Queen Charlotte Track

4/5 day self-guided hike with accommodation, water taxi and luggage transfer

The Queen Charlotte Track is a fantastic experience, and even more so because you don’t have to carry all your luggage with you, and you have the option of staying in accommodation if you don’t want to camp. Its 73.5km (45 miles) and a common option is to do the walk in 3 or 4 days plus you also add on a rest-day to make it 5 days. We recommend the 4 day hike or the 5-day hike if you would like a rest day. Here’s the itinerary we followed, which we booked ourselves. However there are a number of tour companies who can book the whole thing for you if you prefer.

• Day 1:
  • Catch the water taxi from Picton harbour to the start of the walk at Ship Cove, in Queen Charlotte Sound. We caught the 9.30am boat which dropped us off at the start of the track at 10.45am
  • 17km hike from Ship Cove to your accommodation at Furneaux Lodge in Endeavour Inlet
  • we stayed in a Hikers Cabin double room, which was cosy, with a shared bathroom and was good value for the location
  • we ate at the restaurant for dinner
• Day 2:
  • 11.5km hike from Furneaux Lodge to Punga Cove, located in Camp Bay on the other side of Endeavour Inlet
  • we stayed in a Basecamp double room, which was comfortable with a shared bathroom, shared kitchen, lounge – this was another good value stay in a beautiful resort. In fact this was our favourite stay of them all.
  • this was the shortest of the day hikes so we timed our arrival so we could order the woodfired pizzas being served on the Boatshed cafe on the jetty (open 12-3pm in good weather, at the time of writing) and as we ordered 2 pizzas which were very tasty and plentiful, we saved some for later and the next day’s lunch. (We chose this option as there was 1 vegetarian option for dinner and we decided we’d rather have the pizza if it was available).
  • we also had time to try out the Stand Up Paddle boards which was great fun.
• Day 3:
  • 24.5km hike from Punga Cove to Portage Resort located in Portage bay which faces the Kenepuru Sound, which is on the North side of the track alignment.
  • we had booked a Weka room but were upgraded (?) to the Korimako sunroom. We would have been happy in either room.
• Day 4 (REST):
  • We decided to stay another night at Portage Resort to have a break between the 2 longest hikes on the track. We could have managed without a rest day – but it was a great idea too.
  • we ate at the restaurant for dinner, breakfast and lunch, had a short stroll and then tried out the kayaks in the late afternoon.
• Day 5:
  • 20.5km hike from Portage Resort to Anakiwa at the end of the track
  • catch the water taxi from Anakiwa back to Picton harbour. It left at 4pm and deposited us back at Picton by 4.30pm

Transport: we booked a round trip pass with Cougar Line which included the drop off on Day 1, daily transfer of our luggage to each accommodation and the transfer back to Picton on the last day

Purchase a track pass

Lunches: we booked a vegetarian packed lunch at each accommodation

Breakfast and snacks: we also took some breakfast food (cereal/milk) and snack bars and nuts

Accommodation: when we booked our trip, only the basic hiker rooms were remaining at the Furneaux Lodge and Punga Cove and we were happy to take these rooms and save our money for other things. there are no budget hiker rooms at the Portage Resort so we chose the Weka room.

Other places to stay: along the way we noticed signs for camp sites and other accommodation, so you can break up the walk and stays differently to the above suggestions.

Useful links: