Activities and fun things to do in Marlborough, New Zealand. Marlborough is New Zealand's largest grape growing and wine making region and offers a huge range of exciting activities and things to do. Walk to the Queen Charlotte Track, dive a shipwreck or relax on a golden beach. Other Marlborough activities include kayaking with orca, horse trekking and sailing.

Directory Shortcut

Featured

Oaks Hotels & Resorts Accommodation Guide Attractions Guide Tours Guide Transport Guide
Oaks Group

Entire Site Search

Advanced Search

Translate

Free NZ Travel Newsletter

Maps, Driving Routes

Quick Links

Popular Links

Business Centre

Marlborough, New ZealandMarlborough, New Zealand - Activity Highlights

Marlborough | Regional Information | Activity Highlights | Scenic Highlights | History

Marlborough enjoys year-round sunshine and diverse landscape. The region is conducive to an easy-going lifestyle and an excellent range of recreational activities.

Featured Tourism Operators in Marlborough

View Antria Boutique Lodge Web site
Antria
View featured operator Web site
NZ DVDs
View featured operator Web site
NZ Products
View featured operator Web site
NZ Holiday Deals

Marlborough Activity Highlights Overview

The Marlborough region is a place where you can pick a theme and follow it through. Focus your itinerary on outdoor adventures, vineyards and wineries, arts and crafts, history and gardens or marine pursuits. Better still, mix them up and experience a little of everything this beautiful region has to offer.

» Marlborough Activities Directory

Savour the Flavours of Wine Country

Image Source: Tourism New Zealand. Biking a wine trail in Marlborough, New Zealand
Biking Wine Trail
Marlborough, New Zealand
Photographer: Ian Trafford
(www.iantraffordphotos.com)

Blenheim is the base to begin your explorations of Marlborough's wineries.

  • Tour the wineries and breweries with a guide, so you won't have to worry about driving
  • Lunch alfresco amongst the vines - many wineries have a cafe or restaurant
  • Follow the art and craft trail to see a thriving creative community in action
  • Visit a distillery and see how it's done - taste locally produced fruit brandies and liqueurs

Find a Fresh Country Adventure

There's more to Marlborough than wine—see what else happens in this beautiful region.

Image Source: Tourism New Zealand. Kayaking with orca in Marlborough Sounds, Marlborough, New Zealand
Kayaking With Orca
Marlborough, New Zealand
Photographer: Ian Trafford
(www.iantraffordphotos.com)
  • Enjoy a high country horse trekking trip
  • Explore private gardens open for viewing
  • Local museums and restored heritage homes illustrate the early history of the region
  • Find out about fly-fishing and hunting tours
  • In summer you can do a guided tour of Molesworth Station, a high country farm. View the grandeur and beauty of the mountainous high country
  • Take a walk in Wither Hills Farm Park - great views over Marlborough and the Wairau Plains
  • Visit an orchard for seasonal fruit, in particular Marlborough cherries (December - January)
  • Art galleries offer ever changing exhibitions of local and national artists
  • Take a river cruise along the traditional trading route used by the early settlers
  • Visit the Alpaca and Llamas just out of Koromiko

Soak Up the Scenery of the Marlborough Sounds

A sound is a valley drowned by the sea—forest and water merge to create a dramatic coastal landscape. The Marlborough Sounds are composed of three sounds: Queen Charlotte Sound, Kenepuru Sound and Pelorus Sound.

Image Source: Tourism New Zealand. Picton in Marlborough
Picton, Marlborough
New Zealand
Photographer: Ivor Wilkins
(ivorw@xtra.co.nz)
  • Arrive by sea through the glorious maze of deep coves and bays of Queen Charlotte Sound. Fine restaurants and accommodation lodges beckon
  • Explore the town of Picton. European settlement of this area began in the 1840s and many of the early buildings still grace the waterfront
  • Go on a sea kayaking safari - guide yourself or join a group
  • Walk the Queen Charlotte Track (three - four days) - a popular walkway with many entry and exit points and numerous top class resorts and accommodation providers along its length
  • Visit the Edwin Fox, a maritime artifact, situated in Picton
  • Dive shipwrecks - the Russian cruise liner Mikhail Lermontov and the wreck of the Hippalos, a 120-year old wooden barque
  • Charter a sailing boat and cruise the Sounds - skippers can be hired

» Marlborough Sounds Information

» Marlborough Sounds Travel Directory

Adventures that Begin in Havelock

The charming seaport of Havelock was once a thriving gold-mining town. Today it's a base for further explorations of the sounds.

  • Try the local delicacy - green-lipped mussels
  • Visit the historic gold mining township of Canvastown, the scenic splendour of Pelorus Bridge Reserve and rural Rai Valley
  • Get on board a charter boat and go snapper fishing
  • Follow the Nydia Track to Tennyson Inlet - takes two days
  • Visit the tiny settlement of French Pass and its offshore island d'Urville
  • Do the Pelorus Bridge Walks, 18 kilometres west of Havelock

Useful Marlborough Links

To help plan your Marlborough holiday choose from the main categories below:


Marlborough Region Information

Regional Information
Key information and facts about the Marlborough region.

Activity Highlights
Major activities and attractions in the Marlborough region.

Scenic Highlights
Major natural attractions in the Marlborough region.

History
History of the Marlborough region.


Marlborough Tourism Operators

Choose from our accommodation, attractions, tours, transport or visitor information categories below to find a tourism operator in Marlborough.

View the Pacific Islands categories
View the Australia Tourism Guide

Bookit

Nights

Travel Competition

New Zealand travel competition with great prize

Online Games

Play a selection of Travel IQ Tests and Online Games

Tourism Jobs

Find Tourism and Hospitality jobs at THATJob

Find a Job

Post a Job