45° 02′ S · 168° 40′ E · Fifteen thousand feet to the Shotover · Ground 21
The town that invented commercial bungy, a swing off a 109-metre cliff,
and a jetboat in ten centimetres of water.
Queenstown is where adventure tourism was written down. The first commercial bungy went off the Kawarau Bridge in 1988 and is still there, 43 metres above the river; the same company now runs the 134-metre Nevis. The Canyon Swing hangs off a cliff above the Shotover, the jetboats run the canyon below it, the luge runs down Bob's Peak, and the skydive opens fifteen thousand feet over the lake. Scrolling means falling. We show every stop with real prices, and we say what is not on the platforms.
Stop 1 · Tandem skydive · NZONE, Queenstown
4,572M · 15,000 FT OVER THE LAKE
The plane climbs past the Remarkables until they are below you, and the lake is a blue crack in the mountains. The door opens at fifteen thousand feet. Up to sixty seconds before the canopy, with Central Otago spread out below.
Two drop zones, one price. Queenstown's listing has 604 reviews, Wānaka's 282, both about $205 for the base altitude – the 15,000-ft option is an upgrade at the drop zone. About 600 people a month search for the two together. Wānaka's drop zone looks at Mount Aspiring; Queenstown's at the Remarkables. Both fly from six years old, which is unusual anywhere.
↓ Above your pulse limit – keep falling
A ski-field road in summer, a grass slope at 4,100 feet, the pilot clipped on behind you. A few running steps and the Wakatipu Basin opens up – Arrowtown, the vineyards, the lake. In winter they launch from the top.
The number changes with the season, and both are sourced. Summer flights go from 4,100 feet up the ski road; in winter, when the road is open to the top, the launch moves to 5,400 feet. The gondola's Bob's Peak launch in town is lower and gentler. About 220 people a month search for paragliding here; the main listing has 231 reviews at about $211.
↓ Above your pulse limit – keep falling
Stop 2 · Tandem paragliding & hang gliding · Coronet Peak
1,250M · CORONET PEAK LAUNCH
Stop 3 · Gondola & luge · Skyline, Bob's Peak
450M ABOVE LAKE WAKATIPU
The gondola pulls you 450 metres above the lake and drops you at a deck and a chairlift. At the top there is a plastic sled with a brake, and 1,600 metres of banked concrete track going down through the trees towards the lake.
Not on GetYourGuide – buy it at the bottom. The gondola-and-luge ticket is sold by Skyline at the base station in town, and it is the single most-searched thing in Queenstown from the UK: about 880 people a month, more than the bungy. It is also the calmest stop in these grounds, which is why it sits here at pulse two. The ziplines that start at the top are on the platforms and further down the page.
↓ Above your pulse limit – keep falling
A cable car takes you out to a glass-floored pod slung across the Nevis gorge. You shuffle to the edge, cord on your ankles, the river 134 metres down, thin and brown. Eight and a half seconds, and the valley comes up twice.
The swing outsells the bungy here. The Nevis Swing listing has 151 reviews to the bungy's 108, and it is the cheaper way off the same wires – a 70-metre freefall into a 300-metre arc, from age ten. About 1,900 people a month search for Queenstown bungy in the US and 1,600 for the canyon swing; the Nevis is the one with the four-hour round trip. The bungy is about $226 on GetYourGuide, NZ$395 at the counter.
↓ Above your pulse limit – keep falling
Stop 4 · Bungy, swing & catapult · Nevis Valley, AJ Hackett
134M · THE NEVIS POD
Stop 5 · Canyon swing · Arthur's Point, above the Shotover
109M ABOVE THE SHOTOVER
A platform bolted to a cliff, and a crew whose job is to make you leave it as undignified as possible – backwards, in a chair, by your ankles. Sixty metres straight down, then the ropes catch and you swing through the canyon.
Big search, tiny listing. The canyon swing is the second-biggest term in Queenstown – 1,600 US searches a month, and the biggest of all from Germany – but the GetYourGuide listing has seven reviews; almost everyone books at the operator's Shotover Street office. The Canyon Fox zipline runs across the same gorge. Ten minutes from town, which the Nevis is not.
↓ Above your pulse limit – keep falling
An old suspension bridge over a turquoise river, a platform on its side, and a queue of people doing it because this is where it started. Forty-three metres is enough. Ask for the water touch and they lengthen the cord.
The bungy is not on GetYourGuide; the zipride from the same centre is. AJ Hackett sells the Kawarau jump direct and through its own centre 20 minutes from town; on the platforms you find the Kawarau Zipride – a zipline over the river from the same site, family-rated, about $29 – further down this page. About 140 people a month search for the Kawarau by name, and far more for “Queenstown bungy” without knowing which one they mean.
