Cycle | Canterbury | New Zealand
The Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail
Text | Anninka Kraus
Photography | Tobias Kraus
New Zealand Canterbury
Starting in the Southern Alps near the snow-capped peaks of New Zealand’s highest mountains, the country’s longest continuous cycle trail takes in the vast open landscapes of the Mackenzie District and Waitaki Valley – golden tussock-covered highlands, startling blue hydro lakes, and wide braided rivers – on its journey east towards Oamaru on the Pacific Ocean.
The Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail is one of Nga Haerenga, New Zealand’s premier selection of Great Rides and rated Grade 2 and 3 (easy to intermediate) caters to most cyclists and riding abilities. Several tour operators help with bike hire, shuttle services, bag transfers, and guided tours along the trail and the wide range of accommodation and food options on the way make this a very comfortable 5-7-day journey from the mountains to the sea.
jump ahead - Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail 7-day Itinerary
Day 1: Lake Tekapo – Twizel (alternative start)
54km, Grade 2/easy, 4–5 hours
Day 2: Twizel – Lake Ohau Lodge
38km, Grade 2/easy, 3–4 hours
Day 3: Twizel – Omarama
45km, Grade 3/intermediate, 4–6 hours
Day 4: Omarama – Otematata
35km, Grade 2 & 3/easy & intermediate, 3–4 hours
Day 5: Otematata – Kurow
45km, Grade 2 & 3/easy & intermediate, 3.5–4 hours
Day 6: Kurow – Duntroon
28km, Grade 2/easy, 2–3 hours
Day 7: Duntroon – Oamaru
54km, Grade 3/intermediate, 5–6 hours
To shorten the ride to 4-6 days, combine days 2 and 3 (Twizel – Omarama) and/or days 4 and 5 (Omarama – Kurow) and/or days 6 and 7 (Kurow – Duntroon).
A ribbon of leafy willow trees marks the course of the river on the barren valley floor.
Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail
track details.
Start: Tekapo (or Mount Cook)
End: Oamaru
Route: Tekapo – Twizel (54km) – Lake Ohau Lodge (38km) – Omarama (45km) – Otematata (35km) – Kurow (45km) – Duntroon (28km) – Oamaru (54km)
Distance: 290-320km depending on your starting point (starting from Lake Tekapo the trail distance is slightly shorter)
Time: 5-7 days
Elevation gain: +1480m / -2200m (lowest point: 0m / highest point: 900m)
Difficulty: Grade 2-3 (easy to intermediate)
Options: the trail is suitable for cyclists and walkers
Permits: none required | E-bikes are permitted on the trail
Further information: Official Ngā Haerenga (‘The Journeys’) Great Rides website, Official Alps 2 Ocean website
what to expect.
New Zealand’s most varied cycle trail is a 300km journey from the Southern Alps to the Pacific Ocean in the South Island’s Canterbury region.
With magnificent views of New Zealand’s highest peak Aoraki/Mount Cook (3754m) and other snow-capped mountains in the Southern Alps at the start of the trail.
And in the Mackenzie Country, a vast expanse of golden tussock-clad highlands, crisscrossed by turquoise blue canals and dotted with willow-fringed hydro lakes.
At night, the Mackenzie Country is a magical place for stargazing. The trail traverses the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve, one of only eight such low light pollution areas with the darkest night skies in the world.
On-road sections are being continuously replaced with purpose-built off-road cycle paths, like the recently completed 16km-long cycle trail that runs along the deep blue Ahuriri arm of Lake Benmore from Sailors Cutting Scenic Reserve to Benmore Dam. Oamaru with its famous Victorian Precinct, penguin colony, and magnificent public gardens is a worthy finish of New Zealand’s longest continuous cycle trail.
location & trail information.
How to get to the Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail: The Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail is located in the South Island, between Christchurch and Queenstown, and stretches for 300km from the Southern Alps to the Pacific Ocean. On maps, you’ll often see two starting points marked. One is the official start at Mount Cook village in Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park, 67km north of Twizel.
Imagine our excitement about starting the trip in Mount Cook, in the heart of the Southern Alps – and our surprise when we learned that a helicopter flight over the Tasman River is required to continue with the journey only 8 kilometres from the start.
