Things to do in Cromwell and Bannockburn

Cromwell sits 60 km (45 min) from Queenstown on the shore of Lake Dunstan, a reservoir created when the Clyde Dam was completed in 1992. The town's original 19th-century centre was flooded at that time; the cobbled Old Cromwell Town by the water today is a reconstructed heritage quarter, not the original site, and it's worth knowing that before you go looking for the real thing.

The Cromwell Basin is the country's stone-fruit capital, with roadside stalls selling cherries, apricots and peaches from December through March, and the giant fruit sculpture marking the highway junction. Across the water in Bannockburn, a cluster of small producers grows Central Otago pinot noir on former goldfields; cellar doors are typically open daily in summer, weekends only in winter.

The Lake Dunstan Trail links Cromwell to Clyde over roughly 55 km of mostly flat cycling.