Things to do in Marlborough

What Marlborough is known for

Sauvignon blanc, above everything. Commercial grape growing only began here in 1973, when the first vines went into the stony soils south of Blenheim, and by the 1980s the region's sharp, aromatic sauvignon had changed how the world thought about the grape. The climate does the work: long sunny days, cold nights and little rain. Blenheim averages about 2,500 hours of sunshine and 700 mm of rain a year, and the Māori description of the valley as the place with the hole in the cloud is still used in the wine trade.

Wine is not the whole of it. The Marlborough Sounds, the maze of flooded valleys between Picton and French Pass, have around 1,500 km of coastline, and the mussel farms around Havelock, at their western edge, grow a large share of the country's Greenshell mussels. Blenheim itself was the scene of the Wairau Affray in 1843, the first armed clash between Māori and British settlers after the Treaty of Waitangi. And Omaka, on the edge of town, has one of the best aviation museums in the southern hemisphere.

Wine tasting in Marlborough

There are more than 30 cellar doors, most within a 20 minute radius of Blenheim along Rapaura Road and the Southern Valleys. The region splits into three parts that taste noticeably different. The Wairau Valley floor, on old river gravels, makes the ripe, tropical style most people know. The Southern Valleys, with heavier clay soils, are better for pinot noir and a rounder sauvignon. The Awatere Valley, over the hills to the south east, is cooler and windier, and its wines are leaner and more herbal. A good tasting day takes in all three.

• With a driver: the half day tour visits three or four cellar doors with a guide who knows the owners, and nobody has to drive. It is on 31 of our itineraries. A longer day with lunch at a vineyard restaurant is on 3 of them.
• By bike: the valley floor is flat and the cellar doors along Rapaura Road are close together, so cycling between them is easy. Several companies in Renwick hire bikes and pick them up at the end of the day.
• On your own: fine if one person is not drinking. New Zealand's drink driving limits are low, and the police set up checkpoints on the wine roads.

Most cellar doors charge a small tasting fee, often waived if you buy, and many close earlier in winter. The big names include Cloudy Bay and Brancott Estate, the latter on the site of those first 1973 plantings, but the small family places are where you get the longest conversations. Our guide to New Zealand's wine regions compares Marlborough with Hawke's Bay, Martinborough and Central Otago, and explains how to tour them without driving.

Things to do beyond the vineyards

• Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre: two hangars of First and Second World War aircraft, many of them from Sir Peter Jackson's collection, set in dioramas built by Wētā Workshop. Even people with no interest in aircraft come out impressed. 6 of our itineraries pair the museum with the Sounds.
• The Marlborough Sounds by boat: the Seafood Odyssea cruise from Picton goes out to a mussel farm with wine on board, on 3 of our itineraries. From Havelock, the Pelorus Mail Boat has carried the post to the outer bays for decades and takes passengers on its round.
• Havelock: a small harbour town 40 km west of Blenheim on the road to Nelson, with a marina, mussel restaurants and the start of the Pelorus Sound cruises.
• Pelorus Bridge: a riverside scenic reserve on the Nelson road with short walks through tall forest and clear river pools. The barrel scene in The Hobbit was filmed on the Pelorus River nearby, and 1 of our itineraries kayak it.
• The Queen Charlotte Track, 73.5 km through the Sounds, starts from Ship Cove and is easy to walk in sections from Picton by water taxi.

How to get to Marlborough

Most people arrive on the Cook Strait ferry at Picton and drive the 27 km to Blenheim, about 25 minutes. From the south, State Highway 1 runs up the Kaikōura coast, 130 km and about an hour and three quarters from Kaikōura. From Nelson it is 114 km and a similar time over the Rai Saddle and through Havelock. Christchurch is about 309 km and four and a half hours by the coast road.

Marlborough Airport at Woodbourne, 8 km west of Blenheim, has direct flights to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch; from Wellington the flight takes 20 to 30 minutes and is a real alternative to the ferry in bad weather. The Coastal Pacific train stops in Blenheim between Picton and Christchurch from September to April, and 10 of our itineraries take it south. The Marlborough visitor site has the current connections.

How long to stay, and when to go

One night works if all you want is a wine afternoon, and it is what 59 of our itineraries do: ferry in the morning, cellar doors in the afternoon, dinner in Blenheim, Kaikōura the next day. Two nights, which 10 of them allow, give you a day for the Sounds, Omaka or a slower second round of tastings. Most people who love wine wish they had taken the second night.

Summer is hot and dry, often in the high twenties, with the vines in full leaf and the cellar doors at their busiest. Harvest runs from about March into April, when the valley smells of crushed grapes and the wineries are at their most frantic; some cellar doors are quieter then, some put on events. Autumn colour in the vineyards follows in April and May. Winter is cold, crisp and often sunny, with frost on the vines and snow on the Kaikōura ranges to the south, and some cellar doors reduce their hours. For the forecast, use MetService for Blenheim.

Where to stay in Marlborough

Blenheim is the practical base, with motels along Middle Renwick Road and the main roads into town, and a handful of lodges and bed and breakfasts among the vineyards. The properties our itineraries use most, with the number of our tours that sleep in each:

• Bella Vista Blenheim, a motel in town, on 25 itineraries.
• Carnmore Chateau Marlborough, on 12.
• Scenic Hotel Marlborough, on 5.
• 14th Lane Urban Hotel in central Blenheim, on 4.
• The Peppertree, a bed and breakfast among the vines, on 3.

If you would rather wake up in the Sounds, stay in Picton or at one of the bay lodges instead, and come to the vineyards for the afternoon. For the whole top of the South Island, our Nelson and Marlborough guide sets the two regions side by side, and every tour that stops here is on our Marlborough tours list.