New Zealand: South Island Grand Drive

What we work through with you

1. Your dates and priorities

   Tell us when you want to visit Christchurch → Queenstown, NZ, who is travelling and what you would change in the outline below.

2. The route and pace

   We discuss the 10D / 9N starting itinerary, your preferred stays and how much you want to fit in. Any changes depend on availability and are agreed in your written plan.

3. Your written quote

   Review the final arrangements, total price, inclusions and payment and cancellation terms before booking. An enquiry does not reserve this trip.

The route we start from

These are the stages published for this trip. A stage can cover part of a day or several days; it is not a separate travel day.

1. Stage 01

   Christchurch

   Land in Christchurch and transfer in. The city was rebuilt after the 2011 earthquake and is candid about the process, with street art beside the restored stone. The botanic gardens are a good first walk and the heritage tram loops the centre for supper hour.

2. Stage 02

   Tekapo

   Inland to Lake Tekapo. The water is opaque turquoise because of rock flour, glacial grit suspended in it, and in early summer the lupins along the shore go purple and pink. The stone Church of the Good Shepherd is the most photographed building in the country. Dark sky reserve stars after.

3. Stage 03

   Mt Cook

   Up the valley towards Aoraki Mount Cook, the country's highest mountain. The Hooker Valley Track is about ten kilometres return, flat, over three swing bridges, and ends at a lake with icebergs in it. The mountain is directly ahead of you for the entire walk out.

4. Stage 04

   Down the Lindis

   South down the Lindis Pass into Central Otago, dry gold tussock country that looks like nowhere else in New Zealand, through old gold-mining settlements. Wanaka at the end of it: a quieter lake town than Queenstown, and the lone willow standing out in the shallows, best at dusk.

5. Stage 05

   Over Haast Pass

   Over the Haast Pass and down into temperate rainforest on the West Coast, which is one of the abrupt landscape changes of the drive. Waterfalls come off the road-side cliffs the whole way. At Franz Josef, the valley walk takes you up the riverbed towards the glacier face.

6. Stage 06

   Glacier Morning

   Franz Josef in the morning: the hot pools in the rainforest, or a helicopter onto the ice if the weather opens, which it does not always. Then back over the Haast to Wanaka, the same road in the other direction and genuinely different light on it.

7. Stage 07

   Queenstown

   Into Queenstown over the Crown Range, with the switchbacks above Arrowtown and the lake appearing all at once at the top. Skyline gondola in the evening for dinner above the town, with the Remarkables lit on the far side of the water.

8. Stage 08

   Milford Day

   The big fiord. Through the Homer Tunnel and down into Milford Sound for a cruise beneath Mitre Peak, cliffs rising over a kilometre straight from the water, waterfalls in every direction and kea parrots inspecting the bus. Rain makes it better, not worse, so do not hope for sun.

9. Stage 09

   Queenstown Free

   Nothing scheduled. Queenstown is where commercial bungy was invented and there is the original bridge, the Shotover jet through the canyons, and paragliding from the gondola. Equally valid: the Gibbston wineries, a long lunch and an afternoon of not moving at all.

10. Stage 10

    The Return

    Fly out of Queenstown, where the runway sits between mountains and the approach draws applause. Ten days, one island, roughly 1,500 kilometres, and roughly four thousand photographs of which perhaps nine do the place justice.

What this trip lists

Use these inclusions and exclusions when reviewing your quote. The displayed price starts from ₹2,49,999 per person; your written quote confirms the total for your dates and arrangements.

Read this trip’s booking terms →