7 Mile Bike Park: Queenstown, NZ

We drove into Queenstown, NZ with all the other tourists. It’s a lakeside melting pot of nationalities. A beautiful picturesque place that is overrun with people, urgently scrambling to catch a glimpse or make a buck. Standing amongst the crowds, queuing at Fergberger, I sensed that Queenstown has lost a little of its original natural allure. It’s a problem that befalls all locations that become too popular, too well-attended, too loved. But as in the case of all such tourist destinations you don’t need to travel far off the tourist trail to catch a glimpse of the original attractions, pre-tourism gold-rush.

Lakeside scenery
7 Mile Bike Park on the outskirts of Queenstown is the perfect opportunity to wander from the madding crowd. The park is a small network of lakeside single trail about 7kms along the road to Glenorchy, the small township at the far tip of lake Wakatipu. We hired cross-country bikes from one of the many Queenstown rental stalls – about 60 bucks for a morning. We road straight from the rental shop along Glenorchy-Queenstown Road. The trails climb and descend on Seven Mile point, super scenic lakeside riding. 


7 Mile consists of numerous short, multiple grade tracks that descend from three central hubs, accessed by a couple of generic return climbs. It’s a simple and practical format and the climbs are short so you’re never busting your gut to get to the next descent. My favourite trails were the faster open descents: Grin & Holler and Kachoong. They ebbed and flowed, with numerous jump and drop technical lines that you could attempt or avoid at your leisure.

Queenstown, avoid the crowds and head for a ride out at 7 Mile. 

The Strava shot. Some sweet water riding.

On-site trail map

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