PictonNZWaitohi · Marlborough Sounds
Looking out over Queen Charlotte Sound from Motuara Island's summit platform

Two full days, mostly on foot and by boat

Two days in Picton

Day one on the town and the headland tracks; day two out on Queen Charlotte Sound, to an island sanctuary or a section of the Queen Charlotte Track.

Photo: Tom Ackroyd / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Published

  • A two-night stop between the ferry and the rest of the South Island
  • Visitors without a car

Two days lets you split Picton the way it naturally splits: the town and the tracks that start from it, then the water. Keep the second day for the boat so that if the weather turns you can swap the days round.

The plan

  1. Day 1 morning

    The foreshore and a museum

    Walk the foreshore, then the Edwin Fox at the terminal end (9am–5pm in summer, 9am–3pm from May to September, on the museum's published hours) or the Heritage & Whaling Museum on London Quay.

    Palms and lawn on the Picton foreshore, with a ferry and moored yachts on the water beyond

    Picton Foreshore

    The lawn, the palms, the marina and the war memorial — where the town meets the water, and where everything starts.

    15 min – 2 hrsWalk from townFree
  2. Day 1 afternoon

    The Snout Track

    Over the Coathanger Bridge, past Shelly Beach and up to Queen Charlotte View: about two and a half hours out and back from town on the council's figures, longer if you go on to Snout Head.

    Looking down on Waikawa Bay and its marina from the Snout track

    The Snout Track

    The classic Picton walk: along the headland between the two marinas to a lookout, then on to the point.

    1.5 hrs – half a dayModerateFree
  3. Day 2

    Out on the sound

    A cruise that calls at Motuara Island, or a water taxi to a section of the Queen Charlotte Track with a pick-up at the other end. In season, Lochmara Lodge's own boat is another way to spend the day across the water.

    Looking out over Queen Charlotte Sound from Motuara Island's summit platform

    Motuara Island

    A predator-free bird sanctuary in the outer sound — saddleback, robin and kākāriki — with a lookout tower on its 128 m summit.

    Half a day – a dayBy boatKids
  4. Day 2 alternative

    Kaipūpū Sanctuary

    Shorter: about ten minutes by boat and a 2.7 km loop through the sanctuary. It is free to visit; you pay for the boat.

    A New Zealand fantail with its tail fanned, perched on a twig

    Kaipūpū Sanctuary

    A fenced, predator-controlled peninsula ten minutes from the foreshore by water taxi, with a 2.7 km loop track.

    2 hrs – half a dayBy boat
  5. Either evening

    Eating

    London Quay and High Street hold most of the options; hours change with the season. See Eat.

Worth knowing

  • Book the day-two boat first; everything else fits round it.
  • Check a marine forecast the evening before (DOC advises this for all Sounds trips).

Track distances and times: Marlborough District Council's Picton by Foot or Bike brochure and track pages; Queen Charlotte Track figures from DOC. Ferry check-in guidance from the operators' own sites; museum hours from the museums' own sites (checked 29 September 2026) — confirm before travelling. Full list on the sources page.