So much for clean, green New Zealand,” was my mum’s reply when I told her and our thoughts exactly. And not just ours it seems, for according to the tour company that organized our shuttle and bag transfers, few people actually start in Mount Cook because of sustainability or cost concerns (prices for a helicopter crossing range from $135 per person to $550+ per helicopter load).
The alternative starting point is Lake Tekapo, a 54km ride to Twizel, where both routes meet and continue onto Oamaru on the Pacific Ocean.
Oamaru is a 3-hour drive south from Christchurch and easily accessible by car and Intercity bus. Most tour companies operate depots in both Oamaru and Twizel, a 2.5-hour drive north-east from Queenstown, but our recommendation is to leave your car at the depot in Oamaru and take a shuttle to the start. That way, coming back, you will have your car waiting for you at the finish and won’t need to meet a shuttle.
Accommodation on the Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail: Accommodation is readily available in larger towns along the trail, such as Twizel, Omarama, Kurow, and Oamaru. There’s limited choice on the leg Twizel – Omarama (if you want to spend the night at Lake Ohau, Lake Ohau Lodge is your only option) and in Otematata. Twizel: The Rest,Matuka Luxury Lodge, Re Whenua / Lake Ohau: Lake Ohau Lodge / Omarama: Michelle’s guesthouse on airbnb, Omarama Pinot Retreat on airbnb / Otematata: Totara Peak Chalet / Kurow: Riverside B&B, Nest Treehouses / Duntroon: Windhaven Bed and Breakfast / Oamaru: Poshtel
Restaurants and Cafes on the trail: Clyde, Alexandra, Ophir and Ranfurly offer a choice of restaurants and cafes, but your options will be limited in the smaller towns in-between. In both Lauder and Wedderburn for instance, there’s only one family-run tavern, which may not be open outside of peak season without prior booking. It’s best to ask your host about dinner options well in advance and most will be happy to recommend and book places for you.
Larger towns along the trail cater well to visitors with restaurants, cafes, and pubs open all year round. In smaller places you will have a more limited choice however, especially outside of peak season and I suggest you ask your host about dinner options well in advance. Most will be happy to recommend and book places for you.
Carry sufficient food and water for the day in case some cafes or restaurants are closed unexpectedly.
Our favourites include: Twizel: Wok Away food truck / Kurow: Wild Sage Cafe / Oamaru: Riverstone Kitchen, Cucina, Whitestone Cheese Factory Store and Tours
Transport on the Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail: Several tour operators offer bike hire, shuttle services, bag transfers, and guided tours including accommodation on the trail (Trail Journeys, Cycle Journeys, Bespoke Bike Tours and operate depots in Oamaru and Twizel. If you’re short on time, you can easily pick the most scenic sections for day trips as most trail sections are accessible by car. Our favourites are Lake Tekapo – Twizel, Twizel – Omarama, and the recently completed 16km-long purpose-built cycle trail from Sailors Cutting Scenic Reserve to Benmore Dam between Omarama and Otematata.
What is the best direction to cycle the Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail? Gradients and wind direction favour cycling west to east, from the Southern Alps down to the Pacific Ocean. This is also the direction in which most tour companies operate.
What do you need to take on the Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail: Your bike gear obviously, including a puncture repair kit and suitable clothing (wearing a bike helmet is mandatory in New Zealand), a detailed map or download files for offline navigation (cellphone coverage is often poor along the trail), sufficient water and snacks, toilet paper (this wasn’t provided in some toilets along the trail), sunscreen and sunglasses, and a rubbish bag (same principle as on hiking trails: carry out what you carry in). In the winter months, you may encounter snow and frost on the trail and sudden cold spells can occur in alpine environments at any time of the year. Take warm and windproof clothing (thermals, windbreaker, gloves!).
Difficulty of the Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail: The trail is well signposted and rated Grade 2-3 (easy to intermediate), which means that unlike the Otago Central Rail Trail or Hauraki Rail Trail, both wide, flat and entirely off-road trails, the terrain on the Alps 2 Ocean trail varies and features some narrow single-track sections with sharp bends and steep drop-offs as well as on-road sections on roads with a 100kmh speed limit.
Take extreme care on roads and don’t expect drivers to slow down when they see cyclists on the road because the majority won’t.
The difficulty of individual trail sections is described in detail on the official Alps 2 Ocean website
A mountain bike is recommended and E-bikes are allowed on the trail.
