---
title: "Top 10 Things To Do in Christchurch, New Zealand | Wimup"
description: "The 10 best things to do in Christchurch, ranked. When to go, how many days you need, and which day trip to take across the Canterbury Plains."
url: https://wimup.com/city/christchurch
type: City guide
updated: 2026-10-18
publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com)
---

# Top 10 Things To Do in Christchurch

Christchurch, New Zealand · Oceania · By Wimup Editorial, 15 min read

Christchurch is the one New Zealand city that had to decide what it wanted to be. The 2010 and 2011 earthquakes took most of the centre, and what stands there now is fifteen years of rebuilding wrapped around the Gothic Revival stone that survived. The Garden City is still underneath it, in Hagley Park and the botanic gardens.

## Quick answer

The best things to do in Christchurch are the Botanic Gardens, the Christchurch Art Gallery, a punt on the Ōtākaro Avon from the Antigua Boat Sheds, the gondola up Mt Cavendish, and Quake City for the story of the earthquakes. Give the city two days, add a third for Akaroa or the TranzAlpine, and a fourth for Kaikōura or Hanmer Springs. Travel between November and April for the long evenings, or in autumn for the colour in Hagley Park.

## Quick facts

- **Best months:** Nov · Dec · Feb · Mar
- **Ideal length:** 3 days
- **Budget per day:** NZ$180–330
- **Language:** English · te reo Māori
- **Getting around:** Metro buses, the tram & a flat bike grid
- **Tourism board:** [Official site](https://www.christchurchnz.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## The 10 best things to do in Christchurch

### 1. Walk the Christchurch Botanic Gardens

Garden · Rolleston Avenue, Christchurch Central City 8013

Twenty-one hectares inside a bend of the river, planted since 1863 and the reason the city is called the Garden City. It is not one garden but a dozen. The oldest thing in it is an English oak planted in July 1863, which is the moment the gardens began. Entry is free and the grounds open every day.

- **Time:** 1–2 hrs
- **Cost:** Free
- **Best at:** Morning
- **Tip:** Enter from Rolleston Avenue and walk out through Hagley Park to the Armagh Street bridge

Links: [Website](https://ccc.govt.nz/parks-and-gardens/christchurch-botanic-gardens?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 2. See the collection at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū

Gallery · Corner Worcester Boulevard and Montreal Street, Christchurch Central City 8013

The city's public gallery, behind a facade of curved glass that has been the most argued-over building here since it opened in 2003. It served as the civil defence headquarters after the 2011 earthquake and reopened in 2015 with the collection intact. Entry is free, which is the point.

- **Time:** 1–2 hrs
- **Cost:** Free
- **Best at:** Wednesday evening
- **Tip:** Open 10am to 5pm daily and until 9pm on Wednesdays, the one late night in the centre

Links: [Website](https://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 3. Take a punt down the Ōtākaro Avon from the Antigua Boat Sheds

River · Antigua Boat Sheds, 2 Cambridge Terrace, Christchurch Central City 8013

A punter in Edwardian dress poles a flat-bottomed boat upriver through the Botanic Gardens for half an hour. It is the only way to see the river the city is built around from the water. The boat sheds have stood on this bend since 1882 and are the last Victorian ones still in use.

- **Time:** 30 min
- **Cost:** From NZ$30
- **Best at:** Late afternoon
- **Tip:** Punts run 9am to 6pm from October to April and 10am to 4pm the rest of the year. Book ahead in summer

Links: [Website](https://www.christchurchattractions.nz/punting/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 4. Ride the gondola to the Mt Cavendish summit

Viewpoint · 10 Bridle Path Road, Heathcote Valley, Christchurch 8022

Ten minutes up the rim of an extinct volcano, and the one view that explains the geography in a single turn: the city and the plains running north to the Southern Alps on one side, Lyttelton Harbour drowned in its own crater on the other. The Crater Rim Walkway starts at the door.

