Hi, looking at making queenstown my last stop on a 2 week new zealand tour. Plan to fly out of queenstown to auckland for the flight home. Will be in queenstown for about 3 days and was wondering if once I got to queenstown, do i need a car, or can my family and I manage without one?

It really depends on what you want to do while you're in town. If you do something like the Dart River Safari, they'll provide round trip transport to/from your hotel. If you take the Earnslaw across the lake, that's walking distance from most any place you'd stay. And you certainly don't need a car to wander around town - it's not that big. But if you want to drive around to the other side of the lake or go watch them bungee off Hackett's bridge (which may or may not appeal to you!), then I think you'd need a car.

We spent 10 days in Queenstown and did not rent a car except for one day. We drove to Invergarvil on that occassion.
There is much to see and do in the Queenstown area. sharon mentioned the TSS Earnslaw for a cruise on Lake Wakitipu. A good choice. There are day trip excursions you can take also. Just go to any tourist office in the CBD and sign on. We had no trouble making reservations on a days notice.
The 10 days just flew by.
You will love the area.
John

Thanks for the responses. We will be driving to queenstown from christchurch. I guess once i get there, ill make the decision if i should return the car early or keep the car for convenience.

One thing to consider is transport to the airport, which is out of town. I'd check on the ability to return the car to the airport as a form of transport.