Mountain Biking

1 of NZ's Great Rides
Rides for everyone

Grades 1 to 5
Cycling the vines

30+ cellar doors
NZ Cycle Trails

3 of the best

Guide

Biking

Mountain bike Marlborough’s epic high country trails and coastal ridges, road bike undulating routes at the edge of the sea, tour on long flat runs through vine-clad valleys or take the whole family biking along one of the region’s many rivers.

Marlborough boasts brilliant weather, stunning scenery and an abundance of acclaimed mountain and road trails, including a Great Ride and three Trails along the New Zealand Cycle Trail, Nga Haerenga.

This pedaller’s paradise has thrilling adventure, low key rides, and everything in-between.

Mountain Biking

Marlborough has a mountain bike track for every rider - from the narrow and steep to the wide and sedate, the hour-long jaunt to the multi-day mission. Whether you’re a learner or advanced, young or old, with an hour or a week to spend in the saddle, we’re sure you’ll find your mountain biking trail.

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Road Rides

Road biking in Marlborough gives you a choice of landscapes. Cruise along undulating roads at the edge of the sea or ride at pace over the long and flat straights of the glacial formed valleys, with vineyards as your sentry. If you’d like to do both, join a bunch in the Forrest Estate Graperide, a 101km race through Marlborough’s stunning landscapes.

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Family Biking

Take your kids to the Rarangi Pump Track for a fun little circuit by the beach, or to Conders Bend on SH6 for 6km of easy family-friendly biking through the forest. The Wither Hills Mountain Bike Park has trails for all levels, and for a family outing try a gentle cycle along the Taylor River reserve, before pancakes, coffee and smoothies at a riverside café.

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Gravel Grinds & Cyclocross

Marlborough provides rich terrain for intrepid cyclists who want to see the world by wheel. Gravel Grinds are road rides off the beaten track, which take you on loops through amazing landscapes, on mountain bike, cyclo-cross or touring bike.

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Rider Blogs

Read first-hand experiences of keen riders checking out Marlborough's brilliant trails.

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Mondo Kopua Biking enthusiast

“The thing I love about Marlborough, which you see when you cycle it, is the diversity of the landscape. We’ve got high country like up the Awatere Valley, then the Richmond Range, the Marlborough Sounds and all the rivers. Personally I’m an open country, high country farm sort of person. I love getting up in the hills.”

My insider guide to Marlborough

The Link Pathway

The Link Pathway is a 42-kilometre walking and mountain bike track that connects Havelock, Picton, Anakiwa and the Queen Charlotte Track in Marlborough.

Construction of the trail began in 2005, after local residents wanted to see paths link local communities, and the rediscovery of four sections of historic bridle path between Picton and Havelock.

European settlers and miners created the bridle path in the 1860s to take their horses between the two townships, including during the short-lived gold rush in Wakamarina. Much of the path was destroyed when Queen Charlotte Drive was built around 1920.
The first section of the Link Pathway, in the Mahakipawa Arm near Havelock, was finished in 2006. At just under 1km long, it was built entirely by hand and inspired the idea of eventually linking Havelock and Picton.

With construction driven by local community members, and thousands of volunteer hours overseen by the charitable Link Pathway Trust, the trail progressed in stages over 15 years.

The old bridle trail sections now form around 20% of the Link Pathway, which also incorporates an old stock route near Picton that once led to the town’s former freezing works. Travelling through lush native bush interspersed with beautiful sea views, the pathway takes in a remnant podocarp forest, a unique salt marsh, mature beech forest, and an historic WWII lookout and signal station site.

In 2021, the final link to Havelock, the Motuweka Havelock Boardwalk, was completed with arched bridges and views across the scenic Kaituna Estuary.

The Link Pathway is a wide, well-graded track that can be completed in one day, or in sections – see the map for details.You can view the latest map here.