- **Time:** 1–2 hrs
- **Cost:** NZ$15 return
- **Best at:** Clear afternoon
- **Tip:** Walk up the historic Bridle Path from the base station and buy a one-way ticket down

Links: [Website](https://www.christchurchattractions.nz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 5. Understand the earthquakes at Quake City

Museum · 299 Durham Street North, Christchurch Central City 8013

The earthquake exhibition, and the room that explains everything else in the centre. The 2010 quake did the structural damage; the shallower aftershock in February 2011 killed 185 people and took the centre with it. It holds the salvaged rose window and first-hand video. Go on your first day.

- **Time:** 1 hr
- **Cost:** Ticketed
- **Best at:** First day
- **Tip:** Ravenscar House Museum is in the same building and the two sell a combined ticket

Links: [Website](https://quakecity.co.nz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 6. Walk the courtyards of The Arts Centre Te Matatiki Toi Ora

Landmark · 2 Worcester Boulevard, Christchurch Central City 8013

Twenty-three Gothic Revival stone buildings that were Canterbury College before the university moved out, and the largest group of Category 1 heritage buildings in New Zealand. The earthquakes damaged nearly all of them and the restoration has run for more than a decade, stone by stone.

- **Time:** 1–2 hrs
- **Cost:** Free to wander
- **Best at:** Weekend
- **Tip:** The quadrangles and lanes cost nothing; Rutherford's Den is the one ticketed part

Links: [Website](https://www.artscentre.org.nz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 7. Eat your way along Riverside Market

Food hall · 96 Oxford Terrace, Christchurch Central City 8011

Two storeys of traders under one roof, opened in 2019 and the piece of the rebuild that actually gave the centre a crowd. Butchers and a cheesemonger below; dumplings, tacos and ramen around the edges, with long communal tables in the middle. Saturday morning is the best time.

- **Time:** 1 hr
- **Cost:** NZ$15–30 a plate
- **Best at:** Saturday morning
- **Tip:** Order from two counters and share; the seating is communal and nobody minds

### 8. Stand at Ōi Manawa, the Canterbury Earthquake National Memorial

Memorial · Oxford Terrace, Christchurch Central City 8011

A curved marble wall along the river carrying the names of the 185 people who died in February 2011. The design is deliberately quiet: no sculpture, no explanation, just the names cut into stone at eye height. It takes twenty minutes and it is why the rebuilt centre makes sense.

- **Time:** 20 min
- **Cost:** Free
- **Best at:** Dusk
- **Tip:** It sits on the riverside walk, so pair it with the walk down to Riverside Market

### 9. Ride the heritage tram through New Regent Street

Tram · New Regent Street, Christchurch Central City 8011

One block of pastel Spanish Mission shopfronts built in 1932, and the first street in New Zealand designed as a single architectural composition. It is pedestrianised now except for the tram, which runs a hop-on loop past most of the centre. A reasonable way to get your bearings.

- **Time:** 1 hr
- **Cost:** Free to walk
- **Best at:** Late morning
- **Tip:** Trams run 10am to 4pm; the ticket is a day pass, so get off and back on

Links: [Website](https://www.christchurchattractions.nz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

### 10. Go south at the International Antarctic Centre

Attraction · 38 Orchard Road, Harewood, Christchurch 8053

Christchurch has been the last stop before Antarctica since Scott and Shackleton provisioned at Lyttelton, and the airport still runs three national Antarctic programmes south each season. The visitor centre is the closest most people will get: a storm room at Antarctic wind chill, an all-terrain ride, and rescued little blue penguins.

- **Time:** 2–3 hrs
- **Cost:** Ticketed
- **Best at:** Rainy day
- **Tip:** Ten minutes from the airport door, so it works on the day you fly

Links: [Website](https://www.iceberg.co.nz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Best gardens & parks in Christchurch

Six green spaces, from a 165 hectare park in the middle of town to a bush remnant older than the city.

