12-Day Itinerary: South Island of New Zealand (Roadtrip)

Are you planning a roadtrip to New Zealand? Trying to figure out the best places to go on the South Island? Need help designing your trip itinerary? If you’re asking any of these questions, you’re in the right place!

In today’s video I’m sharing with you my 12-day South Island, New Zealand Road trip Itinerary!

Last January I embarked on a road trip adventure with two friends to explore the magic of New Zealand. Our goal was to witness breathtaking landscapes, encounter wildlife, enjoy the great outdoors, stay in unique places, and see as much as we could without feeling too rushed or exhausted. Having now completed this epic trip, I’m glad to say our itinerary achieved all that and more!

In this video I share my comprehensive itinerary, highlight our favorite spots, showcase some unique places to stay, and review our favorite activities/tours. This itinerary breakdown is meant to give you a better idea of what you can see and do in 12 days, and give you ideas for places worth visiting.

This is by no means the ‘best’ itinerary of the South Island. We may have missed a few of the most visited spots and instead ventured off the beaten trail at times. I hope you get inspired to visit both the tourist hot spots as well as some more unique and ‘obscure’ places we visited on the island.

Highlights of our trip included Queenstown, Fiordland National Park, Doubtful Sound, Te Anau, Oamaru and the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony, Akaroa and the Akaroa Dolphins Tour, SiloStay at Little River, The Hooker Valley Track in Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park, Lake Tekapo, the city of Christchurch, and more!

If you’re curious to explore the tours mentioned in this video, I have direct links to their websites here:

Fiordland Expeditions: https://fiordlandexpeditions.co.nz

Fiordland Expeditions VLOG: https://youtu.be/qCVVTW3mTxs?si=oaWUliXGSvwG2DaF

Akaroa Dolphins: https://www.akaroadolphins.co.nz

Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony: https://www.penguins.co.nz

Hotel Discounts ↓
Want discounted hotel stays on your trip to New Zealand? I can get you $25 off any hotel booking made on athotel.com. Sign in for free, find your preferred hotel, and use the discount ‘jeff_hyer’ at checkout. Hope that helps you save a bit of cash and put more towards your New Zealand adventure! https://athotel.com

Disclosure: some links contain affiliates. When you click the links and make a purchase, I may earn a commission. Thank you for allowing me to bring you valuable content.

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Chapters:
00:00: Introduction
01:12: Day 1 Christchurch
02:56: Day 2 Queenstown
04:06: Day 3 Te Anau
04:49: Day 4 Doubtful Sound
05:56: Day 5 Doubtful Sound
06:48: Day 6 Wanaka
07:44: Day 7 Rest Day
08:00: Day 8 Aoraki/Mount Cook
08:35: Day 9 Oamaru
10:12: Day 10 Akaroa
11:10: Day 11 Akaroa
12:39 Day 12 Christchurch

