New Zealand's most surprising city. Rebuilt after the 2011 earthquakes with bold architecture, street art and ambition — and now one of the most genuinely exciting urban destinations in the South Pacific.
On 22 February 2011, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck Christchurch at lunchtime on a Tuesday. 185 people lost their lives. The city's historic centre was largely destroyed. The Cathedral — the Gothic stone heart of the city — collapsed. Over 1,200 buildings in the CBD were eventually demolished.
What followed was extraordinary. Instead of rebuilding what had been lost, Christchurch made a deliberate choice to build something new. The Cardboard Cathedral — a temporary structure of cardboard tubes — became an international icon of resilience. The Innovation Precinct, the new Convention Centre, the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor, and the vibrant Re:START shipping container mall all signalled a city reinventing itself at speed.
Thirteen years on, Christchurch is one of the most architecturally interesting cities in the Southern Hemisphere — a living laboratory of urban renewal, where world-class institutions sit alongside street art, pop-up laneways and a food scene that has thrived on the energy of change.
The earthquake. 185 lives lost. City centre effectively destroyed. The long rebuild begins.
Re:START & the Cardboard Cathedral open. The world notices. Christchurch makes the front page for recovery, not disaster.
The precincts emerge. Innovation Quarter, arts corridors, new hospitality strips in Addington and Sydenham take shape.
Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor transforms. The Te Papa Ōtākaro linear park, the new Te Pae Convention Centre, and a UNESCO Creative City designation complete the picture.
Christchurch was designated a UNESCO Creative City of Music in 2019 — one of only three cities in Australasia to hold this title. A remarkable achievement for a city still rebuilding.
Christchurch doesn't have an old city centre any more — it has something more interesting: a new one, still taking shape, full of deliberate architecture, laneways, street art and a density of good restaurants that wouldn't have existed before the rebuild. Alongside it, the permanent fabric of Hagley Park, the Botanic Garden and the Avon River provide the Garden City's quieter, greener counterpoint.
The river that winds through the city has been reimagined as a 14-hectare linear park — punts, weeping willows, public art, and the entire rebuilt CBD on its northern bank. Walking or cycling the Ōtākaro is the best single introduction to what Christchurch has become.
Explore the Avon165 hectares of parkland framing the Botanic Garden — Christchurch's green lung and its most enduring feature.
Explore HagleyThe Tūranga Library, COLAB, and the Arts Centre in restored Gothic buildings — Christchurch's creative quarter in full flight.
Explore ArtsThe historic harbour town over the Port Hills tunnel — 15 minutes from the CBD but a world apart. Excellent Saturday market.
Explore LytteltonThe city's beach suburb — surf, cliff walks, and a café strip that makes the 20-minute drive from the CBD entirely worthwhile.
Explore SumnerThe TranzAlpine is one of the great rail journeys of the world — and one of the least known outside New Zealand. Departing Christchurch daily at 8:15am, it crosses the Canterbury Plains, climbs through the foothills and the spectacular Waimakariri Gorge, pierces the Main Divide through the Otira Tunnel, and descends to the wild West Coast at Greymouth.
The 223-kilometre journey takes just under five hours each way. Open-air viewing carriages, commentary, and a scenery progression — from wide flat farmland to alpine rock faces and rainforest — that encompasses more New Zealand landscapes than most visitors see in a week.
Eighty-five kilometres east of Christchurch, tucked at the end of the deep harbour of Banks Peninsula, Akaroa is one of New Zealand's most charming and improbable towns. French settlers attempted to colonise this corner of New Zealand in 1840 — just weeks before the Treaty of Waitangi made that impossible. They stayed anyway, and the French street names, the colonial cottages and the Gallic café culture remain today.
Banks Peninsula is an ancient volcanic crater system now filled by the sea — the harbours are among the most beautiful in New Zealand. Akaroa Harbour is home to Hector's dolphins, the world's smallest dolphin species, found almost nowhere else on earth. Swimming with them is one of the great wildlife encounters available from Christchurch.
Christchurch's green heart — 21 hectares of themed gardens inside the 165-hectare Hagley Park. The rose garden in November, cherry blossoms in spring, and the rose garden again in summer. Punt on the Avon directly through the gardens.
Christchurch to Greymouth and back in a day — 223km across the Canterbury Plains, through the Waimakariri Gorge and over the Southern Alps. One of the great rail journeys on earth. Open-air viewing carriage included.
The French harbour village and Banks Peninsula's volcanic crater bays. Swim with Hector's dolphins — the world's smallest. 85km from Christchurch, half a world away in atmosphere.
New Zealand's highest ski field — 2,086m at the summit — with the longest ski season in Australasia (June–October). 365 hectares of terrain, an hour from the city, with Southern Alps views that justify the chairlift alone.
The most civilised hour in Christchurch — a punter poles you gently along the Ōtākaro through willows and park. An entirely unique way to see the city, bookable from the Worcester Street Bridge.
Canterbury's wine region, 65km north of the city — Pinot Noir and Riesling in a warm, sheltered valley. Part of our Food & Wine Tour series. Excellent cellar doors, outstanding lunch options.
Canterbury's best — long, dry, warm days. The Botanic Garden roses, Akaroa at its most beautiful, and Sumner beach in full swing. The region gets more sunshine than almost anywhere else in NZ.
Settled, warm and spectacularly coloured. The Hagley Park oaks turn gold, the TranzAlpine displays brilliant alpine foliage, and Waipara's harvest begins in March.
Cold and crisp — Canterbury can frost heavily. But Mt Hutt skiing is at its peak, the city's food scene is at its most convivial, and the TranzAlpine through snow-dusted mountains is extraordinary.
The Botanic Garden cherry blossom in October is one of New Zealand's great annual spectacles. Warming fast, Akaroa becomes very beautiful, and the longer days make Sumner and Banks Peninsula irresistible.
I expected a city still recovering. What I found was a city that had thoroughly won — more interesting, more alive, more architecturally exciting than I could have imagined. The Avon walk alone took three hours because I kept stopping. The Cardboard Cathedral is genuinely beautiful.
The TranzAlpine was the best four hours of our whole New Zealand trip. Nothing prepares you for the Waimakariri Gorge — we were in the open carriage in the cold and none of us cared. Greymouth was a bonus. The train is the thing.
We played Clearwater Golf Course and stayed two nights — then did Akaroa on the third day. Swimming with Hector's dolphins in that harbour was honestly one of the most unexpectedly moving experiences I've had. So small, so fearless, so completely wild.
Clearwater and Terrace Downs near Christchurch anchor the South Island leg of our Grand Golf Journey, before Queenstown's alpine courses for the finale.
Explore Golf ToursThe TranzAlpine connects to the West Coast — Franz Josef and Fox Glacier heli-hikes are the natural continuation of any Christchurch adventure.
Explore AdventuresWaipara Valley is part of our Food & Wine South Island circuit — Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc country is 330km north via the coast road.
Explore Food & WineTell us what draws you — the TranzAlpine crossing, Akaroa and the dolphins, the rebuilt city's architecture and food scene, or Mt Hutt skiing — and we'll put together an itinerary that gives Canterbury the time it deserves.