1. **Hagley Park** (Free · Open daily · Central): One hundred and sixty-five hectares set aside in 1855 and never built on. The river runs through it, and so does the loop half the city runs on a Sunday.
2. **Christchurch Botanic Gardens** (Free · Conservatories · Central): Twenty one hectares of themed gardens inside a bend of the river, planted from 1863 and the reason for the nickname. The conservatories are the reason to come in July.
3. **Riccarton House and Bush Pūtaringamotu** (Free · Farmers market Sat · Riccarton): The last remnant of the kahikatea forest that covered the plains, with trees over 600 years old. The 1856 homestead stands beside it.
4. **Mona Vale** (Free · Gardens · Fendalton): An Edwardian homestead and its grounds on the Avon, with a rose garden and lawns running down to the river. Punts leave from here in summer.
5. **Victoria Square** (Free · Central): The oldest public space in the city, laid out as a market square in the 1850s and reopened in 2018 after a full post-earthquake rebuild.
6. **Halswell Quarry Park** (Free · Dogs allowed · Halswell): A worked-out stone quarry turned into parkland, with gardens planted for each of the city's sister cities and a short climb to a view.

## Best museums & galleries in Christchurch

Eight museums and galleries, including the two rooms that opened while the main museum is closed for rebuilding.

1. **Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū** (Free · 10am–5pm · Central): The city's public collection, free to enter, behind the wall of curved glass. Open until 9pm on Wednesdays, the one late night in the centre. [Website](https://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
2. **Quake City** (Ticketed · Central): Canterbury Museum's earthquake exhibition on Durham Street: the salvaged cathedral rose window, the toppled spire, and first-hand accounts of 22 February 2011. [Website](https://quakecity.co.nz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
3. **Ravenscar House Museum** (Ticketed · Central): A purpose-built house museum around a collection of New Zealand art, furniture and classical antiquities. It shares an entrance with Quake City. [Website](https://www.ravenscarhouse.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Canterbury Museum Pop-Up at CoCA** (66 Gloucester St · Central): The Rolleston Avenue museum closed in 2023 for a redevelopment measured in years. Half its collection favourites moved into a pop-up on Gloucester Street. [Website](https://www.canterburymuseum.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
5. **Air Force Museum of New Zealand** (Ticketed for visitors · Wigram): The RNZAF's own museum on the old Wigram aerodrome, with more than two dozen aircraft and a restoration workshop you can watch through glass.
6. **The Arts Centre Te Matatiki Toi Ora** (Free to enter · Central): Restored Gothic Revival stone around a set of quadrangles, holding galleries, makers' studios, a cinema and Rutherford's Den. Free to walk through. [Website](https://www.artscentre.org.nz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
7. **Teece Museum of Classical Antiquities** (Free · Central): The University of Canterbury's Logie Collection of Greek, Roman and Egyptian objects, shown in one high stone room inside the Arts Centre. Small, free and easy to miss.
8. **Ferrymead Heritage Park** (Ticketed · Trams run weekends · Ferrymead): A working replica of an Edwardian township on the estuary edge, run by volunteer societies, with heritage trams and a steam railway.

## Best restaurants in Christchurch

Ten kitchens, from a chef's table on Hereford Street to a brewery kitchen in a converted tannery.

