the town centre with lake-facing rooms, a spa and a short walk down to the waterfront.

Crowne Plaza Queenstown by IHG sits on the lakefront in the centre with the most reliable large-hotel operation in town and rooms facing the water.

QT Queenstown occupies a building on the town's edge with a design-led interior, a good bar and rooms over the lake.

Hulbert House is a restored 1888 house on the hill above the centre with five rooms, a garden and complete quiet, five minutes' walk from the bars.

Above the town and out at Arrowtown

Kamana Lakehouse sits high above Queenstown with floor-to-ceiling glass facing down the lake, a restaurant with the best view in the region and rates below the lakefront lodges. The position is the entire product.

Millbrook Resort occupies a golf and spa estate near Arrowtown, twenty minutes from Queenstown, with cottages among the fairways and the best autumn colour in the country outside the gate.

What we have left off

The motels and apartment blocks along Frankton Road are excluded, and they are how most visitors afford Queenstown in high season. They face a busy road on the wrong side of it, and in a town where the view is the entire reason for the trip, that is the wrong economy.

What to do

Take the Skyline gondola up Bob's Peak at sunset. It is the standard thing and the view down the lake justifies it.

Do something on the water: the TSS Earnslaw steamship to Walter Peak, a jet boat up the Shotover, or simply the ferry across to Kelvin Heights.

Drive to Glenorchy along the lake, which is forty minutes of the best road in New Zealand, and walk part of the Routeburn or Milford tracks from the far end.

Milford Sound is a long day: four hours each way by road, or a flight, and worth it in either format.

In winter this is a ski town, with four fields within an hour. In autumn, Arrowtown's colour is the reason many New Zealanders come.

Wine: the Gibbston valley is twenty minutes out and the pinot noir is among the best in the southern hemisphere.

Practical notes

Queenstown airport is ten minutes from town and the approach is spectacular and occasionally weather-affected.

The seasons are inverted. December to February is summer and peak, with long days. March to May is autumn, the best-value window and the prettiest. June to August is the ski season and busy again. Spring is quiet and changeable.

A car is useful for Glenorchy, Arrowtown and the wine, and unnecessary within the town.

Questions people actually ask

Is a lake-view room worth the supplement?

In Queenstown more than most places. The view is the reason to come and the supplement is usually modest.

Town centre or out on the lake?

Centre for restaurants and walking, lakefront for quiet and the view. They are minutes apart.

Is Queenstown too touristy?

The centre is very busy in season. Five minutes along the lake it stops, and the surrounding country is empty.

How many nights?

Four. Three for the town and the lake, and a fourth for Milford or Glenorchy.

If you only book one

Search 4 and 5 star hotels in Queenstown, New Zealand