Things to do in Christchurch

What Christchurch is like after the earthquakes

The 22 February 2011 earthquake, a magnitude 6.3 centred under the Port Hills, came five months after a larger but less deadly one near Darfield. Between them they brought down or condemned most of the central city. More than a decade of demolition and rebuilding followed, and the result is a compact centre of new offices, laneways, riverside terraces and empty lots that are slowly filling in. It reads differently from any other New Zealand city because most of it is the same age.

A few places explain it better than a walking tour. Quake City, on Durham Street North, is a small exhibition run by Canterbury Museum about the quakes and what came after; an hour there changes how the rest of the centre looks. Christ Church Cathedral, the Gothic stone church in Cathedral Square, is still behind hoardings. Its reinstatement stopped for lack of money and has been re-planned in stages, with the project team aiming to reopen the building by around 2030. Meanwhile the Transitional Cathedral, built by the Japanese architect Shigeru Ban from cardboard tubes and opened in 2013, is a few blocks east and worth the detour.

One thing to know before you plan a rainy afternoon: Canterbury Museum's main building on Rolleston Avenue is closed for a rebuild that is not due to finish before 2028. Its pop-up, upstairs at the Centre of Contemporary Art on Gloucester Street, shows a selection of the collection and is free.

Things to do in Christchurch

Most of what visitors do sits within a couple of kilometres of Cathedral Square, and the flat grid makes it easy on foot or by bike. Our itineraries book the city in two main ways: a guided afternoon on 63 of them, and a pass covering the tram, a punt and the gondola on 43.

• Punting on the Avon: a flat-bottomed boat poled by someone in a boater, usually from the Antigua Boat Sheds past the Botanic Gardens. It is slow and gentle, and better than it sounds.
• The Botanic Gardens and Hagley Park: the gardens date from 1863 and sit inside a curve of the river, within the much larger Hagley Park. Roses in summer, the best autumn colour of any New Zealand city in April. On 8 of our itineraries it is a scheduled stop.
• The heritage tram: restored trams loop through the centre past the Arts Centre, New Regent Street and the riverside. Hop-on, hop-off, and a sensible way to get your bearings on a jet-lagged first afternoon. The restaurant tram, dinner on board, is on 8 itineraries.
• The Christchurch Gondola: from the Heathcote Valley to the top of Mount Cavendish on the Port Hills, with the city and the plains on one side and Lyttelton Harbour, a drowned volcanic crater, on the other. On a clear day you can see the Southern Alps. 35 of our itineraries include it.
• Riverside Market: an indoor food hall on the Avon, the easiest lunch in town and a good place to be when it rains.
• Wildlife: Willowbank Wildlife Reserve, on 22 itineraries, is the reliable place near the city to see kiwi, in its nocturnal house. Orana Wildlife Park, nearby, is an open-range zoo with mostly foreign animals.
• Food tours: Amiki Cultural Food Tours runs walking and tasting tours of the centre, on 8 of our itineraries.

Our longer guide to things to do in Christchurch times out a full day and evening. If you have a second day, drive to Akaroa on Banks Peninsula for the harbour cruise and Hector's dolphins; 9 of our itineraries do it as a guided day with lunch.

Christchurch and Antarctica

Christchurch has been a jumping-off point for the Antarctic since 1901, when Scott's Discovery expedition sailed from Lyttelton. Today the New Zealand, United States, Italian and South Korean programmes run their flights from a base beside the airport, and McMurdo Station and Scott Base are about 3,920 km away, roughly five hours in a US Air Force C-17. Those flights are for scientists and support staff; there is no way to book a seat as a tourist.

What visitors can do is the International Antarctic Centre, on the same airport road, on 21 of our itineraries. It has a storm room that takes you down to Antarctic temperatures, a Hägglund ride and a colony of little blue penguins, rescued birds that could not survive in the wild. It is aimed at families but most adults enjoy it too, and it is a practical last stop before a flight home.

How to get to Christchurch, and where to go next

Christchurch Airport (CHC) is about 12 km north-west of the centre, 20 minutes by taxi or shuttle and a bit longer on the public bus. It has direct flights from the main Australian cities and domestic flights across the country, and it is where most South Island rental cars are collected. By train, the TranzAlpine runs daily to Greymouth over Arthur's Pass, 223 km in about five hours, except on Christmas Day and Anzac weekend. The Coastal Pacific runs north to Kaikōura and Picton every day in season, from 1 September 2026 to 30 April 2027, and not at all from late April to the end of August.

How long to stay in Christchurch

Two nights is right for most first trips: one to recover from the flight, one full day for the centre, the gardens and the gondola. That is what our itineraries do most often, with 183 of them spending two nights here, 66 passing through with one, and 70 staying three. A third night buys a day out. The best of those are Akaroa and its harbour, the drive up to Arthur's Pass for a short alpine walk, or in winter a day on the ski field at Mt Hutt, which a handful of our ski packages use.

Because so many trips start and finish here, it is often worth splitting the nights: one on arrival, one at the end before the flight home. Our 10 day South Island itinerary is built that way.

Christchurch weather and when to go

Christchurch is one of the drier and sunnier cities in the country: about 620 mm of rain and 2,100 hours of sunshine a year, with an average January high of about 23°C and a July high of about 11°C. The weather to know about is the nor'wester, a hot, dry föhn wind off the Alps that can push summer afternoons past 30°C and turn a still morning gusty by lunchtime. When the wind swings to the east off the sea, the same city can be grey and cool. Winter brings clear, frosty mornings more often than rain.

Summer, December to February, is the busiest and the best for long evenings by the river. April is our pick for the city itself: the trees in Hagley Park and along the Avon turn, the crowds thin and the days are mild. Spring brings blossom and the start of the Coastal Pacific season in September. Check the MetService forecast rather than a monthly average, because a nor'wester day and a southerly day can be 15 degrees apart.

Where to stay in Christchurch

Stay in the central city, inside the four avenues, if you want to walk to the river, the market and the tram, or in Merivale just to the north, which has a strip of cafes and restaurants on Papanui Road. Riccarton, west of Hagley Park, has the cheaper motels, and the airport hotels make sense only for an early flight.

These are the hotels our itineraries use most. Sudima Christchurch City hosts 51 of them, Bella Vista Christchurch 41 and Quest on Cambridge 39. The George, on Park Terrace looking over Hagley Park, is on 26 itineraries, and the Scenic Hotel Cotswold in Merivale on 26. For something smaller, Merivale Manor and the Orari Bed and Breakfast appear on 11 and 11 respectively.