1. **Inati** (Modern New Zealand · Dinner · Central): A horseshoe counter wrapped around the pass, serving a set run of small plates that changes with what came in. The best seat in Christchurch is the one facing the chefs.
2. **Twenty Seven Steps** (European · Dinner · New Regent Street): Up the stairs on New Regent Street, doing modern European plates and a short seasonal list. The windows look straight down the pastel row and the tram passes under them.
3. **Gatherings** (Set menu · Dinner · Merivale): Twenty seats in Merivale and a set menu that changes every week around whatever the growers sent, with a natural wine list to match. [Website](https://www.gatherings.co.nz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
4. **Pescatore** (Fine dining · Dinner · Park Terrace): The formal dining room at The George, looking across to Hagley Park. Tasting menus and the most old-fashioned service in the city, in the good sense.
5. **Riverside Market** (Food hall · All day · Central): Thirty-odd traders under one roof on Oxford Terrace. Dumplings, bao, tacos, ramen and a pasta counter, with a butcher and a fishmonger downstairs for anyone cooking.
6. **Little High Eatery** (Food hall · All day · Central): Eight independent kitchens sharing one room on Madras Street, which is the easy answer when a group cannot agree. Order separately, sit together.
7. **Kinji** (Japanese · Dinner · Bryndwr): A suburban Japanese restaurant that locals have driven across town for since long before the rebuild. Sushi and sashimi first, the grill second.
8. **Rangoon Ruby** (Burmese · Dinner · Sydenham): Burmese cooking on Colombo Street: tea leaf salad, coconut noodles, and the kind of menu that rewards ordering two more dishes than you meant to.
9. **Cassels & Sons at The Tannery** (Pizza · Brewery · Woolston): The brewery's own kitchen in a restored Woolston tannery, built around a wood-fired pizza oven and its own beer. The building is half the reason to come out here.
10. **Coffee at C1 Espresso** (Cafe · Daytime · Central): A roaster in the old high street post office, pouring some of the best coffee in a city that takes it seriously. Sliders arrive through a pneumatic tube.

## Best bars in Christchurch

Eight rooms, from the yard bar that opened first after the earthquakes to a doll-lined pub over the hill.

1. **Smash Palace** (Beer garden · Central): A bus, a shipping container and a gravel yard on High Street, and one of the first places to reopen in the ruined centre. No pretence at all.
2. **O.G.B.** (Cocktails · Cathedral Square): Cocktails inside the Old Government Building on Cathedral Square, in a room that has kept its 1900s bank fittings and takes its list seriously.
3. **The Last Word** (Whisky · Cocktails · New Regent Street): About twenty seats on New Regent Street and a whisky list far longer than the room deserves. Cocktails made slowly, conversation at a volume you can hear over.
4. **Dux Central** (Brewpub · Central): A brewpub, a poolroom and an upstairs dining room in one restored building off Poplar Street, brewing under its own name since long before the rebuild.
5. **Boo Radley's** (Whisky · Late · Central): Dark wood, a New Orleans theme played straight, a deep whisky and bourbon list and a kitchen running late. The place to end up rather than start.
6. **Cassels & Sons Brewery** (Brewery · Woolston): The Tannery's own brewery bar in Woolston, pouring its beer beside the pizza oven. Live music in the Blue Smoke room next door.
7. **Wunderbar** (Live music · Lyttelton): Up an unmarked staircase in Lyttelton, walls lined with doll heads, live music most nights and a view over the port from the back. Worth the drive through the tunnel.
8. **Pink Lady Rooftop** (Rooftop · Central): Open air above the centre, which Christchurch had almost none of before the rebuild. Best on a still evening in February, which is most of them.

## Best neighbourhoods in Christchurch

Eight areas, from the rebuilt grid inside the four avenues to a port town on the far side of a tunnel.

1. **Central City** (Base yourself here · Central): The rebuilt grid inside the four avenues, and where almost everything in this guide is. This is where to base yourself.
2. **New Regent Street** (Heritage · Bars · Central): One pedestrianised block of 1932 Spanish Mission shopfronts, painted in sherbet colours, with the tram running down the middle and a bar or a coffee at either end.
3. **Sumner** (Beach · Cafes · Sumner): A seaside suburb twenty minutes east, built around a patrolled beach, the volcanic stack of Cave Rock and a row of cafes on the esplanade. The Coastal Pathway ends here.
4. **Lyttelton** (Port · Saturday market · Lyttelton): The port town on the far side of the Port Hills, ten minutes through a road tunnel. A Saturday farmers market and the best small bars within reach.
5. **Riccarton** (Student · Cheap eats · Riccarton): West across Hagley Park, built around the university and a long run of cheap Asian kitchens, with the bush and the Saturday market at the quiet end.
6. **Merivale** (Boutiques · Dining · Merivale): North of the park and the most expensive few streets in the city, with boutiques, a tight cluster of restaurants and large gardens behind hedges.
7. **Addington** (Events · Rail · Addington): Racing at the raceway, rugby at the stadium, the station for the TranzAlpine, and a strip of bars that fills whenever any of the three has something on.
8. **Woolston and The Tannery** (Shopping · Brewery · Woolston): A working suburb with a Victorian tannery rebuilt into an arcade of independent shops, a brewery and a theatre. Worth the twenty minutes out.

