Aotearoa · South Island

The South Island Loop

Your big lap, Christchurch back to Christchurch, with our favourite stops marked along the way. Nothing sponsored, just where we'd actually send you.

Lands Christchurch 4 November ~36 hrs driving on your map · ~33½ without Dunedin Campervan friendly
1

Christchurch

Touch down, grab the car, stretch the legs. The rebuilt centre, Riverside Market and the Botanic Gardens are all an easy wander.

2 ~1 hr 10 inland from Christchurch

Rakaia Gorge

Easy first night out of the city, under Mt Hutt. The river is a surreal milky blue, and the gorge walkway is a lovely leg-stretch (DOC track along the terraces).

Rakaia Gorge camping

Camp here

Campground right at the gorge bridge. The holiday park down at Rakaia township (4.3★) works too if you leave town late.
3 ~2 hr 15 via Geraldine

Lake Tekapo

That impossibly blue lake. Church of the Good Shepherd for the photo, and some of the darkest night skies anywhere if you stay till dark.

4 1 hr 15 from Tekapo

Aoraki / Mount Cook

Drive up the Pukaki side for the full mountain-over-turquoise show. The Hooker Valley Track (3 hr return, flat) is the best value walk in the country.

Our suggestion: skip Dunedin. On your map it is the biggest detour: 4 hr in from Mt Cook, then 3 hr 27 back across to Te Anau, call it 7½ hours. Cutting straight down through the Lindis Pass and Cromwell to Te Anau is about 5, so you save roughly 2½ hours of driving and win back most of a day for the fiords. It is a cute city, but it is the one stop that fights the rest of your loop. (If you keep it: the railway station, street art, and the Otago Peninsula for albatross.)
5 ~5 hr from Mt Cook via the Lindis Pass & Cromwell

Te Anau

Gateway to the fiords. This is the big-ticket stop: pick your sound, or do both.

Doubtful Sound Overnight Cruise

Overnightfrom $749

One night, two days deep in the quietest place you'll ever be. Kayak off the boat, buffet dinner, waterfalls everywhere. Worth every dollar.

Milford Sound

Day trip

The famous one. The road in is half the experience, allow a full day from Te Anau and stop at the viewpoints.
6 2 hr 10 from Te Anau

Queenstown

Adventure HQ on Lake Wakatipu. Everything below is walkable from town.

Kawarau Bridge Bungy

Do the thing$320

The world's first commercial bungy, off the 1880 bridge into the Kawarau Gorge. You'll see it on the drive in. No thinking, just jump.

TSS Earnslaw & Walter Peak

Cruise4.6 ★from ~$119

A 1912 coal-fired steamship across the lake. Add the Walter Peak farm tour or dinner sailing if you can.

Perky's Floating Bar

Bar4.8 ★$10–20

A bar on a boat, moored on the waterfront. Time it for golden hour and stay put.

Ferg's Bar

Cocktails4.7 ★$20–70

The Fergburger family's grown-up cocktail room. Send someone next door for a burger while you hold the seats.

The World Bar

Bar · Kitchen4.3 ★$20–40

Queenstown institution: cocktails in teapots, decent food, good energy later on.

Sherwood

Restaurant · Stay4.3 ★

Two-hat restaurant up on the hill with a kitchen-garden menu. Worth it even if you're not staying.
7 20 min from Queenstown

Arrowtown

Gold-rush village: sixty-odd heritage buildings, the Chinese Settlement, boutique shops under the trees on Buckingham Street.

Ayrburn

Food & wine precinct4.7 ★$100+

Restored farm buildings turned into a whole precinct of restaurants and bars. Plan a long lunch and wander between them.

The village itself

WanderFree

Park once and walk everything. Beautiful light in the evenings.
8 45 min via the Kawarau Gorge

Cromwell

Our home turf. Stone fruit capital of the country, old town precinct on the lake, and surrounded by wineries that are quieter and better value than the famous ones. Sing out when you're passing through.

9 50 min over the Crown Range or via Cromwell

Wānaka

Queenstown's calmer, cooler cousin. Fuel up here, the Haast road has nothing on it.

Roys Peak

Hike16 km return · 1,258 m climb

The famous ridge photo over the lake. It's a grunt, not a stroll: start at dawn, take layers and water.

Kika

Restaurant4.7 ★$100+

Wānaka's best table. Share plates, brilliant cocktails. Book ahead, it's small.

Glendhu Bay Holiday Park

Camp here4.1 ★

Right on the lake 10 min out of town, sunsets over the water and Treble Cone behind. Beats the town campgrounds.
10 15 min from Wānaka on the way north

Lake Hāwea

Last easy night before the pass, and the water is somehow even bluer than Wānaka's.

The Camp, Lake Hāwea

Camp here4.1 ★

Lakefront sites under the trees. Fill the tank and the fridge here or in Wānaka, there is nothing over the pass.
11 3 hr over the Haast Pass, no stops till the coast

Glacier country: Haast to Franz Josef

Rainforest, river valleys and the wild West Coast. Fox and Franz Josef glacier viewpoints, and Lake Matheson's mirror reflection on a still morning.

12 3 hr up the coast

Hokitika & Punakaiki

Hokitika for pounamu (greenstone) and the driftwood beach sign, then the Pancake Rocks and blowholes at Punakaiki, best around high tide.

13 ~4 hr via the Buller Gorge

Nelson & Abel Tasman

Golden beaches and bush at the top of the island.

Kayak & walk the park

Day trip~$174–260 pp

Guided sea kayaking along the coastline, then walk a stretch of the track. Seals, golden sand, unreal water colour.
14 2 hr 53 to Blenheim · then 4 hr home via Kaikōura

Marlborough, then the coast road home

Wine country: cellar doors around Blenheim for the sauvignon blanc the region is famous for. Then the coast road back to Christchurch through Kaikōura, stop for crayfish, and look for seals and whales.

General tips: book the Doubtful Sound cruise and any big restaurants a week or two out; petrol up before the Haast Pass and Milford roads; the Rankers camping app you are already using is the right one for spots between the holiday parks; and November means lupins at Tekapo and long evenings everywhere.