Day 1 | 54km | 4-5 hours
Lake Tekapo - Twizel
Lake Tekapo is the alternative but more popular starting point of the Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail, a milky, intensely turquoise lake bordering on sparsely vegetated plains that climb gently into the foothills of Two Thumbs Range in the east and Mt John to the west.
It’s Easter and the small tourist village of the same name on its southern shore is busy even with the borders closed. Busy, but not swamped by busloads of tourists who’d be here in a normal year taking yet more photos of New Zealand’s most photographed church. Tekapo’s iconic chapel, the Church of the Good Shepperd, is a small sturdy building of large brownish-grey boulders sited in a garden of long tussock grass at the lakeshore and features in every South Island itinerary. It’s a magical place but often too crowded.
Leaving the township, the trail takes us along Tekapo Canal Road into a beautiful contrasting scenery of deep blue canals crisscrossing the Mackenzie Country’s golden tussock-covered highlands. We both consider this to be one of the trail’s most beautiful sections but be wary of strong gusts along the canals and carefully check weather and wind forecasts before your trip.
We wrongly relied on our tour operator to keep us informed and end up pushing our bikes in gale-force winds for several hours.
When finally, the gusts ease, the trail drops down to Lake Pukaki where we follow Hayman Road along the willow-fringed lakeshore with yet more vistas of cloudy blue water and snow sparkling on the mountains. Lake Pukaki does not have a famous chapel sitting on its shores but across the lake, snow-covered Aoraki/Mount Cook rises to 3724 metres.
At the Lake Pukaki Visitor Centre and Mt Cook Alpine Salmon shop, the trail turns away from the lake and State Highway 8 and heads south across the Pukaki Flats to Twizel.
Day 2 | 83km | 7-10 hours
Twizel - Omarama
After a short on-road section, we follow the trail along the Pukaki and Ohau canals to where Glen Lyon Road meets Lake Ohau. Although this trail section is shared with Glen Lyon Road all the way to the lake, only the first six kilometres before we cross the Pukaki Canal are effectively on-road. There’s very little traffic along the canals after that. We meet a few other cyclists and some fishermen in campervans parked along the canals that supposedly provide excellent fishing for trout and salmon but not a single car drives past.
At the end of the road, we cross the water lock and turn right, heading south towards the outflow of the lake, the Ohau River. A weir leads across the river 200 metres from the lakeshore but the path picks up on the other side and heads straight back towards the waterfront.
We already know this stretch, which is shared with the Lake Ohau Track, a gravel trail snaking around the turquoise-blue lake encircled by pale grasslands dappled with shrubs that rise up the hillsides of Mount Ohau and the foothills of Barrier Range, its highest peaks covered in snow gleaming in the distance. It was at a different time of year when we were here last and ran along the lakeshore one day and climbed Ben Ohau the next but the scenery was much the same: Weet-Bix-coloured tussock grasslands and an aquamarine lake underneath a watery blue sky.
After 29 kilometres, the trail meets with Lake Ohau Road and takes us past a tiny village towards Lake Ohau Lodge at the end of the road. The lodge is your only choice for accommodation if you want to split the leg Twizel – Omarama into two shorter sections. The rooms are dated but the location on the lake and views of Mount Cook and Lake Ohau compensate well for the lack of amenities.
If you stay the night in Omarama, the lodge is still a lovely place to stop for a drink before the 300m climb on Tambrae Track to the highest point along the trail at 900m. This spot sits high above the valley floor opposite the Ben Ohau Range with magnificent views over the Mackenzie Basin and kicks off a long downhill ride on a rocky track before the trail spills onto the valley floor at a place marked “historic woolshed”. We’re on the home stretch now, a gradual descent across the basin on Quailburn Road towards Omarama.
Note: After a few rainy days you may want to check track conditions on the Alps2Ocean website because the Ohau Weir cannot be crossed when it is in flood.
Day 3 | 35km | 3-4 hours
Omarama - Otematata
Leaving Omarama, the trail climbs to the top of the Chain Hills and descends into the Waitiki Valley along Lake Benmore to Sailors Cutting Scenic Reserve and the start of one of the trail’s most spectacular off-road sections. Cut into the barren hillside, the recently completed 16km-long purpose-built cycle trail to Benmore Dam is great fun to ride, with steep drop-offs, tight corners, and fantastic views of the deep blue Ahuriri arm of Lake Benmore.
