Getting to Coronet Peak and The Remarkables Without a Car: Everything You Need to Know

The single most common question we get all winter isn't about skiing. It's about the road. You've booked Queenstown, you've got a lift pass sorted or you're planning to, and then it dawns on you: how do you actually get up the mountain?

This page is the answer to that, and to the ten questions that come after it. If you're weighing up a rental car, a taxi, or just winging it — read this first.

The short version

Snow Touch is our mountain transport service. We pick you up in town, drive you up to Coronet Peak or The Remarkables, and bring you back down at the end of the day. Your gear comes with you. You don't drive, you don't fit chains, you don't queue for a car park, and you don't have to think about the road at all.

That's the whole product. Everything below is the detail people ask us about before they book.

Why not just drive yourself?

People do. Plenty of them regret it, and it's almost never because they're bad drivers. It's because a mountain access road in winter is a genuinely different thing from the road you drove in on.

Both access roads are steep and switchbacked, and both can require snow chains at short notice depending on conditions on the day. Two things people underestimate: you need to legally carry chains, and you need to be able to actually fit them. If that takes you more than ten minutes on a cold slope with kids getting restless in the back, it stops being an adventure very quickly.

Our drivers do that road every single day of the season. They know which corners bite, how to read the other drivers coming down, and how to have chains on in a couple of minutes rather than a couple of arguments. That's the difference you're actually paying for — and you get to sit there with your own music on instead.

Coronet Peak or The Remarkables?

Both are excellent and we run to both. The honest difference for a visitor:

Coronet Peak is closer to town and the quicker trip, which makes it the better call for a half day, for a first-timer, or if you've got young kids who won't thank you for a long drive. It also runs night skiing at points through the season.

The Remarkables is the bigger day out. Longer drive, wider terrain, superb for intermediates and above, and a good learners' area too. If you've got a full day and decent weather, it's worth the extra time in the van.

Can't decide? Book Coronet for your first day. It's the gentler introduction and you'll have a much better read on what you want for day two.

2026 season dates

Snow Touch started running on 30 May. Coronet Peak's season runs 13 June to 4 October, and The Remarkables runs 13 June to 11 October — so the mountains stay open into spring, and the back end of the season is often the most pleasant time to be up there. Longer days, softer snow, far fewer people.

What time do you go?

9am is our standard departure and it suits most people. If you want first tracks we can go earlier — 8am, 7am, even 6am — for an additional cost. Ask when you book and we'll tell you what's running that day.

What about my skis and board?

Bring them. Skis, boards, boot bags — they travel with you. If you're hiring gear in town, pick it up the evening before rather than the morning of, and your morning becomes very simple.

Gloves are the thing people forget, and cold hands will end a day faster than cold anything else. We can sort you a pair if you've turned up without.

Going up with kids

This is where we get asked the most questions, and it's the part families most often get stuck on when they're pricing up a rental car. We carry children, and for babies and toddlers we provide the car seat — you don't need to fly one across the world or hire one separately.

Worth saying plainly: you don't have to ski. A lot of families come up purely for the snow itself — for a lot of visiting kids it's the first time they've stood in it. Coronet Peak is the easier one for that kind of day.

Not skiing at all?

Still worth going, and plenty of people ride up for exactly that reason. If you've no interest in skiing or snowboarding at all, Snow Touch on its own is a fine day — you're going up to see the snow, not to ski it. The view from the top on a clear day over the Wakatipu basin is one of the best things in the region, and it costs nothing extra to look at it. Get a coffee, sit in the sun, watch the chaos, come home. No lift pass required.

One way, if that suits better

Not everyone needs a round trip. If you're getting a lift up with mates and just need a way home, or you're staying on for an après beer and coming down later, we sell one-way transport too. Tell us which direction when you book.

What if the weather turns?

Mountains close. It happens, usually for wind or road conditions, and it's nobody's fault. If the mountain isn't operating we'll be in touch — you're not left standing on a kerb at 7am wondering. That's another quiet advantage of going with someone local rather than driving up to find a boom gate down.

How to book

Seats go first in school holidays and on bluebird weekends, so book ahead rather than on the morning. Current prices, pickup times and availability are all on the Snow Touch booking page — or call us on 027 746 2583 and we'll talk it through. We're a Queenstown operator, we drive these roads every day of the season, and we'd rather you asked us a daft question now than found out the hard way at the first switchback.

Coronet Peak closes 4 October and The Remarkables closes 11 October. If snow is on your list this year, the window is open now.