Steamship cruise, farm tour, gourmet BBQ or horse trek: what each experience includes, which boat you will be on, and the current fare per person.
Pick a day, or the first and last day you are in Queenstown. We check the booking calendar of every Walter Peak experience and show which ones still have places on a crossing.
In the next 7 days, 4 of 5 tours on this page still have places.
On the farm: Farm dog show
No shore stop
On the farm: Guided farm tour, animals, demonstrations
On the farm: Horse trek, 40–45 min
On the farm: Tree planting, kitchen garden
Walter Peak High Country Farm sits across Lake Whakatipu from Queenstown, and the boat is the most popular way there. Every experience on this page leaves from the RealNZ Visitor Centre at 88 Beach Street and takes about 45 minutes on the water each way. Every bookable experience comes from the same operator, so the choice is not between companies. It is between variants: how much time ashore, what you eat, how much the animals matter, and which boat carries you, the vintage steamship TSS Earnslaw or the catamaran Spirit of Queenstown. This page puts them side by side.
The listing names on booking sites all sound alike. These are the main shapes a Walter Peak visit can take. Pick yours, then compare the details. A smaller option, the Garden to Table experience, sits in the table below.
The TSS Earnslaw for its own sake: a 1.5-hour return cruise with a working engine room to peer into. There is no shore stop at the farm.
The classic: cruise across, then sheepdog demo, shearing (weather permitting), animal feeding and afternoon tea at the high-country farm.
Cruise across and eat at the Colonel's Homestead, a barbecue you can book as lunch or dinner.
Cruise across, then 40–45 minutes in the saddle through the station in a small, beginner-friendly group. The rider limits are firm.
One crossing per priority, chosen on what its listing includes. Every variant is in the table further down.
Cruise across on the boat you pick at booking, then a guided farm tour with sheep, alpacas, highland cattle and farm dogs, live farming demonstrations and morning or afternoon tea. 3.5 hours, listed as wheelchair-accessible.
A buffet of local meats from the wood-fired grill with salads, vegetables, bread, cheese and desserts at the Colonel’s Homestead, as lunch or dinner, plus a farm dog show with sheep herding. Drinks are extra. About two hours ashore.
40–45 minutes in the saddle through the high-country station, at most 6 riders per guide and fine for first-timers, then morning or afternoon tea with scones and muffins. Riders from age 7, at least 120 cm and at most 95 kg.
Just the TSS Earnslaw: a 90-minute return cruise with the captain’s commentary, the engine room where the stokers feed the coal fires, and a small museum on board. No shore stop; food and drinks are extra. The ship is in maintenance from 18 May to 27 June 2026.
Tell us what the day is for and who is coming, and we suggest a variant.
Question 1 of 2
Question 2 of 2
No tour fits every answer, so here is the closest one.
The shortest way onto the water: a 1.5-hour return cruise on the vintage steamship, with the engine room open to view. There is no shore stop at the farm, so book this for the ship rather than the destination, and outside 18 May to 27 June 2026, when the steamship is in annual maintenance.
The quiet variant: cruise across, plant a tree and sit down to a lunch built around the homestead garden.
The classic Walter Peak day: cruise across Lake Whakatipu, then sheepdog demonstration, sheep shearing (weather permitting), animal feeding and afternoon tea. Pick your boat at booking: catamaran or the TSS Earnslaw steamship.
Cruise across and eat at the Colonel's Homestead, as lunch or as dinner. The farm dog show is part of both slots, but on late dinner sailings it can get dark soon after arrival, so families usually do better with the lunch slot.
Cruise across, then 40–45 minutes in the saddle through the high-country station, at most 6 riders per guide and fine for beginners. Rider limits: minimum age 7, minimum height 120 cm, maximum weight 95 kg.