#NewZealand #SouthIslandNZ #TravelVlog

are you planning a road trip in New Zealand are you not sure where to start your travel planning I totally get it when I was first designing this road trip itinerary I was overwhelmed with how much there was to see and do here in this video I’m going to be sharing with you my 12-day South Island road trip itinerary I’ll be sharing the highlights of our trip our favorite places and what we were able to see in this amount of time are you ready for the breakdown but first opening [Music] sequence [Music] hello future New Zealand Travelers welcome back for another travel insights video if you’re new here my name is Jeff H and I’m your beacon of knowledge and inspiration for Eco exploration subscribe to this channel if you haven’t already for all the nature and Wildlife content in my latest Adventure I visited the south island of new Zeal Zealand two of my friends and I got in the car and road trip through this wonderful place for 12 days this trip was filled with outdoor adventure so if you’re looking for an itinerary that involves a lot of nature wildlife and national parks you’re in the right place in this video I’m going to be sharing with you my road trip itinerary on the south island of New Zealand from start to finish this is a very simplified recap because there’s a lot to cover so let’s jump right into it starting with day one our journey started in Christ Church for most Travelers this is the gateway to exploring the South Island because it’s the largest city with the largest airport we stayed right in the center of town which allowed us to walk around and explore before driving out we stayed at the Novatel Christ Church in Cathedral Square by the way if you want a discount on your stay here I can get you one you can find Details In the description below so first things first we grabbed our rental car from Easy Car Rental which was in fact super easy it’s from there we started our first and longest drive of the trip all the way to Queenstown this drive is about 6 hours but there’s lots to see along the way to break up the car ride we stopped at the iconic Lake teapo and had a look at the Russell loopin flowers this lake is just one that’s part of the Mackenzie Basin region which had incredible views from start to finish this is not a boring drive along the way we picked up these cherries on the side of the road which we ate the entire trip after our first fun day exploring the South Island we arrived in beautiful Queenstown we’re so ready to get this explore we first checked into this stunning Airbnb which was our base camp for two nights queen town is a very busy place during the high season so we chose to be a little bit out of town in our own secluded house away from the crowds it’s only about 15 minutes out of town of course we wanted to check out all the action as well so we headed into the town and that’s where we spent the evening we enjoyed a lovely stroll by the water checked out the beach grabbed a poke bowl for dinner before going to bed that night we were blessed with the stunning Sunset good night Queens Town good morning New Zealand day two good morning from Paradise we kicked off the morning in Queenstown with a fun hike up the tiki Trail this is the trail you take if you don’t want to pay for the skyline Gondola they both start and end at the same spot but if you want to get your steps in your vert take the trail this was a great hike not too busy nice and shaded kept wandering and ended up in this paragliding takeoff spot which offered great views on our way down we checked out all the crazy activities you can do here Queenstown is known as the adventure capital of the world there’s a zillion adventure activities you can sign up for including this Louch after taking in this amazing view we purchased a one-way ticket for the gondola down which was a short ride but very Scenic Queenstown has a wide selection of healthy restaurant options to try the food was delicious at thepoke kitchen where we had brunch as mentioned there’s so much to do here but we actually just wanted to relax so we drove to Kelvin Heights beach and enjoyed a lake afternoon afterwards we went to some [Music] pubs of course we had to try the iconic Ferg burger for dinner the most popular burger joint in New Zealand standing in the long queue is just part of the experience and we did it we took it back to our Airbnb because we had to maximize this view while we had it day three we were back on the road before leaving Queenstown we stopped at this delicious breakfast spot on the water which was one of our favorite meals of the trip we then drove 3 hours to Tiano Tiano is the Gateway City to exploring fjordland National Park this is where most people stay who want to explore the fjords like Milford Sound it’s a cute town with mountain views everywhere you look there’s a bird sing uary there that’s completely free of charge where you can see endemic species only found in New Zealand including the endangered takah as a bird nerd I had to go here later we had a delicious Asian fusion dinner at ditto for accommodations this night we booked a family room at a tasmin Holiday Park a comfortable place to put your head down at night and walking distance from town day four was a big day this is the day we embarked on our biggest adventure our biggest Splurge activity the main event of our trip going on an overnight boat cruise in doubtful sound we centered a a lot of our itinerary around making this Cruise happen and we were so stoked on it we woke up and drove 15 minutes south to Manore where we checked into our cruise so this is all included in the same ticket by the way but we first had to take a fairy Cross Lake manori then ride a shuttle through the park which took us to doubtful sound and that’s when we got on the boat doubtful sound is in the far reaches of fure land it’s not accessible by car but if you like remote places that are gorgeous I recommend visiting it I have a whole video about this Cruise because it was a full experience in itself the short recap is that we spent the night on this boat having Adventure after Adventure the cruise goes through epic scenery of doubtful sound we saw a lot of wildlife such as New Zealand F seals and dolphins that swam right underneath our boat kaying fishing jumping off the helipad the food the hospitality everything was spectacular okay here we go woohoo day five we woke up in Moody fjordland we took in the views while we could showered in a waterfall and made our way back to Tiano it was so sad leaving this wonderful experience this was Unforgettable a once in a lifetime moment after re-entering civilization we took a nice walk along part of the Kepler track the Kepler track is a well-known hiking route that takes several days to complete and you overnight in Huts along the way we would love to come back here and do this entire back country trip sometime we just had a little taste test by walking this suspension bridge and some trail back in Tiano now we continued our exploration of this cute town we tried a meat pie we spent the night at the Tio Lakefront Backpackers hostel because it was cheap and easy and believe it or not this was the night of New Year’s Eve so we hit the town watched some fireworks from the beach and watched a concert at the local pub good morning New Year Day six we made the 3-hour journey to wanka wanka is a gorgeous Town that’s humming