Queenstown Rafting Tours: Our 11 Favourites

1.Family Adventures Rafting and Sightseeing Trip in Queenstown

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 339 reviews · from $185Our pick

Review of Queenstown’s family rafting trip, with gentle Shotover River rapids, Skippers Canyon views, gold-mining history, and practical tips.

“Family adventures rafting was great, shuttle drivers holly and Luke did a good job trying to make the trip as best as could be, the road through skippers canyon was brutal, holly was amazing, arrrived at base camp to get kitted up with thermalRead more”

Check availability →Read our full review

2.Queenstown Shotover River White Water Rafting

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 309 reviews · from $154

Raft Queenstown’s Shotover River through grade 3 to 5 rapids, Skippers Canyon, Oxenbridge Tunnel, hot showers, and return transport.

“Pro experience start to finish. Get you on and get it going. Driver had us smiling the whole time. Really a fun experience.”

Check availability →Read our full review

3.Shotover River Whitewater Rafting Adventure

★★★★★★★★★★4.8 · 234 reviews · from $175

Raft Queenstown’s Shotover River through grade 3 to 5 rapids, Skippers Canyon, and the 550-foot Oxenbridge Tunnel.

“Our whitewater adventure was fantastic! Our instructor was super competent and safety was a very high priority for the team. Heaps of fun and I highly recommend it.”

Check availability →Read our full review

4.Queenstown Kawarau River Rafting and Jet Boat

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 158 reviews · from $197

Combine Queenstown jet boating and Kawarau River rafting with rapids, swimming, cliff jumping, canyon views, and hot showers.

“Jet boat trip was excellent, lots of fun. Very benign and relaxed river rafting, suitable for families. Guides were excellent. Lots of opportunities to jump in the water as it is mostly just drifting down the river.”

Check availability →Read our full review

5.Kawarau River Rafting and Jet Boat Ride

★★★★★★★★★★4.8 · 145 reviews · 4h 30m · from $190

Raft the Kawarau River, race by jet boat, tackle Dog Leg rapid, and enjoy a beginner-friendly Queenstown adventure for $190.

“Excellent guide and we had so much fun on the raft! Would recommend to anyone visiting the area Would say a drinking fountain at the river would be a nice addition after the rafting experience”

Check availability →Read our full review

6.Shotover River Rafting Trip from Queenstown

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 115 reviews · from $190

Review of Shotover River rafting from Queenstown, with six rapids, Skippers Canyon views, safety tips, pricing, and practical advice.

“Such fun with the most gorgeous scenery. Our guide was also amazing and very knowledgeable. Just the bus ride up was a little scary!”

Check availability →Read our full review

7.Shotover River Whitewater Rafting Trip

★★★★★★★★★★4.9 · 72 reviews · 4 hours · from $178

Review of Queenstown's Shotover River rafting trip, with six rapids, the Oxenbridge Tunnel, Skippers Canyon, safety tips, and value advice.

“Out of 10 Rafting:10 fantastic as you can see Mark was perfect Para gliding 9.5 Bike from Arrowtown:9 Shotover: 8 Kayaking: 8 Earnslaw:8 Luge: 8.5 Therefore every activity excellent. Rafting required skill, energy expended, safety , slowing and rock walk all gontributed to enjoyment. Mark was an ideal leader”

Check availability →Read our full review

8.Queenstown Kawarau River Whitewater Rafting

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 57 reviews · from $148

Review the Kawarau River rafting trip from Queenstown, with rapids, cliff jumping, gear, transport, price, safety, and practical tips.

“Such a fantastic experience!!! A perfect river for first time rafting - all the guides were so friendly and helpful, really couldn’t recommend enough”

Check availability →Read our full review

9.White Water Surfing Along the Kawarau River

★★★★★★★★★★4.6 · 30 reviews · 4h 30m · from $164

Ride grade 2 to 3 rapids, surf standing waves, and bodyboard the Kawarau River on a small-group Queenstown adventure.

“The crew were epic!! Did this 17 years ago when I was 21 on a contiki had a ball then and had a ball today!! Can’t wait for my own kids to be at least 8 years old and experience this with them!! Cheers guys Swifty 🤘”

Check availability →Read our full review

10.Kawarau River Whitewater Rafting

★★★★★★★★★★4.8 · 18 reviews · from $140Best value

Review of Queenstown’s Kawarau River rafting, with grade 2 to 4 rapids, cliff jumping, free photos, hot showers, and practical tips.

“The guides were all great, very friendly and really knew what they were doing. The river is beautiful. Kudos to RealNZ because they email you pictures of the trip for free! I would 100% recommend this!”

Check availability →Read our full review

11.Shotover River Rafting & Skippers Canyon Tour

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 5 reviews · 5 hours · from $178

Raft gentle Shotover River rapids, explore gold rush sites, and ride historic Skippers Road on a five-hour Queenstown adventure.

“I enjoyed the tour. As a newbie I felt like it’s the right way to immerse yourself in this kind of activities. The guides were amazing, the driver was out of this world and the activity was super fun.”

Check availability →Read our full review