Visit the Lakes District Museum

Travel back in time at the Lakes District Museum. Displays explore Māori history in the region, European colonisation, and the gold rush. The museum complex is built around the town’s original bank, old stables, and an 1875 bakery with a brick oven. The basement has been set out to represent an old Arrowtown streetscape, with a school room, butcher’s shop, saddle maker’s workshop, and blacksmith.

As well as exploring the museum and adjoining gallery, you can hire gold pans at the museum, head down to Arrow River and try panning for gold. The museum is great for the whole family, with affordable entry fees.

Lakes District Museum, Arrowtown

Do the Arrowtown Heritage Town Centre Walk

While you’re at the museum ask for a copy of the Arrowtown Guide (or download a copy here). Follow the loop circuit marked on the map in this guide for a self-guided heritage walk. Stroll along Buckingham Street, passing old commercial buildings and historic miners’ cottages. When you reach Merioneth Street turn left, then left again along Roman’s Lane, which will take you to Ramshaw Lane’s bars and cafes, finishing at the Chinese settlement.

Allow a couple of hours for a leisurely stroll along the tree-lined streets, tempted by the quirky independent boutiques, galleries, and cafes. Explore the alleys for more hidden gems.

Be Wowed by Original Goldminers’ Cottages

There are more than 70 historically listed features in Arrowtown. The quaint miners' cottages along Buckingham Street date back to the 1860s. Built by European miners from wood and local schist stone, they were the original hub of the town. They’ve been recognised as Tohu Whenua, a treasured place that has shaped the story of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Some cottages have been turned into shops and cafes, so you can explore inside. Historic Dudley’s Café is now Rifter’s Gin tasting rooms, while Provisions of Arrowtown is a café set in a historic cottage with a delightful old garden.

Arrowtown Cottages in Autumn

Explore the Chinese Goldminer’s Village

Another Tohu Whenua in Arrowtown, the old Chinese Miners' Village is two minutes’ walk from the main street. Chinese gold miners flocked to Arrowtown from 1869, but colonial prejudice meant they were viewed with suspicion by European miners. They set up their own village by the river with stores and gardens. Many stayed after the gold rush and set up successful businesses like market gardens, green grocers, and laundries.

Several huts and Ah Lum's store have been restored. Explore the village and get a feel for the living conditions of Chinese miners back in the gold mining days.

Chinese Goldminer's Village, Arrowtown

Imagine being Locked up in the Gold Rush

Two minutes from the museum, you can explore the old gaol in Cardigan Street. The gold rush brought a wave of petty crime, so the gaol was built in 1876. Before the gaol was built, offenders were chained to a log. This wasn’t always effective. Local stories tell of one large, drunken miner who picked up the log and dragged it back to a bar. 

Today, the goal is a rare surviving example of an old stone jail. It’s the only gold rush goal left in New Zealand. Despite being extremely rudimentary and criticised as being too easy to escape from 1878, it was occasionally used until the 1980s. The last prisoners were held in 1987, when a riotous Christmas saw two unruly drunks locked in the old gaol overnight.

Look up The Avenue of Trees

In 1867 Arrowtown’s second mayor, Scottish immigrant Alec Innes, and a group of early Arrowtown residents, planted the avenue of deciduous European trees down Buckingham Street. There are 24 trees on each side of the street, sycamores, elms, oaks, ash and rowan. They’re spectacular in April as they turn gold and red.

The sycamore tree outside the old Cotter cottage, is named for two-year-old Mary Cotter. Her father promised little Mary she could dance around the sapling and it would be her tree. A plaque under the sycamore dedicates the tree to Mary to this day.  

Visit a Gold Rush Ghost Town

Macetown was a small mining settlement in the hills near Arrowtown. By 1863 the population was around 300. At its height the town had a school, a church and two hotels, but after the gold rush moved on it went into rapid decline. The last resident left in 1921. Most buildings are gone but the Department of Conservation restored the old schoolhouse and bakehouse.

The ghost town is a six-hour return walk or bike ride on a rough, beautiful track with 25 river crossings. If you don't have the time to get there under your own steam, Nomad Safaris offer a guided 4WD tour into Macetown telling the history of the region along the way.

