Fjords, glaciers, turquoise lakes and mountains like the Alps, only empty – the South Island is New Zealand from the films.
Photo: Adam Edgerton (Unsplash)
Full disclosure: the South Island is right at the top of my list – and on the list of every friend who's come back from there. The landscape gets described as Switzerland without the people: Mount Cook above the turquoise Lake Pukaki, the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers reaching down into the rainforest, the fjords in the south-west.
The campervan route runs from Christchurch to Kaikoura (whales), through the Marlborough wine region to Abel Tasman National Park (kayaking, beaches), down the West Coast to the glaciers, over the Haast Pass to Wanaka and Queenstown – the adventure capital with bungee and jet boats – and on to Milford Sound, the fjord of waterfalls that's at its most beautiful in the rain.
Three weeks is just about enough. If you have less time, fly to Queenstown and do Milford Sound, Wanaka and Mount Cook from there. The roads are good but long and winding – 300 kilometres is a day. A campervan is the freest way to travel, but in the southern summer it needs booking months ahead.
Campervan at holiday parks; Queenstown (expensive, book months ahead), Te Anau for Milford Sound, Wanaka as a quieter alternative to Queenstown.
I almost always compare hotels, apartments and guesthouses on Booking.com – with genuine reviews and usually free cancellation.
See places to stay on New Zealand's South Island Compare on Hotels.com Holiday rental on Vrbo