Things to do in Manapouri

Manapouri sits 20 minutes south of Te Anau and about 190 km (2 h 20) from Queenstown, and it exists mainly as the departure point for Doubtful Sound: an hour by boat across Lake Manapouri, then a bus over Wilmot Pass to the water. Budget the full day, not a half-day add-on, and expect fares from roughly NZD 250 to 300 per adult.

En route, cruise boats stop at the Manapouri underground power station in West Arm, built through the 1960s and 70s and still cut into the rock 200 metres down. The lake itself was the trigger for New Zealand's first big environmental campaign: 'Save Manapouri' stopped a scheme to raise it in the early 1970s, and the shoreline you see today is that outcome.

The village has a handful of short walking tracks but almost no shops or fuel, so stock up in Te Anau first.