## Best day trips in Christchurch

Eight trips out, from a French harbour town over the crater rim to a train ride across the Southern Alps.

1. **Akaroa and Banks Peninsula** (1 hr 30 by car · Banks Peninsula): An hour and a half over the crater rim to a harbour town the French settled in 1840. Hector's dolphins live in the harbour and the drive is half the trip.
2. **The TranzAlpine to Arthur's Pass** (Train · Daily · Southern Alps): One of the great train journeys: across the plains, up the gorge and through the Southern Alps to Greymouth. Get off at Arthur's Pass and take the afternoon train back.
3. **Hanmer Springs** (1 hr 45 by car · North Canterbury): Ninety minutes north to an alpine basin built around a thermal pool complex, with forest walks above it and a bungy off the Waiau Ferry Bridge on the way in.
4. **Kaikōura** (2 hrs 30 by car · Kaikōura): Two and a half hours up the coast to the one place in New Zealand where a deep ocean canyon comes close inshore. Sperm whales are resident year round.
5. **Waipara Valley** (45 min by car · North Canterbury): Forty-five minutes north to North Canterbury's wine country, warm and dry behind the hills. Pinot noir and riesling, with cellar doors close together.
6. **Kura Tawhiti Castle Hill** (1 hr 30 by car · Canterbury high country): An hour and a half west, a basin of weathered limestone boulders on land of significance to Ngāi Tahu, used as a film location and climbed by boulderers.
7. **Mt Hutt and Methven** (1 hr 30 by car · Mid Canterbury): Ninety minutes southwest to the Canterbury ski field with the longest season in the country. In summer the same road leads into the Rakaia gorge.
8. **Aoraki Mount Cook** (3 hrs 30 by car · Mackenzie Country): Three and a half hours inland past Lake Tekapo and the blue of Pukaki to the country's highest mountain and the Hooker Valley Track. Doable in a day, better as two.

## Best outdoors in Christchurch

Six ways out of the city on foot or two wheels, all of them inside half an hour of the centre.

1. **The Port Hills** (Free · Walking & MTB · Port Hills): The volcanic rim between the city and the harbour, laced with tracks: the Bridle Path the first settlers walked, and the Crater Rim Walkway.
2. **Christchurch Adventure Park** (Ticketed · Chairlift · Cashmere): Three hundred and fifty-eight hectares on the Port Hills, fifteen minutes out, with a chairlift serving mountain bike trails and four ziplines.
3. **Godley Head Ōtokitoki** (Free · 2–3 hrs · Godley Head): A loop around the headland at the mouth of the harbour, past the tunnels and gun emplacements of a Second World War coastal battery.
4. **Sumner Beach and the Coastal Pathway** (Free · Sealed path · Sumner): Te Ara Ihutai runs flat and sealed around the estuary to Scarborough, good for a bike or a pushchair, and the beach is patrolled through summer.
5. **New Brighton Pier and He Puna Taimoana** (Pier free · Pools ticketed · New Brighton): A 300 metre concrete pier into Pegasus Bay, with saltwater hot pools beside it looking out to sea. The best thing to do on a cold, clear day.
6. **Bottle Lake Forest Park** (Free · Trails · Bottle Lake): A working pine plantation on the northeast edge, with waymarked walking and riding trails and a track out to the dunes and the beach.

