[4][5] "Wānaka" is the South Island dialect pronunciation of wānanga, which means "the lore of the tohunga or priest"[2] or a place of learning.

The township of Wānaka, which sits in a glacier-carved basin on the shores of the lake, is the gateway to Mt Aspiring National Park.

Lake Hāwea is a 15-minute drive away, en route to the frontier town of Makarora, the last stop before the West Coast Glacier region.

Lake Wānaka lies in a u-shaped valley formed by glacial erosion during the last ice age more than 10,000 years ago.

[13] Until the early nineteenth century, Wānaka was visited annually by Ngāi Tahu who sought pounamu in the mountains above the Haast River and hunted eels and birds over summer, returning to the east coast by descending Mata-Au in mōkihi (reed boats).

[14] According to the Ngāi Tahu, Lake Wānaka was dug by the Waitaha explorer Rākaihautū with his kō (foot plough) named Tūwhakaroria.

[17] Although Te Puoho was later killed by the southern Ngāi Tahu leader Tūhawaiki,[18] Māori seasonal visits to the area ceased.

Popular activities include alpine and cross-country skiing and snowsports, tramping, mountain-biking, mountaineering, rock-climbing and parapenting.

[24] Oxygen weed (Lagarosiphon major), an aquarium plant and invasive species native to Southern Africa, has been a problem in the lake's ecosystem for some time.

Substantial suction dredging operations have shown promise, but tend to miss isolated spots which then regrow into larger weed beds.

[26][27] The pūteketeke was New Zealand's Bird of the Year in 2023 after an international publicity campaign mounted by British-American comedian John Oliver.

[35] Lake Wānaka was mentioned several times in the 2006 movie Mission: Impossible III as a location the lead couple visited and as the answer to Ethan Hunt's question on the phone to verify the identity of his wife.