New Zealand is a country renowned for its natural beauty – mountains and volcanoes, coastline and beaches, waterfalls, glaciers and simply breathtaking landscapes. We have been lucky enough to live in this beautiful country for many years and believe that visiting New Zealand should be on everyone’s bucket list.
There are two main islands in New Zealand (and hundreds of small ones) – North Island and South Island. In this post we would like to share our pick of Top 20 places to visit in New Zealand’s South Island.
Read also our post on Top 20 places to visit in New Zealand’s North Island.
Continue reading to discover top things to see on the South Island, get some travel inspirations and to see why New Zealand is a must visit destination.
1. Mount Cook
The highest mountain in New Zealand – Mount Cook (also known as Aoraki) – is a great reason alone to visit New Zealand’s South Island. Mount Cook National Park has spectacular scenery with mountains, snowy peaks, lakes and even glaciers. There are numerous walks and hikes for different abilities as well as glacier lake boat tours and scenic helicopter flights.
2. Arthur’s Pass
Arthus’s Pass National Park is famous for its mountains, waterfalls, wide rivers and sightings of Kea (native New Zealand parrots). We’ve been there so many times and still enjoy every single visit. See amazing limestone formations of Castle Hill (one of the filming locations of Chronicles of Narnia). Take one of the many walking tracks in Arthur’s Pass, see waterfalls, admire landscapes and maybe even see Kea parrots in the wild.
3. Devils Punchbowl Waterfall
There are many waterfalls in New Zealand, and more than one hundred named waterfalls on the South Island alone. So, whatever part of New Zealand you’re travelling in, the chances are that you’ll find at least one waterfall around there!
Devils Punchbowl waterfall is a 131m high waterfall located in Arthur’s Pass National Park. Take a 30 min walk through the forest and up the steps to reach this gorgeous and powerful waterfall.
4. Glaciers
Southern Alps in the South Island is the home of New Zealand glaciers. Visit the popular Fox Glacier and Franz Josef Glacier on the west coast of the island, or the largest glacier in New Zealand – Tasman Glacier – at Mount Cook.
Unfortunately, over the recent years glaciers in New Zealand (as well as in the rest of the world) are melting rapidly. So, don’t postpone your visit for too long 😉
5. Queenstown
You won’t find many big cities on the South Island, even though New Zealand’s second largest city Christchurch (with population of only around 380000 people) is located here. But you will definitely find some of the prettiest small towns of New Zealand here.
One of them – Queenstown – is famous for its adventure activities such as bungy jumping, skydiving, mountain biking and ziplining. Sitting on the shore of Lake Wakatipu and surrounded by mountains, Queenstown is a must visit town on the South Island of New Zealand.
6. Wanaka
A popular alpine town, gateway to Mount Aspiring National Park and home of #ThatWanakaTree, Wanaka is another small town on our ‘Top 20 places to visit in New Zealand’s South Island’ list.
Visit one of the nearby ski resorts in winter, admire blooming lavender fields in summer, enjoy scenic views, take one of the many hikes in the area or go to Puzzling World attraction at any time of the year – you will always find something to see and do in Wanaka.
7. Arrowtown
Arrowtown is a small historical gold mining town east of Queenstown. You will find there some of the well preserved buildings used by the European and Chinese settlers during the town’s gold mining era. But what’s attracting most of the visitors to Arrowtown is not just its gold mining history, but its picturesque setting among lush hills. It’s especially beautiful in fall when the surrounding hills are colored with yellow and red colored leaves.
8. Tunnel Beach
While in general the North Island is considered to have the best beaches in New Zealand, there are many beautiful beaches and dramatic coastlines on the South Island too.
Tunnel Beach, located just 7 kms south west from Dunedin, is one of the most scenic coastlines in South Island. It features natural sea-carved arches and caves, as well as hand-carved tunnel, all reachable by a short walk from the carpark.
9. Abel Tasman National Park
Abel Tasman National Park at the northern end of the South Islands is famous for its golden beaches and granite cliffs. It’s a wilderness reserve and therefore you can find there fur seals, little blue penguins and bottlenose dolphins. There are many scenic walks and tracks in Abel Tasman, as well as boat tours and water taxis to reach scenic beaches of the national park.
10. Wharariki Beach and Archway Islands
Wharariki is a remote white sand beach in the north part of the South Island. Located away from popular tourist destinations of New Zealand, Wharariki is one of the most stunning beaches on the island! It’s great for walks, scenic scenery and watching wildlife. Plus, the Archway Islands that were featured in the Windows background is also seen from Wharariki beach.