↓ Above your pulse limit – keep falling
Stop 6 · Bungy · Kawarau Bridge, the original, 1988
43M · THE ORIGINAL
Stop 7 · Jetboat · Shotover canyons, since 1965
0M · ON THE SHOTOVER
The red boat idles off the jetty, then the driver opens it up into the canyon. Rock walls a metre from your elbow, a 360-degree spin that puts the river in your lap, and the boat riding on a skin of water you could stand in.
The most-reviewed adventure in these grounds. The two Shotover listings have 1,982 and 1,660 reviews; the jetboat was invented in New Zealand and Queenstown is where it became a tourist ride. The speed and depth figures are the ones every reseller quotes – the operator's own page gives the years and the canyon rights. Thirty minutes on the water, all year.
↓ Above your pulse limit – keep falling
Ziptrek's lines run down through the trees from the top of the gondola; the one-hour tour ends in a 21-metre drop, the only vertical figure they publish. The Zipride at the Kawarau Bridge is a zipline over the river, from the bungy centre.
The Shotover rafting runs the canyon the jetboat cannot, through Skippers; canyoning is a half day of jumps and abseils in the Gibbston Valley or a full day at Mount Aspiring. No published heights for any of it.
A via ferrata up the side of Twin Falls that the operator calls the world's highest waterfall cable climb: 450 metres of iron rungs beside the water on the top route. It quotes the length of the climb, not a height, which is why it is here and not in the fall.
Four hours each way by coach, or forty minutes by plane. Not in these grounds, but the most-booked thing sold from Queenstown by a wide margin, and 480 people a month search for kayaking there.
| Activity | Pulse | The number | Duration | From | Reviews | Bookable online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skydive · Queenstown | Book now → | |||||
| Skydive · Wānaka | Book now → | |||||
| Paragliding · Coronet Peak | Book now → | |||||
| Gondola & luge · Skyline (direct) | 2/5 | 450 m above the lake | 2 h | |||
| Nevis Swing | Book now → | |||||
| Nevis Bungy | Book now → | |||||
| Canyon Swing · Shotover | Book now → | |||||
| Bungy · Kawarau Bridge (direct) | 4/5 | 43 m | 2 h | |||
| Jetboat · Shotover Jet | Book now → | |||||
| Ziplines · Ziptrek | Book now → | |||||
| Rafting · Shotover | Book now → | |||||
| Cable climb · Wildwire, Wānaka | Book now → | |||||
| Milford Sound · coach & cruise | Book now → |
They are different questions. The Kawarau Bridge, 43 metres, is where commercial bungy began in November 1988, twenty minutes from town, with a water touch on request; it is booked with AJ Hackett direct. The Nevis, 134 metres and 8.5 seconds of freefall, is the highest in New Zealand and a four-hour round trip by the operator's bus; on GetYourGuide it is about $226. Do the Kawarau for the history, the Nevis for the number.
The platform is 109 metres above the Shotover River; you freefall 60 metres and then swing through a 200-metre arc. Minimum age ten, and you choose whether to jump or be released – backwards, in a chair, the crew has a long list. It is ten minutes from town at Arthur's Point, about $169 on GetYourGuide, and most people book it at the Shotover Street office.
Up to 15,000 feet – 4,572 metres – with NZONE in Queenstown or Skydive Wānaka, for up to 60 seconds of freefall; 12,000 and 9,000 feet are the cheaper options. Minimum age six, minimum weight 40 kg, no upper age. The base listing is about $205 on GetYourGuide and the altitude upgrade is paid at the drop zone.
No. The Skyline gondola-and-luge ticket is sold at the base station in town. The gondola climbs 450 metres above Lake Wakatipu and the luge tracks are over 1,600 metres long. It is the most-searched adventure in Queenstown from the UK, about 880 a month, and the one with the lowest pulse on this page.
Coronet Peak, 25 minutes from town: 4,100 feet up the ski road in summer, which SkyTrek calls New Zealand's highest commercial launch site, and 5,400 feet from the summit in winter when the road is open to the top. Up to 120 kg. About $211 to $228 on GetYourGuide; the tandem hang glider flies from the same hill.
Not in these grounds. It is four hours each way by coach, or a 40-minute flight, and the coach-and-cruise day is the most-booked product sold from Queenstown with more than 4,000 reviews. Kayaking Milford is searched 480 times a month from the US alone. It is a fjord, not a fall, so it lives at the end of the page.
On GetYourGuide (Sept 22, 2026): the Kawarau Zipride about $29, the Shotover Jet $85, ziplines $68 to $119, rafting $171, the Canyon Swing $169, the Nevis Swing $186, skydiving and paragliding $205 to $228, the Nevis Bungy $226, all three Nevis rides $460. Bought direct: the Kawarau bungy with AJ Hackett and the Skyline gondola-and-luge combo at the base station.