South Island Accommodation
The mountains split the island into a wet side and a dry side: rainforest, glaciers and fiords to the west, tussock, braided rivers and open plains to the east. Fewer people live down here, and the drives are long enough to be part of the trip.
South Island accommodation follows the water and the roads: cabins near the lakes, holiday homes along the coast, cottages and farm stays in the high country. Winter and summer make for two different trips, and some places suit one better than the other.
Regions here are large and the roads slower than they look. Start with the one your route crosses.
Tasman
Granite headlands and gold sand curve through Abel Tasman National Park, where the tide runs a long way out and water taxis drop walkers at the far end. Baches and cottages sit back from that coast, with apple orchards inland and Kahurangi National Park filling the country behind.
Nelson
Galleries, a Saturday craft market and cafés fill a centre you can walk across, with the Maitai River running through it. Tahunanui Beach and the Boulder Bank are a few minutes out by car. Apartments and holiday houses sit in the city itself.
West Coast
Rain feeds the rainforest here, and it grows down to a coast piled with driftwood and grey surf. The Southern Alps run close behind, so the towns string along a narrow strip with long empty road between them, Hokitika still working greenstone. Cottages and lakeside baches, nothing showy.
Canterbury
Wide flat plains run inland from a cold surf beach until the mountains stop them, with apartments, townhouses and farm cottages spread across the middle. Christchurch was rebuilt after the earthquakes, and just south of it Banks Peninsula breaks the coastline into old volcanic harbours.
Otago
Inland Otago is dry and rocky, with lakes under bare mountains at Queenstown and Wānaka and skifields above them through winter. Closer to the sea the country greens up and the wildlife takes over. Holiday homes gather by the lakes, though down here a bach is a crib.
Southland
Fiordland takes up the western half, where rock walls drop into Milford and Doubtful Sound and rain arrives in serious quantities. East of that the land flattens into farmland and empty coast, with clear nights that sometimes carry the southern lights. Family cottages make the usual base.
Ready to find your stay?
Fiordland, the alps and the east coast make three different trips, and few visitors fit all of them into one. Narrow it down by region above, then look at the towns inside whichever one you choose.