"Arrowtown a special hideaway." a Arrowtown Travel Page by kiwi

As you drive into Arrowtown, probably from Lake Hayes, take the time to get your mind into a bygone era and think for a moment about the history of the town. It will help you appreciate better what you find.
Gold was discovered in the Arrow River in 1862 and suddenly the town was born. I wondered, as I stood and looked, why they built it so close to the river, under the hills and shaded from the lovely warming sun. I guess accessibility to the river and convenience of closeness was their priority.
The town was only ever intended to be there for the period of gold gathering, but when they build with stone, and left things there, it was not going to fall down on its own, lucky for us! At the height of the gold mining frenzy, the population of Arrowtown grew to over 7000 people, but is now a more realistic size of less than 2000.
Now you see the sunny side of Arrowtown growing with the development of a housing area facing the Lake Hayes direction.
It's a very small town and doesn't take a lot of time to get around. There is a museum which I found to be very interesting, along with an art gallery. You can take walks from here, and visit the old Chinese Miners' Village nearby, walking distance from the town.
You can picnic beside the Arrow River or eat at one of the lovely modern caf?s in the main street. Or even play a round of golf at the nearby Millbrook Resort, open to the public.
The shops in Arrowtown are totally geared to the tourist and open 7 days a week, however they do stock an array of high quality and lovely momentos and useful items mostly from New Zealand.
Arrowtown is just 25 minutes drive from Queenstown, and I suggest strongly that you take two particular routes to take in the beautiful surrounding scenery. One is from the main highway 6 via Lake Hayes. The other, is along Gorge Road, which is a beautiful drive through a canyon from Arrowtown back to the centre of Queenstown. Well worth taking both these roads.
Arrowtown - Queenstown 25 mins
Arrowtown - Cromwell 40 mins
Arrowtown - Wanaka (via Cardrona, summertime) 50 mins
Arrowtown - Wanaka (via Cromwell) 1hr10mins.

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Some things you can do while visiting Arrowtown are: Hot Air Ballooning, Tramping (hiking), Horseriding, Golf (Millbrook), Skiing, Hang Gliding, 4wd tracks, Mountain biking, and Movies at the boutique cinema. Not to mention eating al fresco during the summer at one of the award winning cafés.