Lake Hayes Walkway
Arrowtown · Otago · Loop
This walk comes from licensed public walk data and is being progressively confirmed against the authorities. Signs on the day always win. The rule-setter’s own wording: “Queenstown Lakes District Council sets the rule for its own tracks in a single line of its Dog Control Policy 2020: "QLDC has determined that all tracks and reserves (except those listed below) within the control of QLDC are dog exercise areas." The eight exceptions the policy then names are Queenstown Gardens, Marine Parade, Marine Parade Reserve, Queenstown Bay, Queenstown Hill Reserve and Queenstown Hill Walkway, Bremner Bay, Matakauri Park and Earnslaw Park. Lake Hayes is not one of them, and QLDC's own tracks asset layer records the Lake Hayes Walkway as council owned and operational, roughly 5.9 km of it in the Wakatipu ward. Section 12 finishes the job: "Every owner of a dog shall keep that dog on a leash in public areas at all times except within the Rural General Zone or in a dog exercise area. However, where any playground or cemetery is located in a Rural General Zone or dog exercise area, dogs must still be leashed." So the lead can come off around the lake, and goes back on at the playground. (Queenstown Lakes District Council, Dog Control Policy 2020, sections 11 and 12, read 31 August 2026.)”. Evidence: a hand-checked correction against the authority. How we check dog rules.
Good to know
Dogs are allowed here. Watch for ground-nesting birds and stock, and read the signs at the gate.
About Lake Hayes Walkway
Lake Hayes Walkway is a loop of 8.0 km, near Arrowtown in Otago.
Worth knowing where the lead goes back on. The council's off-lead determination covers the track, not the playground, and the policy's own proviso keeps dogs leashed at any playground inside a dog exercise area, so clip back on at the Lake Hayes Showground Reserve end. The rest of the loop runs through grazing country and past a lot of birdlife along the lake edge, and the Dog Control Act's effective control still applies every metre of it, so off the lead here means a dog that comes back.
Expect easy going, with around 58 m of climb, pitching up to 9 % at its steepest, and takes about 2–2.5 hr to walk.
Along the way there are native forest, lakeside stretches, big views, and wildlife. Dogs are welcome here. Walkers rate it 4.6 / 5 across 999 reviews.
