Ultimate New Zealand South Island Road Trip

New Zealand is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful countries in the world. For all travellers who are seeking for beautiful landscapes it is a must visit place. Simply New Zealand is a paradise.

In short;

Every inch in New Zealand is breathtakingly beautiful
You can visit in any season depending on your preference without a doubt
Food is amazing
People are friendly
Affordable
Easy to drive

So what else you expect in a road trip?

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Visa

When you are travelling to New Zealand first and foremost be mindful of what you are taking as New Zealand has strict biosecurity procedures at the airports and ports to prevent the introduction of pests and diseases to the country. Also, make sure to check visa conditions depending on your passport. If you are arriving through Australia make sure to check visa conditions in Australian Immigration as well. You might need to get a transit visa if you are transiting via Australia even though you are not planning to go out of the airport in Australia. If you are applying through Singapore please check our detailed guide on applying visa.

How to Travel

Best method to travel around New Zealand is to rent a car. There are plenty of options available depending on your preference. You can either hire a camper van and there are lot of nice camping sites all around New Zealand. We hired our lovely car with Go rentals in Christchurch. The car was parked at Sudima Hotel @ Christchurch Airport since we have arrived during night. Once we arrive to the airport we called the Sudima Hotel @ Christchurch Airport, which is located only few hundred meters from the airport, and they quickly sent a van to pick us. After we got there, we just had to sign some forms to get the vehicle and the process was quick and easy. Vehicle rental prices in New Zealand are reasonably low compared to most other countries. And most of the vehicles are only few months or years old.

I would say driving in New Zealand is easy and there is lesser chance to get lost if you follow the instructions correctly. If you plan to self drive make sure to read the road rules before arrive and most of those are common. Drivers in New Zealand are friendly and they always prefer to give you the space if they drive slowly and most of them even stop the vehicle and give you the chance to overtake. Please be mindful that New Zealand has lots of one way bridges and just before the bridge, it is marked which side has the priority. All the drivers are respecting road rules. In long roads there are overtaking lanes. One special thing if you are planning your trip try is to avoid driving during night. There can be animals on the road at night and we saw lots of dead animals on the road each morning, by hitting with vehicles at night.

If you are travelling on budget, New Zealand car rentals have cars that they want to relocate. You can hire such cars at NZ$1 for 3 days. Yes, it's that cheap. But you have to deliver the car to the desired point within the given period and you cannot decide the type of car you will get.

Where to Stay

New Zealand promotes tourism and about 10% of New Zealand's GDP is from Tourism (Directly and indirectly). So you can choose hotels or motels depending on your budget. But I strongly recommend airbnb; specially if you are travelling as a couple and if you are pet lovers. During our road trip we only stayed one day in a hotel and all other days we stayed in airbnb. We love all those places and can highly recommend to anyone who plans to visit South Island. Prices are reasonable compared with hotels and all the houses we stayed are clean and comfortable. New Zealanders are really friendly and they will serve you better than a hotel.Most of them love to have nice chats with you if you are willing to. In the houses we stayed, there was at least one dog. New Zealand is a safe country and you don't have to worry much about thieves. But of course you have to be careful.

Important thing for staying is to book early as possible since the prices will get high and the places can be run out due to the seasonal demand.

When to Go

This is definitely your preference. New Zealand has four seasons and you can visit during any time of the year. New Zealand is exquisite through out the year with observable seasonal beauty.

Spring - September to November
Summer - December to February
Autumn - March to May
Winter - June to August

We went to New Zealand during summer as most of the tourists visit. In summer; day time is longer, bringing high temperature and sunshine.

Where to Fly

New Zealand has four main airports. Auckland and Wellington in North Island and Christchurch and Queenstown in South Island. Most tourists fly to Auckland. Since we did our road trip in South Island we choose Christchurch which was our starting point and ending point. If you have plenty of days to travel around the island I think Christchurch is a good starting point. Christchurch is a comparatively small airport and the domestic terminal will close after the last domestic flight around 11.00 p.m. But the international arrivals hall is open throughout the night.

One of the prime reasons we chose Christchurch Airport are the lower rates for flight tickets and vehicle rentals and Christchurch is less crowded than Queenstown.

How Many Days

New Zealand is full of enchanting places that everyone would definitely fall in love. If you are planning a road trip, at least you will need 5 - 6 days. But we recommend minimum 8 days if you want to enjoy the true beauty of New Zealand. If you have plenty of time even one month would not make you bored. There are plenty of hikes in New Zealand that can take from few hours to few days.

Top Rated Places from Universal Travellers

We will go through the travel itinerary we followed and the options you can choose in detail. But if you want to plan on your own make sure not to miss places given below.