The Remarkables Ski Area
The Remarkables Ski Area
4.5
Mountains • Ski & Snowboard Areas
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Queenstowns alpine ski area, the Remarkables are welcoming and relaxed for beginners and challenging for the more experienced.
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  • Amanda
    Greymouth, New Zealand56 contributions
    Such fun!
    First time to The Remarkables, only been to Coronet peak. Well laid out, lots of lockers and the skiers seem to fly through the lifts. We got a private one on one lesson for our son who hadnt skied before and whilst it seems a bit expensive it was well worth it. After his lesson he was away with all the confidence in the world. We also took the snow bus up....so much easier than taking your own car and they drop you right at the door. Will def come back.
    Visited September 2020
    Traveled with family
    Written 29 September 2020
  • ThePlantBasedTravellers
    Brighton, United Kingdom34 contributions
    Instructors are amazing - shame it can’t be said for f&b staff
    The Remarkables is a really wonderful day out if you are visiting Queenstown to ski or snowboard, the snow is definitely better there than at Coronet Peak if you’re struggling to choose. We had a snowboard lesson with Adam (I think!) and he was absolutely amazing. Our experience in the cafe area was not so good, except the barista’s - they are amazing, and make such good coffees! The manager, I think her name is Alex, was nothing but rude and abrupt whilst I was with my family, trying to rush us through the queue. It wasn’t a busy day and I felt her attitude was disgusting. Definitely would be bringing my own food and drinks on any future visits. Overall experience at the remarkables was great, smooth and consistent transport from town makes it easy to get there and back too so would definitely do this instead of risking driving up in bad conditions!
    Visited July 2021
    Traveled with family
    Written 18 August 2021
  • Kerrin T
    Brisbane, Australia16 contributions
    Remarkable Customer Service
    The staff at the Remarkable Ski Area went out of their way to help us - beyond expectation in fact. Their customer service is highly commended (overhearing the manager dealing with another customer who was challenging). Special mention to Isaac who did all he could to make sure our visit was pleasant. Thank you to the management team for their work and flexibility behind the scenes to rectify an error.
    Visited June 2021
    Written 1 July 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
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4.5
1,238 reviews
Excellent
647
Very good
420
Average
109
Poor
29
Terrible
33

joe
Taiwan3 contributions
Aug 2023 • Family
Disappointing end to an amazing time in New Zealand. Far too crowded, lift passes clearly oversold. Queues for buses up and down the mountain. Hour+ long queue to pick up equipment in the morning. While the food was fine, only having 1 place to eat the queues are long. All lessons end at 12:30 for lunch so make sure to go another time if you can. Queues for the chair lifts are long. More time spend queuing than skiing. Would return to Europe to ski in the future like I have in the past. Far better experience for the price.
Written 12 August 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

FiveStarAllTheWa
8 contributions
Jul 2023 • Family
- 2.5hrs from walking in the door to getting on the snow due to extreme over-crowding & long queues.
- Inexperienced staff who can’t answer questions like ‘now that I’ve been in this queue for 1.5hrs I’ve missed my lesson - can I still join the class?’
- Unhelpful staff who respond ‘that’s not my problem’ or ‘it’s your responsibility to be here earlier enough to make your lesson’ or refuse to get someone to confirm whether I could join my lesson or not.
- No assistance for absolute beginners - I had no idea how to put on my boots & the attendant was clearly put out when I asked for help.
- Ineffective classes - The front valley is full of skiers ranging from absolute beginners to experienced skiers skiing right through practice areas. I spent 10x longer waiting for others in my class to have their turn than I did actually learning.

All in all it was a horrible experience & I would not recommend The Remarkables to anyone, ever.
Written 7 August 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Mimosa54
Brisbane, Australia3 contributions
Aug 2023 • Family
Changes needed!
Disappointing to visit this wonderland after so many good reviews.
No Smoking signs everywhere, but it appears vaping is ok !.! Multiple people vaping near the restaurant….staff not overly concerned either after being informed, as they continued to vape.!!!
Food…..ugh. Heart attacks everywhere, no fruit, fried food galore, no sandwich’s.
Surely you can do better? ?
The skiing was amazing, good runs, very popular at the weekends.
Queenstown is so picturesque, well worth a visit.
Written 5 August 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Livthediv
1 contribution
Jul 2023 • Family
Getting the easy things right makes such a difference to your experience.
If you park in the top 3 car parks the bus drivers simply won’t give you a ride. They clearly think you should walk. They wouldn’t even pick up 5 of us if you are waving out desperately for a ride.
After waiting 45 mins waiting we resorted to walking - stuffed tired and grumpy way to start the day.
A worker even saw us park the car - is it that hard to radio a bus and say can we get this lot a lift. Isn’t that what we pay for - “service”. Another 30 min walk and tired body and tired kids. Terrible start to the day.
Got to the top and there’s no signs anywhere. No directions or order. Plenty of workers walking around aimlessly though. Would take one person greeting you and directing you.
female toilets are at least 15 mins, awfully unhygienic and the whole place isn’t been cleaned during the day. Messy tables in cafe.
No food left to buy at 2pm. Over priced and not a great choice. Water cost is crazy.
Written 29 July 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