## Festivals & annual events in Christchurch (2026)

- **Bread & Circus, World Buskers Festival** (Jan – Feb): Street performance across the central city, on outdoor pitches and in pop-up venues, mixing international and New Zealand acts.
- **Electric Avenue** (Feb): The city's largest music festival, staged in Hagley Park on multiple stages over a summer weekend.
- **Matariki** (Jun – Jul): The Māori new year, a public holiday since 2022 and marked with dawn ceremonies and light installations.
- **KidsFest** (Jul): A children's festival run through the July school holidays, with hundreds of workshops, shows and events across the city.
- **SCAPE Public Art Season** (Oct – Dec): Free outdoor sculpture installed across the central city each spring. Several past works have stayed, so the trail grows.
- **New Zealand Cup and Show Week** (Nov): Canterbury's biggest week: the Trotting Cup at Addington on the Tuesday and the New Zealand Cup at Riccarton on the Saturday.
- **Canterbury A&P Show** (Nov): The country's largest agricultural show, run since the 1860s and the reason Show Day is a holiday at all.
- **Summertimes** (Dec – Mar): The council's free outdoor summer programme, running concerts, films and family days in Hagley Park from December to March.

## Must-try dishes in Christchurch, New Zealand

- **Canterbury lamb**: The region's best-known export, and the thing to order in a Christchurch dining room.
- **Whitebait fritter**: West Coast whitebait bound with egg and fried flat, with lemon and white bread.
- **Bluff oysters**: Dredged from Foveaux Strait and in season from March into August. Order them raw; cooking them is a waste.
- **Green-lipped mussels**: New Zealand's own mussel, farmed in the Marlborough Sounds and steamed open in white wine or a chilli broth.
- **Cheese rolls**: A South Island staple and a Canterbury winter habit: white bread rolled around cheese and onion, then grilled.
- **Alpine salmon**: King salmon farmed in the hydro canals under Aoraki, where the water runs off the glaciers near freezing.
- **Hokey pokey ice cream**: Vanilla ice cream studded with lumps of honeycomb toffee. The correct order at a beach kiosk at Sumner.
- **Pavlova**: Meringue with a marshmallow centre under whipped cream and fruit. Australia disputes the invention.

## Christchurch transport & airports

- **Christchurch Airport** (CHC): About 12 kilometres northwest, and the South Island's main international gateway. The Purple Line runs to the central Bus Interchange every 30 minutes, taking 30 to 40 minutes. [Christchurch Airport](https://www.christchurchairport.co.nz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **Metro buses** (Metro): One network across Greater Christchurch, run through the Bus Interchange in the centre. Most visitors will not need it: the centre is walkable and the buses matter for Sumner and Lyttelton. [Metro](https://www.metroinfo.co.nz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **Long-distance rail** (Rail): The station sits west of the centre and is not a commuter station. It exists for two scenic services: the TranzAlpine across the Alps, and the Coastal Pacific up to Picton. [Great Journeys NZ](https://www.greatjourneysnz.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- **Taxis, rideshare and bikes** (On the ground): For the centre neither is usually the fastest option: Christchurch is flat, gridded and small enough to cross on foot in half an hour, with separated cycleways since the earthquakes. [Christchurch City Council](https://ccc.govt.nz/transport/cycling?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)

## Christchurch at a glance

- **Country:** New Zealand
- **Region:** Canterbury
- **Population:** 407,800 urban area
- **Founded:** City by royal charter, 1856 · Ōtautahi, Ngāi Tahu land long before
- **Nickname:** The Garden City
- **Language:** English · te reo Māori
- **Currency:** New Zealand dollar (NZ$)
- **Time zone:** NZST · UTC+12 (UTC+13 in daylight saving)
- **Calling code:** +64 3
- **Airports:** CHC
- **Power:** 230V · Type I
- **Emergency:** 111

## Interesting facts

- Christchurch was proclaimed a city by royal charter on 31 July 1856, which makes it the oldest established city in New Zealand.
- The Māori name Ōtautahi means the place of Tautahi, a Ngāi Tahu chief whose settlement stood on the riverbank near the present centre.
- The magnitude 6.3 earthquake of 22 February 2011 struck at 12:51pm and killed 185 people, whose names are cut into the memorial wall.
- Hagley Park covers 165 hectares in the middle of the city and has been public land since 1855, when building on it was barred.
- Christchurch has been the last stop before Antarctica since Scott and Shackleton, and still sends programmes south each summer.

