The route that gives the South Island in the depth it deserves: two days in Queenstown for the Remarkables and the Fergburger that has somehow earned its own queue and the specific lake-and-mountain combination that makes it the most photographically extraordinary small town in the southern hemisphere, two days driving the Milford Road from Te Anau to Milford Sound and back (the road that the Frommer’s guide called one of the finest drives in the world and that earns the description because the Homer Tunnel and the valley beyond it are the specific New Zealand landscape that no photograph has yet managed to convey accurately), and three days on the West Coast for the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers and the pancake rocks at Punakaiki and the wild West Coast rain that turns the beech forest green and gives the landscape its specific quality.
Reading time: 11 minutes | Last updated: 2025
The South Island of New Zealand is 151,215 square kilometres of the most varied landscape accessible from a single highway. The Southern Alps run the length of the island, the West Coast facing the Tasman Sea and receiving the rain that makes it green, the East Coast dryer and sunnier and the wine country. Seven days covers the southwest and the west — the Fiordland, the Milford Sound, the glaciers, and the specific New Zealand wild that no other country in this guide offers at the accessible scale.
Before You Leave
The car: Essential. Pick up at Christchurch or Queenstown Airport, return at the opposite end for the one-way circuit. The South Island circuit is the most scenic self-drive in the southern hemisphere — the roads are good, the distances manageable, and the single-track sections require the same passing place awareness as the Scottish Highlands.
The season: November-March (the South Island summer) gives the maximum glacier access, the Milford Road open year-round but the best light in the long summer days. April-June (the South Island autumn) gives the beech forest turning and the reduced crowds. July-September (the ski season): the Remarkables and Coronet Peak operating, the Milford Road occasionally closed by snow (the Homer Tunnel section).
The Great Walks booking: The Milford Track and the Kepler Track (the two Great Walks accessible from Te Anau) book out 18 months ahead in peak season. Book at doc.govt.nz immediately if either walk is planned.
The Route
Christchurch (overnight arrival) → Queenstown (2 nights, drive 4.5 hours via Lake Tekapo) → Milford Sound via Te Anau (2 nights) → West Coast: Haast, Fox Glacier, Hokitika (3 nights) → Christchurch or Greymouth for departure
The 7 Days
DAY 1 — Christchurch to Queenstown via Lake Tekapo
The drive:
The State Highway 1 south from Christchurch, then the State Highway 8 over the Mackenzie Basin to Lake Tekapo: 3 hours to Tekapo.
Lake Tekapo:
The Church of the Good Shepherd (the 1935 stone church on the Lake Tekapo shore — the window behind the altar framing the lake and the Southern Alps, the most-photographed single building in the South Island): the Church at dawn or dusk when the Mackenzie Basin light is at its best, the turquoise lake colour produced by the glacial flour suspended in the water. Free access.
The Aoraki/Mount Cook (a further 2 hours along SH80 from Tekapo to the Mount Cook village — the national park entrance, the 3,724-metre summit of New Zealand’s highest peak visible from the village on clear days, the Hooker Valley Track (3 hours return, the walk ending at the Hooker Lake with the Cook visible at the lake’s end): the decision point — the Cook detour adds half a day and is the most dramatic single landscape decision on this circuit.
Arrive Queenstown by 5pm. The Remarkables visible from the town as the sun sets on the skyline — the jagged ridge of peaks above the town that gave them their name.
DAYS 2-3 — Queenstown
Day 2: The Remarkables and the Lake
The Remarkables:
The Remarkables Ski Area (accessible by shuttle from Queenstown in 45 minutes — the ski area open June-September; in summer, the walk from the ski area car park to the Shadow Lake (2 hours return, the alpine lake visible below the main ridge) is the accessible summer version of the experience): summer entry free.
The Queenstown Hill Walk (Te Tāpunui — the walk from the town centre to the 907-metre summit above the town, 2 hours return, the view of Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables from above): free.
The Lake Wakatipu:
The TSS Earnslaw (the 1912 twin-screw steamship on Lake Wakatipu — the coal-fired historic vessel that has been crossing the lake since 1912, the Walter Peak High Country Farm tour across the lake): NZD 79-99 / £37.44-46.87 per adult. Book at realjourneys.co.nz.
The specific Queenstown lake instruction: the lake at Frankton Beach at sunset (the 10-minute drive from the town centre, the Remarkables reflected in the lake in the evening light, free access) gives the quintessential Queenstown view without the Steamer Wharf tourist economy.
Day 3: Glenorchy
The drive to Glenorchy (45km from Queenstown on the western shore of Lake Wakatipu — the road that Tolkien’s film adaptation used as the road to Rivendell and Lothlórien, the valley at the head of the lake giving the specific Lord of the Rings landscape that the South Island’s film production used throughout):
The Glenorchy Lagoon Walkway (the boardwalk through the wetlands at the lake head, the Routeburn and the Dart rivers visible, the paradise shelduck and the New Zealand falcon visible in the wetland): 40 minutes, free.
The Fergburger:
The Fergburger (Shotover Street, Queenstown — the burger restaurant with the permanent queue, the single most discussed food item in New Zealand, the burger that has been named the finest in the country repeatedly and that has justified the queue through consistent quality since 2001): NZD 16-22 / £7.58-10.43. The queue at noon: 20-35 minutes. The queue at 6pm: 45-60 minutes. The correct timing: the 11:15am arrival for the opening at 11:30am. Queue: 5 minutes.