with activity we didn’t actually spend the night here which we kind of regretted but it was peak season and we could couldn’t find any available accommodation within our means so it turned into a day trip while passing through we decided to fully send up the iconic Roy’s Peak Royce Peak is a 16 km roundtrip hike with sweeping views of wanka and the landscape leading to mount aspiring it’s a straight up hill climb with little to no shade the views are 10 out of 10 definitely worth a climb if you have it in you to conquer that vert by the time we were done with this hike it was around 7:00 p.m. we still had to drive 90 minutes to our airb be which was in a more obsc part of New Zealand called Lake oh how we were trying to find something close-ish to alaki Mount Cook which spoiler alert is the next place we go and we saw this airb be called The Rusty shed which was available so we decided to go for it and that’s a wrap on another fun day in New Zealand day seven was a total rest day I don’t even have footage of this day at all we slept in we swam at the lake we cooked we did domestic things like laundry don’t forget to incorporate some rest days in your itinerary it’s important if you want to maintain and conserve long lasting energy on day eight we sprung right back into action it was time to go see Acky Mount Cook National Park it’s there we of course had to experience the iconic hooker Valley Track which is one of the most well-known hikes in New Zealand this is a very easy Trail that’s 10 km round trip and very flat the views on this hike were breathtaking every step of the way we lucked out by having a clear day and clear visuals of the mountains the hike didn’t take long to finish we were done by early afternoon so on our way back to Lake Ohio we grabbed a drink in the town of twizel great Town love twizle then it was time for another Lake day near our airan be also time to finish this book day nine Day N was all about penguins we drove 2 hours from Lake oh how to oamaru a coastal town with a blue penguin Colony penguin viewing is an evening activity so before going to do that when we arrived we walked to Bushy Beach to check out some gorgeous Coastline we are now checking out the town aaru is a very unique town it’s a Victorian Seaside town with a lot of character it’s quirky it feels like you’re stuck in another era for accommodations we stay at the aaru Backpackers hostel which was a cozy little spot near town and of course close to the Penguins you know I love Wildlife so I actually dragged the crew back to Bushy Beach a second time to try and spot yelloweyed penguins yelloweyed penguins are the rarest penguin species in the world that emerge from sea in the late afternoon sure enough we spotted two of them from Far Far Away you actually can’t go down to the beach during this time you can only view them from above but still cool though it was then time for the highly anticipated blue penguin viewing it’s here where hundreds of blue penguins emerg from the sea around dusk so during Midsummer that’s around 900 p.m. this experience was so unique you sit in this Amphitheater to watch the penguins waddle up to their nesting sites there’s an area for general admission seating and another area for premium seating I’d say you get close viewing either way so it doesn’t really make a difference where you sit by the way you can’t take photos or videos of this experience I made special Arrangements beforehand to feature The Experience on my channels which is how I got this banging penguin footage it was so fun I loved it before we drove out of the blue penguin Colony we had to make sure there were no Penguins underneath our car we did see some crossing the parking lot and roadways on our way out Penguins [Music] everywhere the fun isn’t over yet it’s day 10 baby on day 10 we drove 2 hours North to the town of Little River this town is on a roadway leading to the banks peninsula which was our next destination it sits along the rail trail which is a continuous bike path that travels all the way to chry so if you’re into biking check this place out it’s here we checked into perhaps the most unique stay of the entire trip this is The Silo stay there are nine silos here the design was very different from anything I’ve ever experienced before I did Splurge a little perhaps on impulse to get the shuder board when I booked my reservation this was an add-on so when we arrived this gorgeous platter was waiting for us was totally worth it you better get some quick it’s going fast so from Little River we did some hiking some exploring and we drove to the town of akaroa to get some Indian food we took it easy this evening very Chill Vibes on day 11 we said goodbye to The Silo and drove 30 minutes to akaroa this is where we were last night so our second time going here is the peninsula we are here in Little River and we’re going to be driving this windy road with lots of hair pin turns all the way to akaroa it’s a very curvy road with lots of hair pin turns so make sure you don’t eat anything that will come back up beforehand akaroa is a French Village on the banks penena it’s very quaint and cozy we came here though to go on the akaroa Dolphins tour to see the endangered Hector’s dolphin Hector’s dolphins are the smallest and rarest dolphin species and the highest concentration of them can be found here being a wildlife nerd I had to see them and I’m so glad I did we hopped on a 2-hour akaroa Dolphins boat cruise they run several boat tours a day on this Cruise you explore the main Harbor you get an up close view of caves you see the coastline and of course you see dolphins we spotted several of them right next to our boat in this very clear water this was an exciting moment for this Wildlife nerd as with any Wildlife tour you aren’t always guaranteed Wildlife sightings but the chances are pretty high of seeing Hector dolphins on this tour I think we saw like close to 15 total there’s complimentary drinks and a dog who helps detect the Dolphins this is Albi he can hear the highfrequency sound that dolphins make that humans can’t so every time he perked up we knew that Dolphins were nearby for the rest of the day we enjoyed the town tried some local fish and chips and a lot of them and drove back to Christ Church where we started and just like that on day 12 we were back in Christ Church this is where we started and this is where we ended we woke up early and made our way to the airport to fly out and you guys that was our 12-day road trip itinerary of the South Island I hope you enjoyed this Rapid Fire recap of our journey this trip was such a big one to plan and coordinate but such a memorable one I hope by breaking down each day and sharing our highlights You Got Some solid ideas for your own trip planning there was a lot of moving around of course with it being a road trip but honestly nothing felt rushed we had a lot of downtime relaxation time mixed into epic adventure this itinerary was Wildlife heavy hiking heavy and Beach time heavy if you’re curious to learn more about some of the accommodations tours and locations I talked about in this video you can find details for them in the description below thank you so much for watching don’t forget get to hit subscribe if you haven’t already I’ve got lots of New Zealand travel content coming enjoy your trip to this beautiful country safe travels and I’ll see you next [Music] [Music] time