Arrowtown: Gold History, Museums and Trails

Explore Arrowtown through its places and trails: Buckingham Street tells the story of buildings from the gold-mining era, the Chinese Settlement offers insight into the lives of Chinese gold miners, and a range of walking trails pass through varied landscapes. If you’re planning a stay, these themes can help you decide what you’d like to do in Arrowtown.

Gold history on Buckingham Street

Buckingham Street still features a significant group of historic buildings dating from the 1870s, including miners’ cottages and small stone buildings. Together, they connect visitors with Arrowtown’s gold-mining and social history. The street reveals more than individual historic architectural styles: the buildings also show how the gold-mining story and the lives of the community at the time were intertwined.

Arrowtown Chinese Settlement

The Arrowtown Chinese Settlement offers another perspective on the gold-mining story. Following an archaeological excavation in December 1983, it was partially restored. Five hut sites were reconstructed to illustrate how people lived at the time. Detailed information panels in English and Chinese tell visitors about the Chinese gold miners of the region.

In the Queenstown Lakes District, the Arrowtown Chinese Settlement is a Category 2 public historic site. It is the last relatively intact Chinese settlement remaining in Otago and commemorates the Chinese presence on the goldfields of Central Otago. This significance places the insights offered by the settlement in a broader historical context.

The main path through the settlement is suitable for wheelchairs and strollers. Check conditions before your visit. This lets you take the path’s accessibility into account when planning, without assuming that other trails in Arrowtown are also suitable.

Museum, gallery and guided tours

The Lakes District Museum & Gallery presents stories of tangata whenua, gold miners and settlers. The settings used to tell these stories include a reconstructed grog shanty, a Victorian schoolhouse and a blacksmith’s workshop. Each of the different buildings gives the stories a tangible setting and extends the focus beyond the history of the settlement.

The Lakes District Museum also has a gallery space featuring changing exhibitions of works by local artists. The works are offered for sale, and the exhibitions change over time. The museum offers private guided tours of Arrowtown for groups and individuals. If you’d like to explore galleries, studios and museums on your own, the Arrowtown Arts Trail is an interactive guide based on Google Maps. Participating venues may change.

Walking trails with different character

The Queenstown Trail covers more than 150 kilometres of off-road routes from Queenstown to Gibbston and passes through historic Arrowtown. The Arrow River Bridges Trail also starts in Arrowtown, near the Chinese Settlement. It follows the willow-lined Arrow River, where swimming and picnic spots are available in summer. The seasonal detail is important for planning: swimming and picnicking are specifically mentioned for summer.

The Bush Creek Track starts at the Arrowtown Chinese Settlement and leads to the town’s old water intake. The trail climbs steeply through beech forest and open grassland to a saddle with views of the Whakatipu Basin. It therefore links a specific starting point and destination with a climb and a viewpoint.

Sawpit Gully offers a different kind of trail: it is seven kilometres long and forms a loop. Its features include steep climbs and descents, a section that involves scrambling over rocks in a stream, and a route high above the Arrow River. Comparing it with the Bush Creek Track can help you choose: the Bush Creek Track’s key features are the route to the old water intake and the climb to the saddle; Sawpit Gully is a loop with the steep sections and stream crossing described above. Check current trail conditions before setting out.

Arrowtown brings together historic sites, museum experiences and trails with distinct features. You can plan your stay around whether you’d most like to explore the gold-mining history, visit exhibitions and take guided tours, or spend time on one of the trails described here.

Discover more destinations: Closeburn, Wanaka, Lower Shotover, Arthurs Point, Glenorchy, Cardrona, Gibbston, Lake Hayes.

View the broader travel overview: Queenstown Lakes District.