Don’t be put off by large signs threatening persecution if you so much as take your eyes off the track and dare look across the fence. This trail section crosses private property and the landowner was vehemently opposed to it for years we are told. Our host in Kurow later recounts a crucial council meeting in which Meridian Energy threatened to lower the water level in Lake Benmore to allow the trail to be built on their land and only then did the landowner reluctantly agree. Given the signs I assume he’s actually still very much opposed, but apart from these the landscape is very idyllic in a rugged, remote, and bare sort of way.
The last climb takes us to the top of the Rostriever saddle at the foot of the Benmore peninsula with views of Benmore Hydro Dam and down the Waitaki and Otematata river valleys to Loch Laird camping ground and Otematata, a former project town on the shores of Lake Aviemore.
It’s a beautiful downhill ride on the right-hand side of the dam into Otematata, but the town itself fills us with the feeling of happening upon a ghost town. Even in peak season, the place is deserted and there’s very little choice for accommodation and even less for food. If self-catering, bring your own food as the convenience store only stocks the bare essentials.
In retrospect, I would probably skip the 12-kilometre detour to Otematata and continue straight towards Kurow.
Day 4 | 45km | 3-4 hours
Otematata - Kurow
From Otematata, it’s a gruelling uphill slog on Loch Laird Road the next morning until we’re back on Benmore Dam and follow Te Akatarawa Road along the Waitaki River and Lake Aviemore, passing many campsites and thick hedges with blackberries and tiny apple trees growing wild on the roadside.
This trail section is entirely on-road but on a weekday there’s surprisingly little traffic. Several campervans drive by and the three hydro dams that we pass between Otematata and Kurow draw a few visitors. The first is Benmore Dam, New Zealand’s largest earth dam opened in 1965. The second is Aviemore Dam, which was constructed during the 1960s, and the third, Waitaki Dam, was the first to be built on the Waitaki River in 1934. All three are impressive structures, especially considering some were built by pick, shovel and wheelbarrow.
At Aviemore Dam, the trail goes off-road but stays close to SH83 as it skirts around the southern shoreline of Lake Waitaki and follows the Waitaki River down the valley into Kurow. This little town located in the Waitaki Valley wine region is a project town like Otematata, but much livelier with restaurants, cafes, hotels, and cellar doors lining the main street.
Sunset outside Otematata.
Day 5 | 28km | 2-3 hours
Kurow - Duntroon
Between Kurow and Duntroon the trail winds down the Waitaki Valley and shortly before crossing the Duntroon Wetlands takes us past the Takiroa Maori rock art site located across SH83. The site is accessible by a footpath and information panels describe the images depicted in charcoal and red ochre on the limestone overhangs that date from the period between 1400 and 1900 AD.
Some I recognise as people, animals, and European sailing ships, but some are more abstract and others have sadly been ravaged or destroyed. It’s not a large site but worth visiting.
Duntroon is a cute little place but rather quiet and I’m glad we’ve sorted out our dinner plans in advance as there’s just one restaurant currently operating which may also not be open outside peak season.
Day 6 | 54km | 5-6 hours
Duntroon - Oamaru
We cycle out of Duntroon in the pouring rain on this last leg across farmland and rolling green hills in the Waitaki district and are soaking wet only ten minutes later. Twenty minutes later, I’m also covered in mud from head to toe and finally understand why one might want or in fact need fenders on a bike.
In this weather, we don’t stop to explore the Elephant Rocks six kilometres south-west of Duntroon but on a finer day, you could probably imagine yourself in Narnia, the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. These oddly shaped weathered limestone boulders scattered across the hillside provided the setting for Aslan’s Camp.
At the rocks, we’re about halfway up the first of two longer climbs on today’s stretch and when we make it to the top of the second hill at the intersection of Cants and Peaks roads past kilometre twenty, the rain finally stops. Not soon enough though because the Rakis Railway Tunnel is already flooded. We quickly debate taking a shortcut across some paddocks to bypass the tunnel but then decide we can’t possibly get any wetter, colder, or dirtier and wade right through the large muddy puddles in the dark. Coming out the other end we look like we’ve just competed in a cross-country mud run.
On the home stretch, the trail jumps on and off an old railway line and 300km from the start enters Oamaru through the Public Gardens, then takes us past beautiful white limestone buildings in Victorian-era architecture towards the harbour and across the finish line at Friendly Bay on the Pacific Ocean.
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