What is here?
A small harbour town at the head of Queen Charlotte Sound / Tōtaranui, where the Cook Strait ferries arrive. Walking tracks start from the foreshore; boats leave for the Sounds, most of which has no road.
Waitohi · Gateway to the Marlborough Sounds
Discover Picton
The independent guide to the ferry town at the head of Queen Charlotte Sound: what to do, where to walk, how to get onto the water, and what fits in the time you have.
Photo: W. Bulach / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers
How do I get here?
By Interislander or Bluebridge ferry from Wellington (about 3.5 hours), InterCity coach, the seasonal Coastal Pacific train, Sounds Air, or State Highway 1.
Only a few hours?
Everything below is on foot from the terminals, with check-in time built in.
Where do I eat?
London Quay on the water and High Street a block behind. Hours and full listings are on our sister sites.
Eating in Picton · pictonrestaurants.co.nz · pictonfood.co.nz
Where do I stay?
Motels, B&Bs, backpackers and holiday parks in town; lodges out in the Sounds by boat; DOC campsites a short drive away.
What do you want to do?
Walking tracksTen minutes to five days
On the waterCruises, kayaks, water taxis
Lookouts & viewsLookouts by walk and road
Beaches & baysShelly Beach to Momorangi
Free things to doReserves, tracks, the foreshore
With kidsEasy tracks, boats, a ship
Rainy dayMuseums, library, wine
Day tripsWine, the Sounds, Kaikōura
Ferry guideBefore and after a sailing
Short walksGrouped by where they start
DolphinsWatching and swim tours
The mapEverything, with pins
How long have you got?
Realistic plans built on the council's and DOC's own track times, starting on foot from the foreshore.
The things people come for
Not a ranking — we don't do those. These are the experiences that define the place, each with its own verified page.
The walk
The Snout Track
A ridge walk through Victoria Domain to the Queen Charlotte View lookout (50 min one way) and, if you keep going, Snout Head (another 40 min). Moderate grade, out and back.
Read more
On the water
Motuara Island
DOC-managed scenic reserve about 32 km from Picton, reached by scenic cruise, private boat or kayak. Rats were eradicated in 1992; the island is now a rearing site for rowi kiwi chicks, and where Cook proclaimed British sovereignty over the South Island in 1770.
Read more
Queen Charlotte Track
73.5 km of ridgeline and bay from Meretoto / Ship Cove to Anakiwa — walked in 3–5 days, ridden in 2–3, or sampled in a day by water taxi.
Edwin Fox Maritime Museum
An 1853 teak sailing ship in dry dock on the waterfront — one of the oldest surviving merchant hulls anywhere.
Scenic and wildlife cruises
Out into Queen Charlotte Sound by boat — the mail run, Motuara Island, dolphins and seals.
Kaipūpū Sanctuary
A fenced, predator-controlled peninsula ten minutes from the foreshore by water taxi, with a 2.7 km loop track.
Sea kayaking
Guided half-days to multi-day trips, or hire a kayak and go, from the London Quay waterfront.
Queen Charlotte Drive
The slow, scenic road from Picton toward Havelock and Nelson, with lookouts over the Grove Arm.
Walking tracks
Every track with the council's measured distance, time and grade. Filter by the time you have.
Foreshore to Shelly Beach
Ten minutes from the waterfront, over the Coathanger Bridge, to a small beach.
Cullen Point tracks
Two short DOC walks near Havelock with views over Pelorus and Mahau Sounds.
The Link Pathway
Te Ara Tuhono
A 42 km walk-or-bike pathway from Picton to Havelock through the inner Sounds — or just its easy first section.
Picton to Waikawa Track
The easy, dog-friendly walk between Picton and the next bay.
Lower Bob's Bay Track
Half an hour along the cliffs from Shelly Beach to a bush-fringed bay.
Upper Bob's Bay Track
The high route into Bob's Bay from Victoria Domain Loop Road.
The Marlborough Sounds
A drowned-valley coastline of some 4,000 square kilometres, most of it without a road. Picton is where the boats leave from.
Free things to do
Public reserves, council tracks and beaches. No ticket, no booking.
The Snout Track
The classic Picton walk: along the headland between the two marinas to a lookout, then on to the point.
Foreshore to Shelly Beach
Ten minutes from the waterfront, over the Coathanger Bridge, to a small beach.
Lower Bob's Bay Track
Half an hour along the cliffs from Shelly Beach to a bush-fringed bay.
Upper Bob's Bay Track
The high route into Bob's Bay from Victoria Domain Loop Road.
Tirohanga Track
The climb from the edge of town to a hilltop lookout over Picton.
Essons Valley: Humphries Dam Track
A valley walk from the Garden Terrace car park to the old town water-supply dam.
Ferry travellers
Both terminals sit on the foreshore.
What fits before a sailing — one hour, two, three or more — and what to do when you step off. Food within a walk of the wharf, with hours on our sister site.
On the water
Cruises, the mail boat, kayaks, water taxis, fishing and sailing from the foreshore and Waikawa.
Scenic and wildlife cruises
Out into Queen Charlotte Sound by boat — the mail run, Motuara Island, dolphins and seals.
Sea kayaking
Guided half-days to multi-day trips, or hire a kayak and go, from the London Quay waterfront.
Water taxis
Everyday transport in the Sounds — to the track, to the lodges, to bays with no road.
Fishing charters
Skippered fishing trips out of Picton and Waikawa, gear supplied.
Eat & drink
London Quay on the water, High Street a block inland. Every venue, with hours, on pictonrestaurants.co.nz.
Where to stay
Town and waterfront for a ferry connection; lodges out in the Sounds by boat; holiday parks and DOC campsites nearby. Listed by type, alphabetically.
Everything on one map
Walks, beaches, lookouts, museums, departures and the verified places to eat.
Pins are approximate locations from OpenStreetMap — enough to find your way, not for navigation. Map loads when scrolled into view.
Picton, and the name Waitohi
Before it was Picton, this harbour was Waitohi — a Te Ātiawa settlement at the head of the sound. The name combines wai (water) with tohi, a ceremonial rite in which a tohunga dipped branches in a stream and blessed those about to depart on a journey or into battle; the rite was performed here as late as the Second World War, on soldiers of the 28th (Māori) Battalion before they left for overseas service.
Te Ātiawa sold the land in 1850 and shifted to neighbouring Waikawa Bay; a European township was surveyed on the site and, when Marlborough became a separate province, the Crown gazetted the name Picton on 1 November 1859, after the British general Sir Thomas Picton. Both names are in everyday use today, and this guide uses both, as the town itself increasingly does. The town has a population of a little under 5,000 — a number regularly outnumbered by ferry passengers and, in summer, cruise-ship visitors on any given day.
Sources: Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand; Wikipedia (Picton, New Zealand, citing Stats NZ); New Zealand Gazette naming record. Everything on this site is traced to a source on the sources page.