## Watch

[Christchurch Travel Guide](https://wimup.com/watch/christchurch.md), 12:31

## Christchurch travel FAQ

### How many days do you need in Christchurch?

Two days covers the city: the Botanic Gardens, the art gallery and the Arts Centre on one, Quake City, the memorial and the gondola on the other. Add a third for Akaroa or the TranzAlpine to Arthur's Pass, and a fourth if you want Kaikōura or Hanmer Springs. Three days is the number most people should plan for.

### Is Christchurch still damaged from the earthquakes?

The centre has been rebuilt rather than repaired, so what you see inside the four avenues is mostly less than fifteen years old, built around the heritage stone that survived. The cathedral in Cathedral Square is the visible exception: its reinstatement is unfinished and it is still fenced.

### What is the best time of year to visit Christchurch?

November to April, and February is the most reliable month for warm, still weather. Autumn is the quiet recommendation: the park and the gardens turn in April and May and the light is better than midsummer. Winter is cold and clear, which suits the hot pools and the ski fields.

### Do you need a car in Christchurch?

Not for the city. The centre is flat, gridded and walkable, the tram loops the sights and Metro buses reach Sumner and Lyttelton. You want a car for Banks Peninsula, Waipara, Castle Hill and Mt Hutt, unless you take a tour or use the TranzAlpine, which reaches Arthur's Pass without one.

### How do you get from Christchurch Airport to the city?

The Metro Purple Line runs from outside the terminal to the central Bus Interchange roughly every 30 minutes and takes 30 to 40 minutes. Pay by tapping a contactless card. Taxis and rideshare pick up outside arrivals, and the airport is about 12 kilometres from the centre.

## Nearby guides

- [Nelson](https://wimup.com/city/nelson.md): New Zealand · 10 picks
- [Wellington](https://wimup.com/city/wellington.md): New Zealand · 10 picks
- [Dunedin](https://wimup.com/city/dunedin.md): New Zealand · 10 picks
- [All of Oceania →](https://wimup.com/oceania): 24 cities

Part of the [New Zealand guide](https://wimup.com/country/new-zealand.md) · [Oceania](https://wimup.com/oceania.md)

## Sources

- [Christchurch tourism board](https://www.christchurchnz.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Walk the Christchurch Botanic Gardens (official site)](https://ccc.govt.nz/parks-and-gardens/christchurch-botanic-gardens?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [See the collection at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū (official site)](https://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Take a punt down the Ōtākaro Avon from the Antigua Boat Sheds (official site)](https://www.christchurchattractions.nz/punting/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Ride the gondola to the Mt Cavendish summit (official site)](https://www.christchurchattractions.nz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Understand the earthquakes at Quake City (official site)](https://quakecity.co.nz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Walk the courtyards of The Arts Centre Te Matatiki Toi Ora (official site)](https://www.artscentre.org.nz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Go south at the International Antarctic Centre (official site)](https://www.iceberg.co.nz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Ravenscar House Museum (official site)](https://www.ravenscarhouse.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Canterbury Museum Pop-Up at CoCA (official site)](https://www.canterburymuseum.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Gatherings (official site)](https://www.gatherings.co.nz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Christchurch Airport: Christchurch Airport](https://www.christchurchairport.co.nz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Metro buses: Metro](https://www.metroinfo.co.nz/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Long-distance rail: Great Journeys NZ](https://www.greatjourneysnz.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Taxis, rideshare and bikes: Christchurch City Council](https://ccc.govt.nz/transport/cycling?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.