justwaytoohard
97 contributions
Jul 2023 • Couples
I get it: this ski area is having a rotten season. All the hype,marketing, spin and noise won't hide that. The reality is that snow cover is poor. So what do they do? Jam as many skiers and tourists as possible into the mountain. Sell lift passes when there is no transport to get people up to the ski area. So, here's some tips: whatever the ski depth advertised: take 20cm off that. Whatever percentage of runs are open, deduct 30%. Assume runs will be seriously crowded as a result. Assume 20 minute wait times for some lifts and at least 10 minutes everywhere. Assume only one central area, where you'll wait 20 minutes for a coffee and pay over NZD10 for a litre of water. Assume a 15 minute wait for the loo if you are identifying as female. Assume that you'll pay up to $85 for a bus ride up the mountain, because the advertised $45 fares are long gone due to a driver shortage (apparently). Add that to the expensive (for what you get) lift ticket price, every day. Assume 45 minutes ride to get onto the slopes, or up to 2 hours if you take a car and they want chains fitted. Finally, assume a poky little unconnected ski area. Then...hope it snows. A lot. The only "remarkable" thing is the gap between the marketing and the reality.
Written 20 July 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Voyage66242848626
1 contribution
Jul 2023 • Family
Do not go in peak times as they issue/sell too many ski passes and then cannot handle the numbers. And i don't mean that the slopes are busy, I mean that they advise that the road to the remarkables is closed. On 2 of our 3 days when our ski passes were valid the remarkables closed the access road. The same is true for Queenstown in general: it cannot cope with peak crowds. Things might be better outside peak times but I think they should refund your ski pass if they close the road to the slopes... how can they sell you a pass but then stop you from getting up the mountain?!
Written 7 July 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Susie B
Rowville, Australia3 contributions
Jul 2023 • Couples
First I suggest you prebook your ski pass, rental gear and bus tickets online (we went through NZSki). The busses sell out quickly especially during school holidays (best to check before you plan your trip). Staff at the town centre are exceptionally patient, helpful and knowledgeable.
When catching the bus ensure you are at the town centre’s meeting place 30 mins early with your gear to line up for your allocated bus.
The trip up to the mountain is long and if there’s any incident on the road up it can take up to 1.5+ hours.
Once there it seems to be chaotic with queues, crowds and a sense of urgency! You can hire lockers for the day.
The ski runs are great - I’m a beginner and hubby is experienced. Only the beginners area is overly congested- the other chair lifts run smoothly with very little wait times.
Unfortunately when it comes to food and sitting down for lunch, this is a fail. Unhealthy fried food, large pre-made sandwiches (more gourmet than basic sandwiches), sushi and the salads on offer didn’t look very appealing. (TBH I’d suggest bringing your own lunch and snacks - especially if you have kids). It’s almost impossible to find tables from about 11:30-1:30. (All ski lessons stop for lunch 12:30-1:30).
The amenities do not accommodate the amount of people on any given day.
Staff are friendly, but perhaps an info booth would help.
Written 3 July 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

S M
Sydney, Australia59 contributions
Jun 2023 • Family
If you are getting the Remarkables Bus - board it at the Queenstown Snow Centre, NOT the stops along the way.

We spent 5 days at the Remarkables ski resort from 26 June 2023. We booked the bus transfer each day to collect us from the Upper Stanley St / Blue Peaks stop (first stop after the Queenstown Snow Centre). This was a disaster - our first two days, the 8.30am bus we booked picked us up at 9.15am (only after all people at the Snow Centre had filled multiple buses did a bus with spare seats stop at Upper Stanley St). On the third day, the bus didn't even stop at Upper Stanley. We had booked an 8.30am bus and got picked up at 10am (by a 9.30am bus).

The last two days we walked down to the Snow Centre and then had no problems. Although we felt sorry for people waiting at Upper Stanley. The bus we were on from the Snow Centre had 16 spare seats yet still did not stop at Upper Stanley. I asked the bus driver when we arrived at the Remarkables why he didn't stop, and he said he just forgot.

The lesson here is just get on the bus at the Snow Centre. If you are staying near the Upper Stanley St stop / have booked bus to pick you up from there, just walk down the hill to the Snow Centre and save yourself the stress of not being picked up.
Written 3 July 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

McF352
Sydney, Australia50 contributions
Jul 2023 • Family
Remarkables has some nice ski runs for all levels, not a huge selection but ok. The main problem is access. You can drive or go by bus. Either way, Queenstown has a major infrastructure problem with only one road in and out and it comes to a complete standstill morning and evening. If you drive you have to walk uphill from the car parks or wait a long time for a shuttle and you will probably have to fit chains. If you take the bus it is even worse- you need to book a ticket at least a week out as they sell out. If you manage to get a bus ticket there are incredible queues. We waited 1.5 hours and 2 hours respectively to get on a bus back to Queenstown. Not worth it. All up you spend more time waiting and travelling than skiing. There is also only one restaurant which has decent food selection but is packed and feels like a train station. Not a great experience overall.
Written 1 July 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Dan W
1 contribution
Jun 2023 • Solo
Everybody knows what it takes to get up the hill we don't even need to focus on that. Today (30/06/2023) it was especially "funny" and the morning was already ruined because of the "usual" things but guys, is common sense banned there? It started okay, had fun for approx 2 hours and then you decided to run your snow canons. Seriously? Nearly crashed twice, someone crashed into me... it's just impossible to ride through the mist without losing 100% of sight, it sticks to your eyes, face, goggles and then you crash...
Talked to someone from staff and got this as a response: "we need snow". Okay. Hope it's not the company's opinion, just an uneducated personnel.
Written 29 June 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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