Skyline Queenstown Gondola

The Skyline Gondola climbs from the edge of Queenstown to Bob's Peak in a few minutes, opening up a view over the town, Lake Wakatipu and the jagged Remarkables range. It is the easiest way to understand why Queenstown's setting is so admired.

At the top there is a restaurant with a buffet that includes vegetarian dishes, and a luge track where children and adults steer small carts down a winding concrete course. Twilight is the best time to go up, when the lake turns silver and the town lights come on below.

Queenstown is New Zealand's adventure capital, so the gondola pairs well with a Shotover jet-boat ride through a narrow canyon, a cruise on the vintage steamship TSS Earnslaw or, for the brave, a bungy jump from the Kawarau Bridge, where commercial bungy jumping began in 1988.