This is the Grand South Island cycling experience - wonderful biking with a superb range of magnificent scenery that includes four National Parks over a 16 day tour. You will start with a magical ride around the Marlborough Sounds coastline, to Nelson Lakes National Park, and then down spectacular Buller Gorge to the wild West Coast. Stay at Punakaiki, right by the beach and see the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes at Paparoa National Park. Pedal past picture perfect West Coast lakes and Glaciers and stay at a Wilderness Lodge in the rain forest. Walk to the beach and you may see penguins!
Encompassing the best scenery from the moment your adventure begins in Picton, a picturesque fishing town at the northern tip of the South Island until you reach Queenstown on the shores of beautiful Lake Wakatipu, beneath the jagged peaks of the aptly named Remarkables Mountains. Your tour includes quiet, off the beaten track back-roads, glaciers, rainforests, lakes and snowy peaks. “The Lord of the Rings" was filmed here on the West Coast, (or Te Wahi Pounamu to give it its Maori name) and it is rightly recognized as a World Heritage Area.
You'll wind your way south, over Haast Pass to sheep country and Wanaka set on beautiful Lake Wanaka, over looked by Mt Aspiring National Park. The last ‘hill’ is the Crown Range – a superb descent to historic Arrowtown before reaching Queenstown, the outdoor capital of New Zealand.
Over the course of the 16 days you'll be given a choice each cycling day as to how far you want to ride so this tour is suitable for a range of abilities, please see the itinerary page for the individual breakdown of each day's cycling.