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Ski/ Snowboard Areas in Queenstown

Top Skiing & Snowboarding Areas in Queenstown, New Zealand

Skiing & Snowboarding in Queenstown

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  • belinda
    Sydney99 contributions
    Review of: The Remarkables Ski Area
    Intro to Snow
    We booked the 3 day Intro to Snow Package with lessons, rentals and lift passes included. Lockers were $10/day and NZ Ski Bus Express $20 return/day.

    As beginners we enjoyed the four beginners areas and magic carpet conveyers. The instructors were helpful and a great group of people in the lessons each day. I’m glad we went with the lessons. We didn’t venture beyond the beginners slopes due to our skill level but took the chairlift up for some sightseeing and beautiful mountain top views over Queenstown. We were lucky with the weather, sunny and relatively warm with good snow. However it was pretty crowded, in particular when it was raining in town and Coronet Peak was closed due to its lower altitude, a lot more people headed to the Remarkables.

    The NZ Ski Bus Express to the Remarkables lets this whole experience down. It is an ordeal, it’s a minimum 50 minute wait in line for the bus no what what time you get there, the earliest we got there was 7.10am and we were on the snow 9.30am. 7.15am line up, on snow 9.50am. When we lined up 7.30am we weren’t on the snow till 10.15am after getting all our rental gear, and were late to our 10.00am lesson. I met one person who lined up from 6.20am to get on the first bus. While the first bus is scheduled to leave at 8am, it does tend to leave a little earlier than 8am. They definitely need more buses and/or drivers. The queue starts behind the Snow Centre opposite the Sofitel and wraps around the corner. Everything would be so much enjoyable if you could hop straight on a bus for a 45 minute drive up to the mountain.

    Once up on the mountain, I would recommend heading straight to getting fitted for your rental gear, boots, boards/skis and locker as fast as possible. As pretty quickly there is a line up for rental gear. And same on the way down, as soon as your lesson finishes 3.30pm, return all your gear quickly to get in the line up for the return trip, otherwise you will be waiting longer in line for buses as they fill up. We didn’t bother with the overnight storage of rental gear due to the queue, we found it quicker to return and re-hire the next day.

    The NZ Ski Bus Hotel pick up was sold out on my dates. I also tried the Info & Snow bus which also sold out. I would say the Hotel pick up bus is worth the extra money if you don’t want to line up for an hour just to get to the mountain. But you would need to book early. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express and waited in line for an hour down in town only to drive back up and pick up pre-booked hotel pick up customers at the Holiday Inn. Though on the way back all the buses seem to operate as a hotel drop off and we were able to get off at the Holiday Inn Express each day.

    I would say while some people were wearing masks on board the Ski Bus, most people were not wearing masks and mask wearing was not recommended or enforced by the drivers. I am very cautious about wearing a mask on public transport and indoors but I still got covid in Queenstown.

    When I looked at going in July the Ski bus was on a stop sale, they stopped selling bus tickets, as they had 7 bus drivers off work with covid and couldn’t meet the demand. On my last day in the snow they said a lot of instructors had called in sick with covid or flu.

    The cafeteria was small for the amount of people on the mountain and lunchtime was packed. The food offerings weren’t looking great so we just opted for the pricey $13 vegetarian sushi each day. More accessible water fountains are need to keep hydrated while being active and in lessons.
    Written 19 August 2022
    This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
  • elinzme
    Singapore, Singapore198 contributions
    Review of: Coronet Peak
    Great skiing
    Lovely mountain and fortunately, we visited on a day with good powder. The runs were fun, although the resort is not very big. Staff were friendly. The blue runs were also very skiable for skiers like myself who aren’t too experienced. I haven’t been able to do blue runs at most other resorts. I’d have given a 5 star rating if not for the crowd and parking issues - had to carry equipment on a long walk from the resort to Carpark. Still, I would come back again.
    Written 12 August 2022
    This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
  • Susan N
    4 contributions
    Review of: Southern Lakes Heliski
    Amazing guides, Amazing fun!
    Had the most amazing day with James, Tarn and Mark today for our first time heli boarding. These guys are the most amazing, patient friendly guys we could have hoped for. They showed us such a good time, and catered to each of our experience levels….. we will be back for sure. See you fellas next year!
    Written 8 July 2021
    This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
  • melissaandjared
    Melbourne, Australia72 contributions
    Review of: Browns Ski Shop
    Awesome!
    Awesome service, awesome gear.
    On recommendation of our hotel we went to Browns ski shop. So very glad we did. Cam served us and found us the perfect fitting boots and skis. Super friendly and super knowledgeable. The shop then delivered our gear to our hotel which was fabulous. They also picked them up. Can't recommend highly enough!
    Written 17 July 2022
    This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
  • ziggisoo1
    25 contributions
    Review of: Snow Rental
    Reasonable price, service could be better
    We hired snowboarding and ski gear for a 6 day trip. We hired online which was easy, with nil issues. When we got to the shop to pickup our gear it was packed and understaffed. This was the same when we did the return. My only complaint would be in relation to service. Definitely need to get more staff. Other than that, equipment was good and price was reasonable.
    Written 5 July 2017
    This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
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