Ranfurly is located 110 km north-west of Dunedin in Central Otago, New Zealand. It lies in dry rough country at 600 metres above sea level, with a population of about 1000 people.

Ranfurly is the main centre for the Maniototo district which is at the northern end of Central Otago. Ranfurly was originally a railway town but is now an agricultural servicing centre and growing tourism destination based on the Otago Central rail trail.

Ranfurly holds an art deco weekend in February each year. Ranfurly is also close to two other famous old gold mining towns, Naseby and St Bathans, which are now significant heritage centres and holiday destinations.

Central Otago, and the Maniototo in particular, is in one of New Zealand's few continental climate zones, with seasonal temperature extremes. Summers are hot and dry, temperatures above 30°C are not uncommon. The lowest temperature on record in New Zealand -20°C) was at nearby Ophir, 40 km to the west of Ranfurly. Heavy frosts are common throughout winter. The town is sheltered from the rain by the mountains to the west, the annual rainfall is between 300-400mm.

In the 1860s, several important deposits of gold were found near Ranfurly, at Kyeburn and Naseby, close to the south-western face of the Kakanui Range of mountains. The arrival of the Railway in the town in 1897-8 encouraged the town's growth. The railway closed in 1989 and the tracks were removed, and is now used as a major walking and cycling track called The Otago Central Rail Trail, which brings tourists to the town. Now the old railway station is a museum.

While there you may find the Ida Valley familiar, that’s because it was used as the location for plains of Rohan in Peter Jackson’s Lord Of The Rings movies.

Ranfurly lies close to the heart of New Zealand's curling-playing region.

Ranfurly has accommodation enough to suit all of the visitors to this amazing area, including hotels with restaurants, motels, a wide range of homestays, bed and breakfasts, farmstays and cottage accommodation.