Nomad Safaris Macetown Tour

Walk in the Steps of a Saint

Located in the grounds of St Patrick’s Catholic Church in Hertford Street, just a stone’s throw from central Arrowtown, you'll find Mary MacKillop Cottage. The small yellow cottage was originally built as a miner's house around 1870. In 1897 Sister Mary MacKillop converted the cottage into a convent for the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart. 

Mary MacKillop, or St Mary of the Cross, is Australasia’s only Saint. Canonised in 2010, she founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, a congregation of religious sisters that established a number of schools and welfare institutions for the rural poor. Info panels around the cottage and grounds explain more about their work. Entry to the cottage is free.

Experience the Magic of Arrowtown by Night

A heritage lighting project highlights historic features and reveals the charm of Arrowtown at night. Take a stroll after dark, and enjoy the beautifully illuminated heritage cottages, trees, shop façades and stone walls, before visiting one of Arrowtown’s characterful bars.

The Blue Door is a local gem in the basement of a historic stone building hidden in an alleyway off Buckingham Street with a roaring fire. The Fork and Tap was built in 1874. They’ve 19 New Zealand craft beers on tap, including local drops. The Postmaster Kitchen and Bar built in 1907 housed post office staff until the 1980s. Pull up a chair on the veranda and raise a glass of local Pinot to Arrowtown’s rich history.

Take a Self-guided Tour of Millbrook Resort’s History

Millbrook wasn’t always a luxury lifestyle resort. The land was once a 450-acre wheat farm, established by brothers Peter and John Butel to feed Arrowtown's hungry miners. The brothers built a flour mill on the farm and ran a sawmill at the bottom of Coronet Peak.

The old farm buildings have been restored and incorporated into the resort. The old stables and granary are now a café. The old flour mill is the Millhouse Restaurant. The smokehouse and blacksmith’s shop are a bar, while the old homestead is now the resort reception. Try the self-guided walking tour and learn more about the heritage of the resort.

Millhouse Restaurant, Millbrook Resort

Bike from Arrowtown to Kawarau Bridge

The Arrow River Bridges Trail is an easy 8.7km ride, ideal for families with kids or cycling beginners. The trail starts in Arrowtown and crosses five bridges across the Arrow River. When you reach Gibbston, you’ll cross the Kawarau Bridge, a historic suspension bridge. This Tohu Whenua was an engineering marvel when it was built in 1882. In the 1980s it became the site of the world's first commercial bungy jumping operation.

Once in Gibbston, continue onto the Gibbston River Trail along the dramatic Kawarau River gorge and visit some of the famous wineries in the valley. 

Stroll the Arrowtown Millennium Walk

The Arrowtown Millennium Trail  was built in 1998 to commemorate 150 years of European Settlement in Otago. The walk follows the Arrow River on a 4.2km loop and takes about an hour. Start in Ramshaw’s lane and follow the river. Bring a towel in summer because there are plenty of swimming spots, while in autumn the trees turn beautifully gold.

You’ll pass the spot where Jack Tewa found gold in 1862, sparking the Central Otago gold rush. You’ll also pass the site of the Criterion Quartz Company, one of New Zealand’s first quartz mines. Lord of the Rings fans may spot the location for the Gladden Fields, where Isildur was ambushed by Orcs.

Arrowtown Millennium Walk

Book a Tour to Connect with Arrowtown Stories

Remarkables Scenic Tours run a tour of historic Arrowtown. Their Arrowtown and Around Tour takes four hours. It’s a wonderful way to connect with locals and learn about the history of the region. You’ll spend about 90 minutes in Arrowtown soaking up the history, ambience, and culture. Stop off at a bee farm, Kawarau River, and Lake Hayes on the way to Arrowtown. Pickup and drop-off in central is Queenstown included.

Getting to Arrowtown

Hop on the regular Orbus service from Queenstown. Take the blue route from Arthurs Point to Arrowtown for only $2 with an Orbus Go Card. Check the Orbus schedule here. If you drive, there’s parking by the river reserve. Or stay in Arrowtown and take a day or two to enjoy Arrowtown’s sophisticated shopping scene, many galleries and artists’ studios, cafes and restaurants, as well as exploring the hiking and biking trails in the region.