Best Place to See Autumn Colors in New Zealand & the Arrowtown Autumn Festival

Otago is one of the best places to see autumn colors in New Zealand, hosting the Arrowtown Autumn Festival every year to dazzle the masses. This post will be more photos than words to reflect my awe every year that I visit this magical corner of the world.

Central Otago hosts some of the best autumn colors in New Zealand. From March to May, deciduous trees erupt in vibrant yellow and red across the region. Wineries move into the harvest, and you can perch among mountain views with a glass of wine and your favorite jumper, bundled against the crisp autumn weather.

Autumn is my favorite season. In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s still strange to have autumn without Halloween and in the months of March, April, and May.

But New Zealand makes up for it by gifting us autumn festivals, fresh seasonal produce, and barrels of malt and cider.

And none does it better than Arrowtown, a picturesque gold rush village in Central Otago, 20 minutes out of Queenstown. Enjoy the below gallery of my time at the Arrowtown Autumn Festival this year, the best place to experience autumn colors in New Zealand.

Related: How to see the South Island in autumn on a budget

Arrowtown Rush

Arrowtown may not be impressive in size (there’s only one main road), but it packs enough old-world charm to entertain me for days. I can’t describe how much I love this town. If I were a millionaire, I’d buy here.

Because of its European flair for the old, Arrowtown has overtime become a tourist hotspot, especially made worse by the ever-so-Instagrammable wood cabin.

Suffice it to say, it gets busy, particularly for the autumn festival. But it’s not as bad as you think.

First, circulating Arrowtown for a parking spot is the most scenic drive you’ll ever do. 

Tour the small village at the price of free. Cast eyerolls at jaywalking tourists and experience awe at towering autumn trees flanking little streets. Compete with others for parking spots, while admiring a string of heritage buildings and stone cottages.

I make this sound long-winded but we’ve never had to look longer than 10 minutes to find a spot. There’s always something available, it’s just slow-moving. Everyone’s so distracted by the beauty, it’s common that tourists walk into the street without looking. I’m not kidding.

But slow is the way of life here. And that moves me into another one of my favorite things about Arrowtown.

A slow way of life

Unlike Queenstown (the party and adventure capital of New Zealand), Arrowtown is a place of quiet. There’s something revered about historic places. The sense of age lives in the air here.

Arrowtown is tucked against mountains where miners once found a lot of gold. Although the days of the gold rush are over, autumn trees speckle the surrounding mountains in happy golden hues, as if to keep the memory alive.

Along the street, miner’s cottages have been refurbished into little cafes, chocolate shops and galleries. The architecture has been expertly preserved so you’ll find a variety of small businesses nestled inside stone and brick, guarded by old lamp posts.

I visualize myself many times living in Arrowtown. I would spend my days hiking the trails along Arrow River or sampling from the myriad of restaurants. I’d catch a movie at the cinema or a coffee at one of its many cafes.

Arrowtown always leaves me with a sense of ease and enchantment, even during the busy festival season. I feel I could settle down and raise a family here, and I’d let them run the nature trails, counting colors and dreaming of the hills beyond.

Related: Crying at the mountains in Wanaka, New Zealand

Things to Do in Arrowtown

Arrowtown lives in harmony with nature, guarded by towering trees and the rolling hills. Although the walking trails provide plenty of entertainment, there’s a surprising number of things to do and places to eat.

Tiny Arrowtown deceptively packs an excellent number of restaurants and cafes. Other than the autumn colors, this is my favorite part of the Autumn Festival.

The road is overtaken by families and visitors, hopping from one business to the next, eating, drinking, or participating in a town-wide treasure hunt.

The lack of chains is refreshing, providing unique high-quality establishments. Restaurants like Provisions of Arrowtown and Postmasters Cottage Cafe locally source their ingredients and include quaint garden spaces ringed by a white picket fence. And Patagonia Chocolates makes a delicious ice cream cone to accompany all your strolling.

Shop local wares at the Arrowtown Farmer’s Market, where families and vendors gather every Sunday. Or visit the Blue Door, where you can live out all your medieval dreams of drinking malt in front of a fireplace in an old stone pub.

The rich smell of rivers and autumn

While all this shopping and eating sounds divine… it’s the nature I’m really here for.

That’s where I find peace, the main reason I leave home to travel.

And the nature surrounding Arrowtown makes my heart sing. During autumn, you can see how aggressively the deciduous trees have invaded, climbing hills, packed together tightly. This is what makes Arrowtown so stunning to me.

The hills are colorful. The streets are colorful. Vibrant yellow and orange bend over stone cottages and make tunnels of the walking trails.

Every time I visit, I spend the majority of my time along Arrow River. It smells of rich walnut and soil. Leaves crunch under my boots and through the autumn trees, I spot the hills beyond, an undulating sea of red, yellow, and orange.

Cyclists roll by and children watch leaves float along the current. Tourists marvel at the Chinese settlement village hidden in the woods. And I wander aimlessly, wrapped in a jumper and a scarf, clicking with my camera or sipping on a turmeric latte.

Visiting Arrowtown is one of the highlights of my year and makes living in New Zealand such a privilege. Something about it warms the soul. The historic village instills a sense of small-town coziness, with many stories to uncover behind the old stone and brick.

Already counting the days until I can return next autumn.