The drives most visitors never take

Bannockburn: gold, schist, and a long lunch in the sun

Bannockburn sits about 20 minutes south of Queenstown, past Cromwell and up into a dry, rust-coloured landscape that feels completely removed from the lake town you just left. It's gold rush country — and the evidence is still very much there. The Sluicings is the most striking reminder: a walking track through the remains of the hydraulic sluicing operations that tore through the hillside in the late 1800s, leaving behind a sculptural maze of carved rock faces, abandoned channels, and tailings that look almost architectural. It takes less than an hour to walk, and it's worth every minute.

The Bannockburn wine scene is quietly excellent, with a handful of boutique producers making Central Otago Pinot Noir in a sub-region that has its own distinct character. Most cellar doors are unpretentious and genuinely warm; this isn't the Gibbston crowd. If you want a proper tasting, check ahead which are open on the day you're going, and allow yourself to linger.

For lunch, you have two excellent options. Mt Difficulty Wines has a restaurant that makes full use of the views, with food that's genuinely good, not just pretty, and a wine list you'll want to work through slowly. The Bannockburn Hotel is a different experience entirely: a restored country pub with a relaxed feel and a menu that doesn't try too hard. Both are worth going to; the choice depends on the kind of afternoon you're after. If you've already done a long lunch in Gibbston, Bannockburn offers a different mood entirely: quieter, more unhurried.

Clyde: the heritage town that time forgot (in a good way)

Clyde is about 45 minutes from Queenstown — just past Cromwell on the road to Alexandra. It's one of those Central Otago towns that managed to hold onto its character: stone buildings, quiet streets, a scale that feels genuinely historic rather than reconstructed. If you've only ever driven through on the way to somewhere else, you've missed it.

Olivers is the anchor of the town — a restaurant and lodge set across a cluster of beautifully restored 19th-century stone buildings. Lunch here is the kind of meal you don't rush. The courtyard is one of the better places to sit in the whole region on a warm day, and the menu draws on local produce in a way that feels earned rather than marketed. Go without a reservation during high season at your peril.

After lunch, the main street repays a slow wander. There are independent shops — not souvenir stalls — with the kind of things worth actually buying. A good bookshop, a few galleries, a deli or two. It's a small town, so you won't need more than an hour, but that hour is a pleasant one.

Kinloch: beyond Glenorchy, where the road runs out

The drive to Glenorchy along the western shore of Lake Wakatipu is one of the most photographed roads in New Zealand — deservedly so. But most visitors turn around in Glenorchy. The ones who keep going find Kinloch, another 20 minutes further up the unsealed road at the head of the lake, and they tend to feel like they've discovered something.

Kinloch Lodge sits at the end of that road in a way that feels almost improbable — a genuinely charming lodge and restaurant in a setting that's remote without being inaccessible. Lunch there is worth going for on its own. The food is straightforward and good, the environment is unlike anywhere else you'll eat in the region, and the surrounding landscape — mountains, water, silence — is the whole point. Come hungry, stay for a walk along the lake afterwards.

Note: the road to Kinloch beyond Glenorchy is gravel. It's well maintained and manageable in a standard rental car, but take it steady. Allow around an hour each way from Queenstown to Kinloch, more if you stop in Glenorchy on the way. A clear day makes this drive one of the best in the South Island.

Coronet Peak in summer: the mountain without the crowds

Most people think of Coronet Peak purely as a ski field. In winter it is — one of New Zealand's best. But drive up in summer and you get something entirely different: a mountain road that winds through high-country farmland, opening out at the top into sweeping views over the Wakatipu Basin that stop most first-timers in their tracks.

There's no chairlift running, no café at the top, nothing commercial. That's exactly why it works. You park, you walk, you take in the view — Queenstown tiny in the distance, the Remarkables across the basin, the Wakatipu stretched out below you. On a clear day the light up there is extraordinary. On a windy day it's bracing in the best possible sense.

Combine this with a late breakfast in Arrowtown on the way up, or pair it with an afternoon in Gibbston on the way back. The summit road is sealed and well-maintained, and the drive itself — not just the view at the top — is worth it. If you're planning a full day around it, ask us for suggestions; we keep a running list of what's worth your time around the region.