I noticed many people seem to stay in Queenstown and then do day trips to Doubtful and Milford Sounds. We had planned to drive to Te Anau from Queenstown for three nights to better take advantage of these two trips, especially since we're taking the overnight trip on Doubtful Sound but I'm wondering why many people prefer to stay in Queenstown.
Is Te Anau short on restaurants or something? The motels looked ok.

Hi

We travelled around South Island in February last year. The trip is doable from Queenstown but it is a very long day and i think it is not worth it. We drove to Te Anau and stayed there then drove to Milford Sound and took the last cruise of the day( not very crowded) which was wonderful.

There are plenty of places to stay at and eat in Te Anau - for details see my trip report put my nickname in the search box above

Hi stotz -

I suspect many people stay in Queenstown instead of Te Anau due to a lack of time. As angelnot1 has mentioned, it's certainly possible to see Milford/Doubtful on a day trip from Queenstown, but it's a four hour drive each way.

We've spent three nights in Te Anau on two separate trips, and we're planning to spend four nights there again in March. Although Te Anau is often viewed as no more than a jumping off point to Milford/Doubtful for some visitors, there's plenty to do there. We plan to spend most of our time exploring the tracks in the area.

Te Anau is small, but it has a wide range of restaurants and accommodation. It gets busy during the day with bus traffic, but is peaceful in the evenings.

thanks for your replies. I look forward to staying in Te Anau.

forgetting about travel times or any other issues, the overwhelming choice is Queenstown. Te Annau (which we liked, incidentally) is a quiet little town with little to do - the Glowworm Caves are worth a trip - but Queenstown offers many more options from the standpoint of hotels, eating places, things to do, and amenities of all sorts. To us it's a no-brainer.

Rhardy - you are right to the extent that Queenstown is a more 'buzzy' town. We stayed there for several nights as well as Te Anau. We chose to go to Te Anau first, stay there then go on a cruise the next day then stay another night before driving to Queenstown where we stayed a few nights.

My point was that driving from Queenstown to Milford Sound is a long and hard day.

We stayed in Te Anau for 3 nights in Nov. 2006 It is a lot more convenient than Queenstown for your cruises. It is still I think about 2.5hrs to Milford Sound. In between the cruises we just hung out in Te Anau and took a flight seeing tour. We were in a Camper van and stayed at the Holiday 10 park. That too was a very nice facility. Staff very helpful and friendly. These 3 days were 3 of the best on our trip. It is a clean town I cannot advise you on the motels, or restaurants, we were self catering most of the time