The Best Places to Drink and Stay in Arrowtown

Two 18-hole courses spread across 650 acres outside Arrowtown, and golf is almost beside the point. This sprawling resort backs up to gardens, woodland, and waterways, with nature walks, tennis, and pétanque filling the gaps. Rooms are angled toward the views, with sliding windows and private terraces. When dinner comes around, the choice runs from kitchen-garden produce at Millhouse to firepit dining by the pond at Smithy's Smoke House.

Central Otago pours run deep at this wine bar in Arrowtown, with bottles from the surrounding region joined by Barossa selections and vintage French champagnes. The high-ceilinged room keeps things unfussy, simply dressed tables and a relaxed pace that feels genuinely local rather than performed. An open kitchen runs along one side for anyone who wants something to watch with their glass.

A rusting padlock hangs off a battered blue door down a secluded alleyway off Arrowtown's main drag, and that's the whole address you'll need. This atmospheric bar sits in old gold-mining country where the high street already looks like a Western set, and the bar leans into that energy without trying too hard. The kind of place you find by accident and tell people about like a secret, even though everyone already knows.