Summer (December–February)
Long evenings, warm lake water and the busiest calendar. The Remarkables Market runs every Saturday at Frankton, 9am to 2pm, with local artisans, produce, coffee and live music. Summer is for brunching — a long walk around Queenstown Gardens deserves a mimosa at the finish. Pacific Jemm runs full-day charters with swimming and paddleboarding in the coves near Glenorchy. New Year’s Eve on the lakefront is one of the country’s biggest nights; book early and we hold a table at No.5 Church Lane.
Autumn (March–May)
Many locals’ favourite season. The Arrowtown Autumn Festival in late April fills the old gold-mining village with golden poplars, markets and music; the New Zealand Open at Millbrook and The Hills brings the pros to town in late February and early March. It is prime golf and wine season, and the calmest time on the lake. Elderberries are in season in the Wakatipu basin, and the kitchen at No.5 forages, pickles and preserves for winter.
Winter (June–September)
Coronet Peak usually opens first in June, with Night Ski on Wednesdays, Fridays and select Saturdays. Matariki, the Māori New Year, is marked with light displays and a dawn star-viewing from the top of Coronet Peak. The NZ Mountain Film & Book Festival brings adventure filmmaking to the Memorial Hall in late June. Winter Pride, the biggest Pride party in the snow in the Southern Hemisphere, runs ten days from late August with over 45 events. And the Winter Games NZ, the Southern Hemisphere’s biggest snow-sports event, brings the world’s best skiers and snowboarders to Cardrona and Coronet Peak over two weeks in August and September. Pacific Jemm’s Mulled Wine Cruise sails at 12.30pm five days a week.
Spring (September–November)
Spring skiing on softer snow into October, then the trails open. E-bike the 130km of Queenstown Trail as the blossom comes through Arrowtown; the Gibbston Valley cellar doors reopen their gardens. Our Spring, Ski & Spa package (SKI2SPA) is built for this shoulder — a morning on the mountain, an afternoon at The Well Spa.
At the hotel through the year
The Spire runs its own seasonal calendar alongside the town’s. No.5 Church Lane changes its cocktail list with the seasons — foraged elderflower in spring, coffee-and-chilli in winter — and the kitchen’s fermentation and preserving programme means the menu tracks what the Wakatipu basin is growing. Art exhibitions rotate through the hotel’s public spaces with local artists; the annual Art at The Spire showing has become a fixture. Our packages follow the same rhythm: ski and spa in winter and spring, sail-and-stay when Pacific Jemm’s Mulled Wine Cruise runs, golf in autumn and the all-inclusive weekend for the shoulder seasons.
Booking around the big weekends
Queenstown’s peak weekends — New Year, the NZ Open, Winter Pride, the Winter Games, Labour Weekend in October — fill six months out. With only ten suites, The Spire goes early. Book direct for our guaranteed best rate and inclusions; tell the concierge which event you are coming for so we can hold dinner tables, ski shuttles and Pacific Jemm departures before they are gone. Airport transfers and parking are arranged as part of every booking. If your dates are flexible, the week either side of a big event is often the best of both worlds — the town alive, the mountains and the lake quiet.
Planning around events
Big weekends — Winter Games, Winter Pride, New Year, the NZ Open — fill Queenstown months out. Our ten suites go early. Book direct for our best rate and inclusions, and tell the concierge what you are coming for: we will hold restaurant tables, ski shuttles and Pacific Jemm departures to match.