The Ferg is not overhyped. The bun is correct. The patty is correct. The queue at noon is the price.
DAYS 4-5 — The Milford Road
Day 4: Queenstown to Te Anau (165km, 2 hours)
Te Anau (the gateway town for the Fiordland National Park — the lake, the glow-worm caves, the starting point for the Great Walks):
The Te Anau Glowworm Caves (the limestone caves accessible only by the evening Real Journeys boat tour — the species of glowworm, Arachnocampa luminosa, found only in New Zealand, the ceiling of the cave visible as a field of blue-green stars): NZD 89 / £42.17 per adult. Book at realjourneys.co.nz — the evening tour is the standard, the morning tour available in peak season.
Day 5: The Milford Road to Milford Sound
The drive from Te Anau to Milford Sound (119km, 2 hours without stops — 3-4 hours with the correct stops): the most scenic single road drive in New Zealand.
The specific stops:
Mirror Lakes (45km from Te Anau): The roadside wetland where the Darran Mountains are reflected perfectly in the still water at the lake surface — the reflection visible only in the windless dawn or dusk, the correct timing for the Mirror Lakes being the drive to Milford Sound at 7am (the first light, the mirrors working).
The Cascade Creek: The waterfall in the beech forest, accessible from the roadside car park, 5 minutes.
The Homer Tunnel (91km from Te Anau): The unlined rock tunnel through the Darran Mountains — the 1,270-metre tunnel cut through solid granite between 1935 and 1954 (the work interrupted by the Second World War), the tunnel descending at a 1-in-10 gradient from the eastern portal to the western exit into the Cleddau Valley. The specific Homer Tunnel experience: the darkness of the unlined rock, the dripping water on the vehicle roof, the descent into the valley below. The valley appears — the Cleddau River, the Darran Mountains, the specific Fiordland valley that no previous South Island landscape has prepared you for.
Milford Sound (Piopiotahi): The cruise on the fiord (the 2-hour return cruise from the Milford Sound visitor centre — the Stirling and Bowen Falls, the Mitre Peak, the dolphins, the seals on the rocks): NZD 79-110 / £37.44-52.15 per adult. Book at southerndiscoveries.co.nz.
The specific Milford Sound instruction: the fiord is most dramatic in the rain. Milford Sound receives 7,000mm of rain per year (the wettest inhabited place in New Zealand). The rain produces the hundreds of temporary waterfalls that cascade from the 1,200-metre walls directly into the fiord. The tourist who visits Milford Sound on a sunny day sees one landscape. The visitor who arrives in the rain sees another — the one that the fiord was built to display.
Return to Te Anau by 6pm.
DAYS 6-7 — The West Coast
Day 6: Te Anau to Fox Glacier (460km, 6 hours via Haast)
The drive north from Te Anau to Haast and then north on the West Coast Highway (SH6): the specific stops:
The Gates of Haast (the Haast River gorge): The river visible from the bridge, the gorge walls above.
The Knight’s Point: The first view of the Tasman Sea from the West Coast Highway — the sign on the road marking the point, the Pacific Ocean now behind, the Tasman Sea ahead.
The Fox Glacier: The Fox Glacier village (the village at the foot of the Fox Glacier — the walk to the glacier viewpoint (1.5km return, free) or the helicopter flight over the glacier and the neve above it (NZD 200-350 / £94.79-165.87 per person for the glacier helicopter): the specific New Zealand glacier experience, the blue ice visible at the glacier’s face.
The West Coast rain: the West Coast receives the highest rainfall in New Zealand. The rain that the Tasman Sea carries from the Australian coast deposits on the Southern Alps — the West Coast gets the full delivery. The beech forest that covers the West Coast is specifically West Coast green: the specific emerald of the permanently moist temperate rainforest.
Day 7: Hokitika and the Return
The Hokitika Gorge (20km from Hokitika — the limestone gorge, the turquoise glacial river, the swing bridge, the West Coast geology visible in the specific blue-green of the glacial flour in the water): the specific West Coast morning.
The Punakaiki Pancake Rocks (the limestone formations at the Paparoa National Park visitor centre, 45km north of Hokitika — the specific coastal limestone eroded into the stacked horizontal layers that give the “pancake” effect, the blowholes active in rough conditions): free.
Return to Christchurch via the Arthur’s Pass highway (SH73 — the mountain pass through the Southern Alps, the 920-metre Arthur’s Pass the specific alpine crossing, the viaducts and the tunnels of the TranzAlpine railway route visible from the road).
What It Costs
| Category | Budget | Mid-Range |
|---|---|---|
| Return flights (UK-Christchurch) | £700-1,100 | £900-1,400 |
| Car hire (7 days, one-way Christchurch) | £250-400 | £350-550 |
| 7 nights accommodation | £280-560 | £560-1,120 |
| Food (7 days, self-catering 3 days) | £150-280 | £280-490 |
| Activities (Milford cruise, glowworms, helicopter) | £150-350 | £250-600 |
| Fuel (approximately 1,500km) | £100-140 | £100-140 |
| Total | £1,630-2,830 | £2,440-4,300 |
