The South Island in 14 days: one island, done properly
This is the New Zealand trip we recommend more often than any other, and the recommendation usually involves talking someone out of the North Island.
- Duration
- 14 days
- Pace
- Moderate
- Hotel changes
- 6
- Best months
- Nov, Dec, Feb, Mar, Apr
- From
- $4,340 per person
Two weeks across both islands means seven or eight changes of base and a lot of the trip spent driving between them. Two weeks on the South Island alone means six bases, two or three nights in most of them, and time to do the walks rather than photograph the car park. If you have three weeks, take both islands. If you have two, take this.
Who it suits: first-time visitors with two weeks, walkers, photographers, and anyone who would rather stop than cover ground.
Day by day
Day 1: Arrive Christchurch. Transfer, nothing scheduled. Christchurch is still visibly rebuilding from the 2011 earthquake and the new parts of it are more interesting than people expect.
Day 2: To the Mackenzie country. Collect the car and drive inland, about 4 hours across the Canterbury plains to Lake Tekapo and on to the Mount Cook village. The colour of Tekapo and Pukaki is glacial rock flour suspended in the water. Two nights here.
Day 3: Aoraki. The Hooker Valley Track, about 6 miles (10 km) return across three swing bridges to a glacial lake with icebergs in it, and the best short walk in the country. Afternoon at the Tasman Glacier terminal lake, or a ski plane onto the ice. Evening under the dark sky reserve.
Day 4: To Queenstown. South over the Lindis Pass, about 3 hours 30 minutes, with a stop in Arrowtown. Three nights in Queenstown or, if you would rather be somewhere quiet, at Glenorchy at the head of the lake.
Day 5: Glenorchy and the Dart. The lake road to Glenorchy, about 45 minutes and the best short drive in the country, then a jet boat or a walk in the Dart valley. Afternoon back in town.
Day 6: Queenstown, open. Central Otago wine at Gibbston and Bannockburn with a driver, the first section of the Routeburn as a day walk, or the gondola and a slow day. We give options rather than a booking.
Day 7: To Te Anau. Two hours south to the edge of Fiordland. Afternoon on a section of the Kepler Track along the lake, which is flat, quiet and a good deal better than it sounds.
Day 8: Milford Sound. Up the Milford road, about 2 hours from Te Anau, stopping at the Mirror Lakes and the Chasm. A cruise on the sound in the middle of the day, then back. There is no fuel after Te Anau, and the road closes for avalanche risk often enough that we build in the alternative. It rains here roughly two days in three and the rain is not a problem: it puts hundreds of temporary waterfalls down the walls.
Day 9: To Wanaka. North, about 3 hours 30 minutes via Queenstown and over the Crown Range, the highest sealed road in the country. Two nights at Wanaka, which is Queenstown twenty years ago and much the better for it.
Day 10: Wanaka. The Rob Roy Glacier track, about 6 miles (10 km) return up a valley to a hanging glacier, or Roys Peak if you want the climb and are prepared for company on the way up. Afternoon on the lake.
Day 11: Over the Haast to the glaciers. West over the Haast Pass and up the coast, about 4 hours 30 minutes, through some of the emptiest country on the island. Two nights at Franz Josef. This is where the sandflies start, and they are genuinely unpleasant: repellent, long sleeves, and do not stand still at dusk.
Day 12: The glacier. A heli-hike onto the ice, which is now the only way onto it because both Franz Josef and Fox have retreated well back from where the valley walks end. If it does not fly, and often it does not, the alternatives are Lake Matheson at first light for the reflection, the Okarito lagoon by kayak, and the hot pools.
Day 13: Up the coast and inland. North to Hokitika, then east into the mountains over Arthur’s Pass, about 4 hours in total. Night at Arthur’s Pass or Castle Hill, with kea in the car park, which are parrots that will strip the rubber from your windscreen wipers if you let them.
Day 14: To Christchurch, and home. Down through the Waimakariri gorge to Christchurch, about 2 hours 30 minutes, and the airport. If your flight is early we add a Christchurch night the evening before rather than run this drive against a clock.
What is included
Accommodation with breakfast, the hire car for the full loop with all fees, the Milford cruise, the Dart valley morning, the Aoraki scenic flight and the heli-hike with weather alternatives priced in advance, the Central Otago wine afternoon with a driver, park entries, a day-by-day document with honest driving times, fuel stops and the stretches with no phone coverage, and a WhatsApp group with your specialist and our partners on the ground.
What we would change, and when
- Would rather see whales and the north of the island? Swap the West Coast for Kaikoura, Marlborough and the Abel Tasman, running Christchurch to Kaikoura to Nelson and back south. Fewer mountains, more coast, and a much easier drive.
- Travelling December to February? Book nine to twelve months out. Queenstown, Te Anau and Aoraki are the constraints and they go first.
- Want to add Stewart Island? Three more days, flying or sailing from Bluff, for a genuine chance of seeing a wild kiwi at night. It is the best wildlife on this island and almost nobody makes the time.
- Want a Great Walk in it? The hut bookings open on one fixed date a year and the popular tracks sell out in minutes, so it changes when we start planning rather than what we plan. See our Great Walks route.
Related
Shape this trip around us All New Zealand, where the drive always takes longer than the map says trips