Two South Island Cycle Tours - or One Bigger Adventure?

If you’ve been looking at our cycling tours and wondering which one is right for you - you’re not alone. It’s a question we hear all the time.

Here we’re comparing two of our cycling tours to help you decide. Both are in the South Island. Both are on Ebikes. Both start in Queenstown. But they’re very different rides.

Lakes, Fiords & Mountains - 7 days, Queenstown return

This tour covers a lot of ground - in every sense.

You start on the Around the Mountains Trail, riding south from Kingston with the Hector and Eyre mountains around you. Day two brings you to Te Anau, where the water taxi takes you across the lake to Brod Bay - your starting point for a walk along the lake through impressive native bush. In the afternoon, you’re back in the saddle on the Lake2Lake Trail: you ride the most beautiful section along the Waiau River, then turn around and cycle back. No highway, no rushing - just the trail at its best and from different perspectives.

Then a full free day in Fiordland: Milford Sound, Doubtful Sound, the glowworm caves, or a walk on the Kepler Track. Your choice.

The ride that follows is one of the best days on a bike in New Zealand. You set off from the Mavora Lakes - remote, striking, and featured in Lord of the Rings - and pedal through the vast Von Valley before a scenic cruise across Lake Wakatipu back to Queenstown. Three nights in Arrowtown come next, including a day through the Gibbston Valley wine region. The tour finishes on the Lake Dunstan Trail - bolt-on bridges above the water, big Central Otago sky, and views that earn every kilometre.

Five cycling days. Around 200 km. This tour rewards cyclists who already feel comfortable on a bike and enjoy a mix of terrain.

Find out more about Lakes, Fiords & Mountains

→  sidetrackswomen.co.nz/lakesfiordsmountainscycletour

Explore Otago - 7 days, Queenstown to Christchurch

Central Otago has its own character. Open skies, schist rock, and in spring, the scent of thyme along the trail. Cycling through it is something you feel as much as see. 

This tour follows the best of the region’s trails: the Otago Rail Trail through the Ida Valley - tunnels, viaducts, gold mining history - then the Roxburgh Gorge, the team’s personal favourite trail in the South Island, including a 12 km boat trip through the gorge. The Clutha Gold Trail takes you through gold rush country, past the town of Lawrence where the population once topped 11,500. The final cycling day is a lovely new addition: a ride from Lake Hāwea along the river trails into Wanaka. 

Five cycling days. Around 230 km. Mostly easy, wide gravel paths - with the gorge day and the Wanaka ride adding a bit more variety and a little more to think about. 

Find out more about Explore Otago

→  sidetrackswomen.co.nz/exploreotago 

Which tour is for you?

Choose Lakes, Fiords & Mountains if you’ve cycled before and want a tour that really moves through the landscape - wild and varied, from Fiordland to wine country to one of the most dramatic trails in the country.

Choose Explore Otago if you’d like to build into multi-day cycling at a good pace, or simply prefer trails where you can look around and take it all in. The landscape is rich, the riding is well-graded, and five days in Central Otago rarely feel like enough.

Both tours are fully guided, include Ebikes and all logistics are taken care off. Both are women-only, small groups of up to 10.

Or - why choose at all?

In the 2026/2027 season, these two tours connect directly. Lakes, Fiords & Mountains ends in Queenstown on the morning of day seven. Explore Otago begins there that same afternoon.

Book them back-to-back and you have ten days on the bike across thirteen days of South Island travel - from Fiordland through Central Otago, the gorges, and out to Wanaka.

We’re happy to work out a combined price. Just get in touch women@sidetracks.co.nz