Bob's Peak and Ben Lomond

Why it matters

People wanted to stand up here long before there was a road. Skyline’s own history records talk of a road to Bob’s Peak as early as the 1920s. It took until 1961 for Ian Hamilton, who owned a small bus company, to build one: a mile and a half long and as steep as 1 in 4.5 in places, so that he could bring visitors up by bus. A chalet opened on the peak in January 1964. You could ride up in a minibus or walk, and those who walked were given a certificate for it.

The gondola came next. Skyline’s first gondola travelled up Bob’s Peak on 17 November 1967, built by a French manufacturer with a Christchurch company. Its multi-coloured bubble cars ran until 1987. A 1994 upgrade added a curved wall of 30 tonnes of plate glass, taking the view round to Coronet Peak and the valley towards Arrowtown, and in 1998 a luge track opened at the top, after the success of Skyline’s luge in Rotorua. In November 2000 Skyline celebrated a million luge rides.

And now the top is being rebuilt. New ten-seat cabins, a new base terminal and a multi-storey car park are finished. Skyline says the top complex is in its final phase, with full completion expected in early 2029, and that the gondola, luge, café and restaurant are all open. On the slopes it is removing wilding pines, which it says fall easily in high winds, crowd out native plants and add to fire risk; its longer plan includes native planting, erosion control and managed grazing. Separately, DOC notes that the hills between Rat Point and Arthurs Point, Ben Lomond included, have been designated a high fire-risk zone with a year-round ban on outdoor fires.

Above it all is Ben Lomond. From its track, DOC says, you look over Queenstown, the lake, Ka-kamu-a-Hakitekura / Cecil and Walter Peaks and Kawarau / the Remarkables, and in fine weather you may even spot Pikirakatahi / Mount Earnslaw and Tititea / Mount Aspiring.

What it's like

The gondola does the climbing. It rises 480 metres over the lake to the top of Bob’s Peak, and the view opens as you go: Coronet Peak, the Remarkables, Walter and Cecil Peaks and the town spread below. The cabins seat ten and load level with the platform, so wheelchairs and prams roll straight in, and staff can slow or stop the gondola to help.

The luge is the reason many people buy more than one ride. Skyline calls it part go-kart, part toboggan: you sit in a cart, pull back on the handlebars to slow down, let go to speed up, and follow 1,600 metres of banked corners, tunnels and dips. A chairlift takes you back to the start. Skyline has also added the Vortex Slide, 48 metres of track with a 20-metre drop, which it says reaches up to 35 kilometres an hour.

The top has neighbours. Tandem paragliders launch from here and land at the foot of Bob’s Peak, weather permitting, and a zipline company sends people soaring through the treetops; Skyline notes that both operate independently of it. Outside winter, the gondola also carries mountain bikes in dedicated cabins, five bikes and five riders per cabin, up to the Ben Lomond trails. After dark, between March and October, Skyline runs 60-minute stargazing tours with an astronomy guide and telescopes.

There is somewhere to sit down, too. The Skyline Café and Bar has a bakery counter and a gelato bar, and the Stratosfare restaurant serves buffet lunches and dinners with the view; Skyline notes that its window tables are reached only by stairs. Every gondola ticket comes with Skyline’s free digital PhotoPass, though luge photos are bought separately at the luge photo kiosk.

How to visit

Getting to the base. The gondola starts on Brecon Street, a short walk from the town centre. Directly behind the base terminal is a multi-storey car park with 297 spaces, including ten accessible spaces with a lift; you pay on the way out, and a gondola ticket earns a discount. Skyline says parking is limited at peak times and suggests arriving early or walking from town. It has no campervan parking and points large vehicles to the Boundary Street car park, which has 33 spaces for them. There is no driving to the top: the access road is for commercial vehicles only, so it is the gondola or on foot, most simply by the Tiki Trail. Pets are not allowed on the gondola, though service animals are. We have not been up Bob’s Peak ourselves, so this page is research, not a visit.

Tickets. You can book online or buy on arrival. Skyline recommends booking, especially for weekends and holidays, sells walk-up tickets subject to capacity, and says online tickets are valid only for the date booked. A gondola ticket is one return ride. Luge tickets come with a 30-minute session for your first ride; Skyline asks you to be at the base at least 45 minutes before it. The rest of your rides can be used later the same day, and if weather closes the luge, your session moves to the next available time.

What there is to do. Prices are from Skyline’s booking pages and website, and walk times from DOC and Skyline.

Making the most of it

Walk up, ride down. The Tiki Trail starts beside the gondola base and climbs through the trees. Destination Queenstown calls it short but steep, with few viewpoints until the big reveal at the top, rates it good all year, and warns that mountain bikers cross it at speed. Walkers in 1964 were given a certificate for the climb. Today DOC notes that walkers can pay for a one-way gondola ticket downhill; Skyline’s online tickets are return rides, so ask at the top.

Choose the saddle or the summit. Riding the gondola and walking from the top to Ben Lomond Saddle and back takes three to four hours; DOC suggests it for anyone building the fitness for the summit. Beyond the saddle the track crosses Ben Lomond Station, private land where DOC asks you to keep to the formed track, and grows steeper and rougher to the top, where Destination Queenstown says a panel names the peaks around you. From town the summit is six to eight hours return. There are toilets at the top of the gondola and one about 100 metres before the saddle, but no water, so carry your own. Destination Queenstown also notes that the track meets the Moonlight Track, which leads away towards Arthurs Point or Moke Lake.

The Ledge. AJ Hackett’s Ledge Bungy and Swing, at the top of the gondola, was described on its Queenstown page on 11 September 2026 as soon to reopen, with no date given.

Nearby

Queenstown is at the foot of the gondola. Arrowtown, the gold-rush town, is about 20 minutes’ drive away, and Glenorchy about 45 minutes along the lake. For a different view from above, Destination Queenstown points to Coronet Peak and its new gondola. Walkers leaving Ben Lomond by the Moonlight Track come down towards Arthurs Point, on the Shotover River.

Out towards Gibbston is the Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge, where AJ Hackett says it pioneered the world’s first commercial bungy jump, in 1988.