Christchurch - Mt Cook - Queenstown without a car

lc180

Hi,

I'm visiting a mate in Christchurch in November and looking for some advice regarding transport to Queenstown.

Gonna be spending a few days in CC and after that I have 2-3 days before I fly out of Queenstown. My plan was to get a bus and stop off in Mt Cook for an evening or maybe stay overnight, do a scenic tour before getting another bus onto Queenstown.

From what I can see the transport links are extremely limited for this route. Very few buses and none doing a direct route from CC, QT to Mt Cook? Only direct option seems to be the really expensive tour bus.

I could just fly to Queenstown, flights are quite cheap at the moment. Would save a hell of a lot of time but I would miss out on Mt Cook which looks pretty spectacular.

Just wondering how do backpackers usually do this route without a rental car?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated, cheers!

lc180

No replies yet so I'm guessing its because I wrote a stupidly long post, so let me rephrase:

What is the best & most direct way to travel CC to Mt Cook to QT without a rental car?

And given my really tight schedule should I drop Mt Cook from my itinerary and just fly between both cities?

Cheers!

CatFromHue

I'd say it's more that people just don't know.

Mt. Cook village is tiny, have a streetview look on Google Maps and you'll see what I mean.

Unless some of the tour buses do drop offs there I'd say your best bet would be to ring some of the hotels/hostels and see if they do a pick up from Tekapo or Twizel, or wherever the main NZ bus stops (Intercity I think). Either way they'd be your best bet for people to talk to, there may even be a taxi service! Though it's pretty remote out there so there many also not be.

The Intercity servcie between ChCh and Queenstown is a pretty scenic route and you can see Mt. Cook from it.

lc180

CatFromHue wrote: »

I'd say it's more that people just don't know.

Mt. Cook village is tiny, have a streetview look on Google Maps and you'll see what I mean.

Unless some of the tour buses do drop offs there I'd say your best bet would be to ring some of the hotels/hostels and see if they do a pick up from Tekapo or Twizel, or wherever the main NZ bus stops (Intercity I think). Either way they'd be your best bet for people to talk to, there may even be a taxi service! Though it's pretty remote out there so there many also not be.

The Intercity servcie between ChCh and Queenstown is a pretty scenic route and you can see Mt. Cook from it.

Thanks for the reply! Yeah it looks very remote alright. I'm just surprised at the lack of buses because I've seen Mt Cook mentioned as a 'must do' activity in all NZ guides I've read.

soonleng.lim

if you only have 2-3 days, I suggest you forget about Mt Cook and fly from Christchurch to Queenstown.
I live in Queenstown