The Southern Way is the name Tourism New Zealand has given to the network of routes linking the south of the South Island into one explorable loop. From Oamaru and Dunedin on the east coast, down to the Catlins and Stewart Island, through Murihiku Southland and into Fiordland before the icing on the cake of Queenstown, Wānaka and Central Otago (or at least that’s how we’d frame it).

Most visitors drive it over a week to ten days, taking in Milford Sound, the Catlins coastline and the albatross colonies of the Otago Peninsula along the way. It’s a genuinely remarkable route. The renewed direct flights between Dunedin and Australia have made the whole loop considerably easier to access. Time depending, some visitors fly into Dunedin and out of Queenstown completely ‘one half’ of the loop in a visit. Those with more time go ‘all the way round’ or simply choose to linger longer along the way.

Naturally, I’d encourage you to invest the lingering time in the Southern Lakes where a week is never enough let alone a day per place. The section that passes through Queenstown, Wānaka and Central Otago is the part of the Southern Way where slow travel makes the most sense. If the Southern Way is your gateway to the Southern Lakes, plan to stay a while…

Settlements separated by mountain ranges and single lane highways create infinite awe-moments

Queenstown and Wānaka sit about an hour apart via the Crown Range, New Zealand’s highest sealed road, with Arrowtown roughly twenty minutes from Queenstown in between. Between the three, there’s skiing, lake access, walking into genuine wilderness, a photogenic gold rush town, and enough high-octane activities to keep people coming back for more.

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