The 14 day South Island itinerary: the full circle

What two weeks adds to ten days

• Kaikoura: sperm whales year round, a seal colony you walk to for free, and crayfish from a caravan on the coast road.
• Nelson and Abel Tasman: the sunniest corner of the country, the golden coves, and a day in a kayak or a water taxi along the park’s coast.
• The upper West Coast: Punakaiki’s Pancake Rocks and the Buller Gorge, the road most people miss because they crossed the alps further south.
• A second night in Wanaka, and a second night at Mount Cook if you take the shorter version of Nelson.
• A spare day. We put it at Milford, but it floats: it goes wherever the weather sends it.

The rule for a fortnight is nine bases, not thirteen. The most common 14 day plan we see arrives as a chain of one-night stops, and it turns the trip into packing practice. Two nights in Nelson, Franz Josef, Wanaka and Te Anau does more with the same days.

The circuit, day by day

1. Day 1, Christchurch. Land, walk, sleep. The city guide covers an afternoon well.
2. Day 2, Kaikoura. Two and a half hours up the coast on a highway rebuilt after the 2016 earthquake, with the seals at Ohau Point on the way in. Whale watching sails in the afternoon, weather permitting; book the morning too as a backup.
3. Day 3, Kaikoura to Nelson. Blenheim is 1 hour 45 and the Marlborough cellar doors are on the road; Nelson is another 1 hour 45 over the Whangamoa hills. Sleep in Nelson two nights.
4. Day 4, Abel Tasman. Marahau is an hour from Nelson. A water taxi up the coast and a walk back, or a half day kayak to the seal colony at Tonga Island. The park guide sorts the options.
5. Day 5, Nelson to Punakaiki. About 3 hours 30 through the Buller Gorge to Westport and down the coast. The Pancake Rocks blow at high tide; check the time before you leave Nelson. Sleep at Punakaiki or Greymouth.
6. Day 6, down the coast to Franz Josef. Greymouth is 45 minutes and Franz Josef about 2 hours 15 beyond it, with Hokitika’s pounamu studios on the way. Two nights at the glacier.
7. Day 7, Franz Josef. The valley walk, the heli hike if the sky allows, Lake Matheson at dawn or dusk.
8. Day 8, Haast Pass to Wanaka. Three hours 45 with the stops. Two nights.
9. Day 9, Wanaka. Roys Peak at dawn, or the Rob Roy Glacier walk up the Matukituki, or a day on the lake doing nothing much. This is the night the 10 day loop could not afford.
10. Day 10, Wanaka to Queenstown. The Crown Range, Arrowtown for the afternoon, Queenstown by evening. One night, unless you drop Kaikoura.
11. Day 11, Queenstown to Te Anau. Two hours; Glenorchy in the morning first if you left Queenstown early enough. Two nights.
12. Day 12, Milford Sound. The full day. If the road is closed or the forecast is bad, this is the day that swaps with day 13.
13. Day 13, Te Anau to Aoraki Mount Cook. The long leg, about 4 hours 45. The Hooker Valley in the evening light with the new bridge open.
14. Day 14, Mount Cook to Christchurch. Tekapo, the plains, the airport. Or sleep in Tekapo on day 13 and make this an easy morning.

The swap: the Catlins and Dunedin instead of the top

If you have already seen Nelson, or you would rather have penguins than wine, run the circuit the other way round the bottom. Christchurch to Dunedin is 4 hours 30 down the coast; a night on the Otago Peninsula for the albatross and the yellow-eyed penguins at dusk; then the Catlins coast road to Te Anau, with Nugget Point and Curio Bay on the way. That version drops Kaikoura, Nelson, Abel Tasman and Punakaiki, and comes up the West Coast from Wanaka instead, crossing back to Christchurch over Arthur’s Pass on the last day.

It is the wilder fortnight and the quieter one. The Catlins guide says why we like it in shoulder season especially, when the sea lions have the beaches and the campervans have gone home.

What the forums say about a fortnight

The 14 day threads on the New Zealand travel subreddit tend to arrive as lists of single nights. One from r/newzealand last year ran Akaroa, Tekapo, Wanaka, Queenstown and Te Anau at one night each, which is a lot of packing for two weeks. The better threads have worked that out already.

Base in Queenstown for a few days, day trip to Glenorchy, Wanaka, wine tasting, and do the Milford Sound day trip on a bus instead of driving.

r/newzealand_travel, 14 days itinerary South Island check

We agree with the base and disagree with the bus. From Queenstown the Milford coach is a 12 hour day. With a fortnight there is no reason to do it that way; two Te Anau nights cost nothing you will miss. The other recurring warning is about the top of the island, and it is fair: one reply points out that the top of the South is mountains and valleys and it takes time to get anywhere. That is why Nelson gets two nights and Golden Bay is not on this route at all.

A Great Walk fits in a fortnight

Fourteen days is the first length where a multi-day walk fits without wrecking the rest. The Routeburn takes three days and links Glenorchy to the Milford road, which means it can replace days 10 to 12 almost exactly. The Milford Track is four days from Te Anau. Both are booked through DOC and both sell out within hours of opening.

Driving times for the circuit

About 31 hours in total across nine driving days, which is less than three and a half hours a day. That is the number that keeps a fortnight feeling like a holiday.

The packages that run this shape

The South Island Coastal self drive runs the full circle from Christchurch with motels and the car held; the Southern Circle Day Walks is the same circuit built around the walks; and the 14 Day Signature does it by coach with a driver who knows which lookout is worth the stop. All three move nights around before you book.