South Island Itinerary by Base Town

Build the trip on base towns, not on a list of sights: two or three nights in each base, one guided day from each, and drives between bases that newzealand.com puts at 1 to 3.5 hours.

The seven bases on this site are Christchurch, Kaikōura, Lake Tekapo, Aoraki/Mount Cook, Wānaka, Queenstown and Dunedin (with Oamaru). Most visitors fly into Christchurch or Queenstown, so every plan below starts in one and ends in the other, or loops back.

See dates for Christchurch →

Drive times between the bases

These are newzealand.com’s driving times without stops. Add time for photos, fuel and food; a “3-hour” leg is usually most of a morning.

Two notes. Kaikōura was hit by flooding in July 2026; State Highway 1 south of the town reopened in mid-July, and newzealand.com still advises visitors to check road conditions. And the Crown Range Road, the shorter way between Wānaka and Queenstown, needs chains in the car between May and September.

The guided day from each base

Prices, ratings and review counts from our October 2026 data check.

The Mount Cook day in the table leaves from Queenstown. If you sleep at Tekapo or in Mount Cook Village with a car, you can walk the Hooker Valley Track on your own; the walks are not guided on most tours anyway.

7 days: Christchurch to Queenstown

A one-way week through the middle of the island. You skip Dunedin and fly out of Queenstown.

• Day 1, Christchurch. Ride the tram, punt on the Avon, take the gondola. See Christchurch tours.
• Day 2, Kaikōura as a day trip. Cheeky Kea Tours’ day from Christchurch is 10 hours with the whale cruise and lunch. Back in Christchurch for the night.
• Day 3, drive to Lake Tekapo (3 h). Stargaze that night. See Lake Tekapo stargazing.
• Day 4, Tekapo to Mount Cook (1 h 15 min), then on to Wānaka (2 h 30 min). Walk the Hooker Valley Track in the middle. This is the longest day of the week.
• Day 5, Wānaka. The Mou Waho Island tour. See Wānaka tours.
• Day 6, drive to Queenstown (1 h 10 min). Walter Peak cruise in the afternoon or evening. See Queenstown tours.
• Day 7, Queenstown. Fly out, or add a short cruise such as the 1.5-hour TSS Earnslaw.

10 days: the full loop from Christchurch

This adds Dunedin and Oamaru and returns to Christchurch, which suits a return flight and a round-trip car hire.

• Days 1 and 2, Christchurch, with the Kaikōura day trip on day 2.
• Day 3, Lake Tekapo. Stargazing.
• Day 4, Aoraki/Mount Cook. Sleep in the village and walk the Hooker Valley Track. See Mount Cook tours.
• Day 5, Wānaka.
• Days 6 and 7, Queenstown. One guided day, one free day.
• Days 8 and 9, Dunedin (3 h 30 min from Queenstown). The Taieri Gorge train one day, an Otago Peninsula wildlife tour the next. See Dunedin tours.
• Day 10, Dunedin to Oamaru (1 h 30 min), then Christchurch (3 h). The Oamaru penguins return at dusk, so this works better as an overnight in Oamaru if your flight allows.

14 days: all seven bases, slower

• Days 1 to 2, Christchurch.
• Days 3 to 4, Kaikōura. Stay overnight instead of the day trip: one morning for the whale cruise, one for a seal kayak.
• Day 5, back through Christchurch to Lake Tekapo. Christchurch to Kaikōura and Christchurch to Tekapo add up to more than five hours, so break it in Christchurch if you prefer.
• Days 6 to 7, Lake Tekapo. Two nights gives you a second chance at a clear sky.
• Day 8, Aoraki/Mount Cook.
• Days 9 to 10, Wānaka.
• Days 11 to 12, Queenstown.
• Day 13, Dunedin.
• Day 14, Oamaru for the evening penguins, then the drive north.

How to choose between them

If you have a week, do not try to add Dunedin; the extra 3.5 hours each way eats the guided days. If you have 10 days, the loop works and lets you return the car where you collected it. With 14 days, the extra nights go where the weather matters: Tekapo for clear skies, Kaikōura for calm seas.

For the trade-off between a hire car and tours, read guided tours or self-drive. For month-by-month conditions, read the best time for South Island tours.

Starting in Queenstown instead

Every plan above runs in reverse. If you land in Queenstown, read Queenstown or Christchurch as a base for the guided days each city reaches, and Christchurch to Queenstown tours for the one-way guided day between them.