There’s very few things to do in Wanaka and hopefully it’ll stay that way because when you go there, you’ll realise the only thing you’ll want to do is admire the scenery and enjoy the lack of people. If you’re one of those people who has to always have something to do, there’s only thing that I’d say you should do when you go to Wanaka, and that’s hike up Roy’s Peak, for one of the best views anywhere in the World. Update 2019: Roy’s Peak is now, unfortunately, a complete shit show thanks to social media. Every man and his dog goes up there and I now don’t even attempt to go up there as there’s just too many people.
Starting point is the Roys Peak Track car park (see it on Toucan’s Wanaka Map), you can walk there but it’s a few km’s out of town. If you’ve read everything in my Wanaka travel guide, you’ll have hired a car and can drive there, a few minutes from the town. If you’re there in summer, go early, like before sunrise because it can get very hot in the afternoon. On a side note, my sister and I hiked up there a few years ago and saw a couple of Asians walking up, one in jeans, it was only about 25 degrees, but with the sun, he’ll have go burnt to toast within 30 minutes and there’s no way he’d have made in even half way to the top. People – Mt Roy is not a hike where jeans are suitable.
Anyway, if you read some of the travel or things to do in Wanaka guides, they’ll be telling it’s a whole day affair and it takes 4-6 hrs to get up to the top. That may very well be true, if you are in a wheelchair, have one leg, or are a tortoise. We got up to the top in about 2 hrs, going at a reasonable pace. If you are superfit and do a lot of hiking and trail running, you can probably do it in less. I’d call myself moderately fit, I either run or hike 4-5 times a week but nothing ironman like. For those of you in Hong Kong – if you can hike up Sunset Peak and Lantau Peak back to back, you should be right.
Roys Peak is longer, but there’s no stairs. For the average person I’d day allow 2-3 hrs to get up. If you don’t do any exercise then you’ll be much longer. It’s a nice hike (or rather walk) and there’s views all the way up. When you get to the top, it’s spectacular, magnificent, awesome, whatever superlative you want to use. You can read my blog post about hiking up Roy’s Peak here. For those less fit or with less time, it’s worth climbing up Mt Iron, which is much easier and can be done by anybody. I say climb, but it’s really just a leisurely walk. If you run up, you can get up in 20 minutes, a leisurely walk will take around 45 minutes. It’s high enough to give you some decent views over Lake Wanaka but nothing compare to Roy’s Peak. Mt Iron is suitable for kids too. I’d say Mt Iron should be on your list of things to do in Wanaka.
Other things to do in Wanaka include the Wanaka Maze, good for a morning or afternoon with the kids, nothing that you’re going to Instagram or Facebook (actually I bet some of you will) but worth a visit maybe on your way out. The Wanaka maze has been around for as long as I can remember and it’s not actually what I could a full on tourist destination but it’s a good way to spend few hours if it rains or the weather is a bit crappy. It’s not the absolute best thing to do in Wanaka but it’s worth a visit if you’re here as there’s some cool things inside.
Drive around to Glendhu Bay, it’s where a lot of people camp and is rather nice. For less people, just drive around the lake and find a nice area to have a picnic and a bit of a play with the kids, there’s plenty of little bays you can do that so just play it by air. Last time I went to Wanaka, I had a go at Wild Wire Wanaka, which is definitely worth doing if you’re in Wanaka and don’t really want to fork out $100 for Bungy jump that lasts a few seconds. Basically you climb up via ferrata a waterfall. It’s not too scary, I’m not a big fan of heights but you’re clipped in most of the time. Read about Wild Wire Wanaka here.
If hiking isn’t your thing, you can also take helicopter rides up to near where Roys Peak is and over and around Lake Wanaka. If you’re going to take a helicopter anywhere, this is the place to do it. Make sure you go on a fine day. There’s also kayaks, peddle boats and stand up paddle boards for hire at the Lake. You can get those at the cabin on the lake, there’s only one and it’s right opposite main street and can’t be missed. There’s walking/running track around the lake so give that a go early morning before the tourists come out. If you’re not keen on waking or running you can hire bikes from the shops opposite the lake front. There’s a few of them along there so take your pick.
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