Sorted by number of reviews. Tap a column header to re-sort.
| Photo | Experience | What's in it | Rating ↕ | Price ↕ | Book |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Gourmet BBQ + lake cruise | Cruise both ways, BBQ at the Colonel's Homestead, lunch or dinner · 3.5 h | ★ 4.8 (3,250) | NZ$ 175 per person | Book now |
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TSS Earnslaw cruise only | Return steamship cruise, engine room to view, onboard museum, no shore stop · 1.5 h | ★ 4.7 (1,450) | NZ$ 119 per person | Book now |
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Farm tour + lake cruise | Cruise both ways, sheepdog demo, shearing (weather permitting), feeding, afternoon tea · 3.5 h | ★ 4.8 (1,171) | NZ$ 139 per person | Book now |
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Horse trek + lake cruise | Cruise both ways, 40–45-min guided trek, max 6 riders per guide · 3.5 h | ★ 4.6 (323) | NZ$ 279 per person | Book now |
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Garden to Table experience | Cruise both ways, tree planting, garden lunch · 3.5 h | ★ 4.8 (16) | NZ$ 169 per person | Book now |
Walter Peak fares in this table come live from GetYourGuide and include taxes and booking fees. The amount at checkout also depends on the boat and the departure you pick. “What’s in it” is a short version of the listing title. The product page has the full list of inclusions for each Walter Peak variant.
Read off each listing and set side by side. Where a listing is silent, the cell says so.
| Experience | On the farm | Food | Boat | Age | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walter Peak gourmet BBQ + lake cruise | Farm dog show | BBQ buffet, lunch or dinner | Spirit of Queenstown or TSS Earnslaw | All ages | 3.5 h |
| TSS Earnslaw steamship cruise (cruise only) | No shore stop | Not included | TSS Earnslaw | All ages | 1.5 h |
| Walter Peak farm tour + lake cruise | Guided farm tour, animals, demonstrations | Morning or afternoon tea | Spirit of Queenstown or TSS Earnslaw | Not stated | 3.5 h |
| Walter Peak horse trek + lake cruise | Horse trek, 40–45 min | Morning or afternoon tea | Spirit of Queenstown or TSS Earnslaw | From 7 | 3.5 h |
| Walter Peak Garden to Table experience | Tree planting, kitchen garden | Garden platters for lunch | TSS Earnslaw | All ages | 3.5 h |
From the GetYourGuide listings, checked in October 2026. The age for the cruise only and Garden to Table comes from the RealNZ pages, because the listings are silent there. The duration is the operator’s figure. From 18 May to 27 June 2026 the TSS Earnslaw is in annual maintenance, and the listings name the Spirit of Queenstown for that window.
Crossings run on the catamaran Spirit of Queenstown or on the TSS Earnslaw steamship, so check which boat your departure uses. From 18 May to 27 June 2026 the steamship is in annual maintenance and the catamaran covers all departures. The farm programme is small-scale: sheepdog demo, shearing when the weather allows and animal feeding go down well with children, while some adults without children find it thin. And match the meal to your plans. The afternoon tea on the farm tour is a light stop, not a meal, and on late BBQ dinner sailings it can get dark soon after arrival, so families usually do better with lunch. The full trade-off: cruise, farm tour, BBQ or horse trek?
Real traveller reviews from GetYourGuide.
★ 4.8 (3,250 reviews)
“went as a young family for a gourmet BBQ lunch. the food was exemplary. the cruise short enough to be enjoyable but not draining. being able to view the steam ship in operation is exciting for the kids. would highly recommend”
“The best bbq I’ve ever had in my life! Ha! The view on the cruise and the food was the best thing I’ve had in a while! Thankyou Walter Peak BBQ chefs! Immaculate service !”
“Very expensive for a boat trip and a buffet lunch with hundreds of other people. Then a short working dog display which was probably the highlight.”
The praise centres on the food and on the steamship crossing. The criticism describes the scale, not the cooking: this is a large operation, so the buffet can mean queues and a crowd, the schedule can feel brisk, and drinks on board cost extra. Plan around one more pattern: on the late departures it gets dark soon after arrival, which leaves little time to see the grounds. If you want daylight and some of the farm with your meal, book a lunch departure.
★ 4.8 (1,171 reviews)
“Fantastic experience! Excellent entertainment onboard the steam boat, knowledgeable guide and delicious afternoon tea.”
“All round Great farm tour, shearing/dog show and afternoon tea. Our kids had a great day out. The boat cruise over is an added bonus on an amazing old boat with great views around the lake.”
“The farm in itself is very nice and well kept. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable. The biggest issue is the clear money grab system. The group is way too big (40ish) to fully enjoy the animals (3 or 4 at a time). … you feel like a flock of sheep going from this to the tour to the show with no time to fully immerse into anything.”
