Things to do in Greymouth

The TranzAlpine and Greymouth station

The TranzAlpine runs daily between Christchurch and Greymouth, 223 km across the Canterbury Plains, up the Waimakariri gorge, through the 8.5 km Otira Tunnel under Arthur's Pass and down past Lake Brunner and along the Grey valley to the coast. It takes about five hours. The westbound train reaches Greymouth in the early afternoon and turns back towards Christchurch about an hour later, which is why the day return from Christchurch gives you barely enough time for a coffee. The station is in the middle of town, a few minutes' walk from the river.

Direction matters more than people think. Going east, from Greymouth, you climb through rainforest to the pass in the first half of the trip and cross the plains in the afternoon; going west you get the plains first and the mountains before lunch. Both are good. What most of our itineraries do is arrive on the coast by road, head south to the glaciers, then come back north to Greymouth and take the train east to finish in Christchurch. 8 of them upgrade to Scenic Plus, with meals served at your seat.

Things to do in and around Greymouth

• The floodwall walk: the Grey River floodwall, finished in 1990, runs along the riverbank through the centre towards the river mouth and the bar, where fishing boats wait for the tide. On a clear day you see the Southern Alps from the end of it.
• The Pounamu Pathway: the Māwhera site of this Poutini Ngāi Tahu project tells the story of pounamu, greenstone, and the people who have carried it from the West Coast rivers for centuries, using film and interactive displays. It is on 3 of our itineraries.
• Shantytown Heritage Park: a rebuilt gold-rush town about 10 minutes south, with a working steam train, a sawmill and gold panning. Families like it most. 3 of our itineraries include it.
• Brunner Mine: a DOC historic site 15 minutes up the Grey valley, where an explosion on 26 March 1896 killed 65 men, the worst mining disaster in New Zealand's history. A short walk over a swing bridge leads through the ruins of the coke ovens. It is free, sobering and well explained.
• Monteith's Brewery: the brewery was founded in Greymouth in 1868 and still has a bar and tasting room in town.
• Point Elizabeth Walkway: a coastal track north of town, about 5.5 km one way from Rapahoe, through nīkau palm and rātā forest to a lookout over the Tasman Sea.

The two bigger sights are a short drive away. Punakaiki and the Pancake Rocks are about 45 minutes north on one of the best coastal roads in the country; the blowholes perform best at high tide with a swell running. Hokitika, with its gorge, beach and pounamu carvers, is 35 minutes south.

How to get to Greymouth

There are three ways in: the TranzAlpine from Christchurch, State Highway 73 over Arthur's Pass, which the railway shadows, and State Highway 6, the coast road that runs from Westport in the north to the glaciers and Haast in the south. Greymouth has an airport but no scheduled flights; the nearest are at Hokitika (HKK), with Air New Zealand to Christchurch.

Is it better to stay in Hokitika or Greymouth?

For most travellers, Hokitika. It is smaller, it has a beach you can walk out onto from the main street, better places to eat, the pounamu carving studios and Hokitika Gorge within half an hour. Greymouth wins if you are catching the morning train east, need a supermarket and a mechanic, or want to be closer to Punakaiki. It is 40 minutes between them, so the choice is less important than it looks.

That is roughly how our itineraries split it. Of the 14 that sleep in Greymouth, most are there for a single night before or after the train. For a longer West Coast stay, we put people in Hokitika, at Punakaiki for the coast, or at Franz Josef for the glaciers.

Greymouth weather: rain, sun and the Barber

The West Coast is wet because the prevailing westerlies hit the Southern Alps and drop their rain on the coast. Greymouth gets about 2,400 mm a year, roughly four times Christchurch, but in heavy bursts rather than constant drizzle, and it still sees about 1,850 hours of sunshine. Average highs run from about 19°C in January to 12°C in July, and winter days are often clear and still. The local weather oddity is the Barber, a cold wind that drains down the Grey valley on winter mornings with a band of mist, sharp enough on the face that it earned the name.

Summer and early autumn, December to April, are the best months to drive the coast. Winter is quieter and often brighter than people expect, with snow on the Alps behind the town. Keep an eye on the MetService forecast and on State Highway 73 and State Highway 6 in heavy rain, when slips can close them.

Where to stay in Greymouth

Greymouth has motels along the main roads, a few hotels in the centre and holiday parks by the beach at the south end of town. For a night before the train, anywhere within a short drive of the station works; there is nothing to gain from staying outside town. The two places our itineraries use are Bella Vista Greymouth, on 6 of them, and the Copthorne Hotel Greymouth, on 4.