Mountain Biking For Beginners

Getting started mountain biking in Queenstown

Queenstown is the perfect place for a mountain bike holiday for beginners and starting out is easy. Queenstown is home to many friendly bike shops ready to get you in the saddle. They’ll give you the lowdown on where to ride, and kit you out with the right equipment including high-spec hire bikes: lightweight, hard-tails for cruisy, cross-country rides; and full-suspension bikes suited to rougher terrain and downhill trails.

Book a bike shuttle to transport you and your bike to trails throughout the region, so all you need to bring is suitable clothing and a sense of adventure.

As a beginner rider it’s best to start out by sticking to the green trails.

Grade 1 green tracks are for beginner riders. They’re smooth, wide, and usually fairly flat with few obstacles.
Grade 2 green trails are also for beginners but may have gentle climbs and more obstacles than Grade 1.

Once you get into Grade 3 blue trails and beyond, you’ll encounter steeper climbs and descents, rocks, and roots, and gnarlier turns.

People hiring an E-bike — Better By Bike Arrowtown

Queenstown mountain bike coaching

Not feeling so confident? Get some coaching from friendly, knowledgeable coaches, who know the local conditions and the trails.

TreadmarkNZ offer private and group MTB lessons for everyone from beginners to advanced riders wanting to hone their skills.
Cardrona Mountain Bike School. The perfect place to learn downhill skills, Cardrona are partnering with TreadmarkNZ to offer lessons to mountain bikers at all levels.
All Mountain. Learn the basics so you can ride safely. All Mountain offers half day and full day lessons, and five-day camps.
OnwardMTB. skills coaching for beginners across various terrain. Choose from one-on-one and group lessons.
The Ride Guide. Private mountain bike or e-bike caching with an experienced instructor to improve your confidence on the trails.
Queenstown MTB Gravity Camp. If you’re an intermediate rider, Gravity camp is a seven-day tour of Queenstown’s best MTB spots with an experienced guide / coach.

If you don’t need coaching, but you’d feel more comfortable and confident with a guide, ride with one of the experienced local guides offering guided trips packed with riding tips.

Group of people on a guided mountain biking tour. Credit The Ride Guide Queenstown — The Ride Guide Queenstown

Warm up on the Queenstown Trail

To get into the groove, head out on the Queenstown Trail – more than 150km of off-road rides linking downtown Queenstown with Frankton, Arrowtown and Gibbston. Graded easy to intermediate, they offer an unbeatable combination of fun riding, famous attractions, and spectacular scenery.

A good option for beginners is the 15km Frankton Track and Kelvin Peninsula Trail that skirts around Queenstown Gardens before following the Frankton Arm lakeshore to Kelvin Peninsula. Further afield, the Arrow River Bridges Trail winds from irresistibly cute Arrowtown to wine-soaked Gibbston with wide, Whakatipu Basin vistas for most of the way.

Queenstown bike parks for beginners

7 Mile

The 7 Mile Bike Park offers a variety of beginner and intermediate trails perfect for a half day of riding or a few hours in the evening. The trail head is at beautiful Wilson Bay, located 10km west of Queenstown on the Glenorchy Road. 7 Mile is a network of loop-trails and sculpted flow trails, including natural and manmade obstacles for that next step up.

Ben Lomond Trails

When you’re ready to wind things up a bit, shred the Ben Lomond Trails, a dedicated downhill park accessed by the Skyline Gondola and managed by the Queenstown Mountain Bike Club. Get your bike hitched on, cruise 450 metres up above Queenstown, then go with the flow down some of the 30km of awesome trails on offer.

The park’s easiest and longest track is Hammy’s, which twists for 6km through exotic forest with views across Lake Whakatipu to Cecil Peak and the Remarkables. The wide surface, mellow gradient and smooth berms are custom-made for honing off-road skills. There are plenty of trails in the area to work up through the grades as you dare.

Three friends riding Skyline Queenstown Bike Park — Ben Lomond Trails

Cardrona Alpine Resort

During the summer months, Cardrona Alpine Resort crank up two of its chairlifts to access to some of New Zealand’s highest and longest downhills complete with epic Southern Alps scenery. Situated between Queenstown and Wanaka, its bike school offers tuition to get beginners riding the laidback sweeps of A Real Journey, the park’s longest trail.

Mountain Biking does a jump at Cardrona Bike Park — Cardrona Mountain Bike Park

Coronet Peak

Once you've got more experience under your belt it could be time to try out mountain biking at Coronet Peak. Starting at the top of the Coronet Express chairlift, their trails boast incredible views over the Whakatipu Basin and beyond and are ideal for experienced riders with a range of intermediate-expert, lift accessed biking trails. A range of passes are available with full day, sunset or season passes on offer.

Three mountain bikers on top of mountain with mountain range in background — Coronet Peak Mountain Bike Trails

Cross-country Rides

Hidden away in the mountains west of Queenstown, Moke Lake is a good place to try cross-country riding. A serene spot for picnicking and swimming, surrounded by golden, tussocky peaks, the lake is circumnavigated via an undulating track across grassland and boardwalk. A ride around Moke Lake can be combined with a spin around 7 Mile Bike Park and the Gold Digger trail – an easy technical ride through a historic gold mining area.

If you’re feeling intrepid enough for a full day’s adventure, and there has been a run of dry weather, the 4WD track from Arrowtown to Macetown has a few hills, and plenty of river crossings, but it’s a wide track with no tricky, technical spots. Pack a picnic and cycle into this old, abandoned goldmining village.

Friends mountain biking around Moke Lake — Mountain Biking around Moke Lake

Places to enjoy an après bike drink

After all that coaching and exploring you deserve a refreshing drink. Some of the best spots to try local brews and meet local riders are Atlas Beer Café on Beach Street who pour local brews and serve affordable steaks. Altitude Brewing in Frankton have a pleasant outdoor area overlooking the lake, while Canyon Brewing in Arthur’s Point have a terrace overlooking Shotover river, and a tasty line up of woodfired pizzas.

Further afield the Fork and Tap in Arrowtown have a delightful sunny beer garden, as does the Gibbston Tavern, a chilled country pub with a great choice of local beers and wines. Stacks Pub in Kawarau Village near Kelvin Heights is another bike friendly pub, with burgers, pizza, and a big, sunny deck.