The five-star reviews praise the steamship crossing, engaging guides, the animals and the afternoon tea. The critical reviews raise four points. Groups can be large (one reviewer puts the group at around forty), which leaves little time close to the animals; the afternoon can pass with little sense of when the next part starts; sheep shearing and parts of the show depend on the weather and are not guaranteed; and two reviewers from Australia and New Zealand who know farms question the value. If any of those would spoil the visit for you, weigh them before booking.
★ 4.7 (1,450 reviews)
“This ship is amazing and I’d reccommend it to anyone who’s visiting Queenstown. The scenery the fact you can see people stoking the coal engines it’s an awesome way to cruise the lake 10/10.”
“It was a lovely way to spend the morning. Since we just took the cruise round trip we thought it was expensive. Really seems to be used to get people to the other side for their adventures.”
“It was a nice enough ride on the lake/river but overall it was pretty boring. The people who worked it though were very personable and attentive.”
Reviewers who come for the ship itself (the engine room, the brass and timber, the lake views) rate the cruise highly. The criticism is about expectations: one reviewer found the ride “pretty boring”, and another, who took only the round trip, found it expensive and noted that the ship mainly seems to serve as the way across to Walter Peak, and the half-day combinations include the same crossing. Expect queues at boarding; one reviewer notes the crowd thins out once passengers spread around the ship.
Quotes from the GetYourGuide pages of the Walter Peak products. Long reviews are shortened (marked with …), the wording is unchanged, and names are cut to first name and country.
Every Walter Peak experience is run by RealNZ, and the booking platforms list them as lookalike products. We set out what separates the variants, with the same facts for each, so you can decide in one place. When you book through a link on this page, GetYourGuide pays us a small commission out of its margin, not out of your ticket price.
Road access, boats, crossing times, food, weather and cancellation.
It depends on what you want out of the trip. If the steamship itself is the draw, the cruise-only ticket gives you the TSS Earnslaw without the shore stop. If you want the farm with its sheepdogs, shearing and animal feeding, take the farm tour. If a meal at the lakeside homestead sounds like the day, book the gourmet BBQ, as lunch if you also want the farm side. And if you would rather see the station from the saddle, the horse trek adds a 40–45-minute guided ride. Our comparison page walks through the trade-offs one by one.
Walter Peak High Country Farm sits across Lake Whakatipu from Queenstown, and the boat is the most popular way there. Every boat departure starts at the RealNZ Visitor Centre at 88 Beach Street. RealNZ also describes a gravel backroad from Te Anau, about four hours by car. Which experience you book decides what happens once you step ashore.
Not automatically, and this is the detail most worth checking. Crossings run on two boats: the catamaran Spirit of Queenstown and the vintage steamship TSS Earnslaw. If riding the steamship is part of the appeal, pick a TSS Earnslaw departure deliberately at booking. And note the annual maintenance: from 18 May to 27 June 2026 the steamship is out of the water and all crossings run on the catamaran, while the farm and BBQ experiences continue as normal.
About 45 minutes each way. The half-day experiences (farm tour, BBQ, horse trek, Garden to Table) run about 3.5 hours in total including both crossings; the cruise-only ticket is a 1.5-hour return trip without going ashore.
Sometimes, if you go in with the right expectations. The programme is built around close animal contact: a sheepdog demonstration, shearing when the weather allows, and feeding the animals. One family reviewer sums it up as a great day out for the kids; some adults without children describe the same programme as small-scale and petting-zoo-like. If that might be you, the BBQ or the cruise-only ticket may fit better. The afternoon tea on the farm tour is a light stop, not a meal.
Book lunch if you also want daylight for the farm side of Walter Peak. The listing includes the farm dog show in both slots, but the evening is built around the meal, and one reviewer on a 5pm sailing found it dark soon after arrival, with little time to look around. The dinner slot suits travellers who want the cruise and the meal as an evening out.
The experiences are weather-dependent. When conditions force changes, RealNZ rebooks or refunds, and individual programme parts adjust too: sheep shearing, for example, only runs when the weather allows. The binding policy for your departure is the one shown at checkout on the product page.
The boats are cashless, so bring a card. Parking near the wharf is limited, so plan to walk from central Queenstown or be dropped off near the RealNZ Visitor Centre at 88 Beach Street.
Yes. Every experience on this page currently offers free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure, according to its GetYourGuide product page. Weather cancellations by the operator are rebooked or refunded.
Steamer, farm, BBQ or horse trek, each with its own card and live fare.
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