Adrenaline Adventures in New Zealand

A lackluster façade of pseudo-ski-resort design leads to a dazzling interior lobby of natural stone, raw woods and modern furnishings that don't look like they just got beamed down from some Italian spaceship. Rooms offer impressive lake views decorated in tufted-leather headboard opposite sleek upholstered sofas and white ottomans. The bathrooms dazzles with a deep soaking tub and recessed television, controlled by waterproof remote control. While still on the pricey side for a Sofitel, the hotel is on average 30% to 50% cheaper than most of the town's luxury lodges and won't force you into communal dinner or afternoon tea.

Day 1, adrenaline adventures: Queenstown is not for the timid traveler, at least not when it comes to the endless adventure activities that include canyon swings, bungee jumping from a bridge, G-force acrobatic flights and your run-of-the-mill paragliding experience. Having made most of the seatmates in rows 3 to 5 on my Air New Zealand flight thoroughly nervous on what was your average Queenstown landing, I decide to remain fully on the ground with some mountain biking.

I live in L.A. and own a mountain bike, which led me to tell my instructor at Fat Tyre Adventures that I was an average mountain biker. Expecting the kiwi-version of my meticulously paved Santa Monica path, I pack into a '90s Land Rover and make the two-hour drive up a sheer cliff of Central Otago that seems more sit-and-scoot than get out and ride. At the top of the mountain we unload our bikes on a promontory so steep that I would think twice of skiing down it even if covered in snow. But fluffy snow this was not, apparent after my third fall and endless scrapes to my ego before getting my downhill groove.