11. Christchurch
Christchurch is the largest city of the South Island and is known for its English heritage. Unfortunately, many of its buildings were destroyed during the earthquake in 2011, including the iconic Christchurch Cathedral. These days there are many murals and street arts on the bare walls left after demolished buildings, and some of the new buildings were added since the earthquake.
Christchurch is still worth visiting as a main hub to Canterbury region, and a starting/ending point for road trips to Arthur’s Pass, Kaikoura, French settlement of Akaroa, Mount Somers, Lake Tekapo and Mount Cook.
12. Akaroa
When in Christchurch, make sure to visit the nearby Akaroa town – famous for its scenery, heritage and boat tours in the harbour to see rare Hector’s dolphins. We loved Akaroa’s scenery, slow pace of a small harbour town and The Giants House – house and gardens with various mosaic sculptures and installations.
13. Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound Fiords
There are not that many countries in the world where you can find fjords, but New Zealand is one of them! New Zealand’s fjords (or ‘fiords’ – a more common spelling in New Zealand) are located in the south-west of the South Island. The area is known as Fiordland National Park. Some of the most popular and spectacular fiords in the area are Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound fiords.
Take a day tour or a cruise tour among the fiords to enjoy stunning landscapes and scenery, numerous waterfalls and marine life (you can frequently spot sea lions in the area).
14. Pancake Rocks
Next in our ‘Top 20 places to visit in New Zealand’s South Island’ are limestone formations known as Pancake Rocks at Dolomite Point.
Located on the West Coast of the South Island, Pancake Rocks is a popular tourist destination not only to see rocks resembling stacks of pancakes, but also admire the beautiful rocky coast with water blowholes in places.
15. Te Anau Lake
There are abundance of gorgeous lakes in the South Island and Te Anau Lake is the largest one of them.
It’s located in the south-west of the island and covers more than 300 sq kilometers. Some of the popular activities at Te Anau are walking/hiking, cycling, fishing, kayaking and boating.
16. Lake Tekapo
Lake Tekapo is another gorgeous lake on the South Island. A small town located on the lake is famous for its iconic Church of the Good Shepherd, the picturesque landscapes in the area, for stargazing and for winter activities.
17. Dunedin
Dunedin is a city on the east coast of the South Island known for its Scottish heritage. Even its name comes from the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh – ‘Dùn Èideann’.
I love Dunedin for its architecture. Stone buildings, public squares, gardens and colorful yellow trees in fall remind me of European cities.
18. Moeraki Boulders
Not far from Dunedin is Moeraki Boulders Beach where you will find large sphere-shaped boulders on the beach. The beach with its natural round rock formations is beautiful during low tide, high tide (when the boulders are partly covered by the sea water), at sunrise or basically at any time.
19. Hokitika Gorge
If you travelling along the west coast of New Zealand, Hokitika is a nice little town to stay and spend the night. See Glow Warms in the evening, visit The National Kiwi Centre, wonder around the beach and make sure to drive to the stunning Hokitika Gorge.
Hokitika Gorge is reachable by an easy 15 min walk from the carpark through the forest and to the Hokitika Gorge Viewpoint.
20. Blue Pools
Blue Pools in the West Coast region of the South Island is a naturally formed pools of pristine blue water fed by glacial meltwater from the nearby Franz Josef Glacier. Even though the water is always cool there you can have a swim in the pools in summer, or just walk around, cross suspension bridge and enjoy the scenery.
Kea and other wildlife
If you’re travelling in alpine regions of the South Island of New Zealand, there is a big chance that you will see Kea in the wild. Keas are large parrots that native to New Zealand and live only in alpine regions of South Island. They are one of the most smart birds in the world and are quite mischievous species.
Among the places to see Kea parrots are Arthur Pass, Homer Tunnel at Milford Sound and Mt Cook village.
There are many places on the South Island where you can encounter a wildlife. Go for a whale watching tour in Kaikoura. Watch fur seals while cruising Milford Sound. Take a boat tour in Akaroa or Abel Tasman to see dolphins. Visit Curio Bay to see yellow-eyed penguins in the wild. Go to Oamaru to see the blue penguins colony. Or maybe even go for a photo-hunt for Paua shells (New Zealand species of large sea mollusks with a colorful shell) in shallow waters of many coasts in the South Island.
That concludes our list of Top 20 places to visit in New Zealand’s South Island. It’s time to plan your trip now! 🙂
Continue reading Top 20 places to visit in New Zealand’s South Island or see our other posts about New Zealand to read more about places to visit and things to do in New Zealand.
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