How to spend three weeks in New Zealand’s South Island

When most people talk you through their highlights of a trip around New Zealand, they’re probably talking about the South Island: their adventures around the adventure capital that is Queenstown; their hikes up Roy’s Peak and Ben Lomond; their camping and kayaking adventures through Abel Tasman National Park. The North Island is well worth a visit too (here’s a one-week guide for getting the best out of it). The mountainous isle is so vast, varied and criss-crossed with once-in-a-lifetime natural beauty that you need at least three weeks to do it if you want to do it properly. Where to start? Hire a car or a campervan and book the essentials in advance. Many of New Zealand’s top bucket-list activities sell out months prior (including campervans, which may cost you more than a car and accommodation). Even the least petrol-headed of travellers find themselves converted to road-tripping when they visit the South Island. Trust me: you’ll run out of synonyms for ‘wow’. Book where necessary, but be prepared to tweak your route according to the weather. Conditions can vary wildly across the island.Days one to four: Abel Tasman National ParkAbel Tasman National ParkPexelsWe based ourselves in Kaiteriteri, a small, pretty seaside town at the entrance to the park, where many of the water taxis pick you up. We hired day bags and camping kit from a friendly couple called Ian and Kerri, who run a sterling business called The Abel Tasman Hire Company, renting out sleeping bags, camping stoves and rucksacks to overnight-trippers like us. We then spent three days exploring the park itself, the main focus being a night in Bark Bay Hut: a day water-taxing and hiking to get there, another day hiking and water-taxiing to get back, then a third day on a separate kayak tour to the famous Split Apple Rock with Kahu Kayaks. Prepare to have to remove your walking boots occasionally, when crossing streams or getting onto a water taxi on the beach. Head to The Park Cafe in Marahua for a post-hike beer or dinner — you’ll probably know half your fellow diners from your days out on the water or trails. The scenery — lush green forests, pristine golden sandy beaches and crystal blue waters — is astonishing, and that’s with two of our three days having been wet and overcast. Seals, shags and little blue penguins are all regularly sighted in the park, and several Kiwis we met on the trails booked their huts a year in advance, on the day bookings opened. It’s so popular it’s basically their Glastonbury. Domu RetreatDays three and four in Abel Tasman were equally sociable albeit a little more luxurious, thanks to Domu Retreat, a high-end wellness boutique perched on a hilltop above Kaiteriteri and run by former London couple Sabina Bronicka-Stuart and Toby Stuart. Together the couple have created a 12-guest retreat that is not only unique in the area for its gourmet dining and mindfulness offering, but for its ability to completely rejuvenate you.Phones aren’t banned at Domu – our digital detox was more incidental than that. Our 24 hours there were spent enjoying the magnesium swimming pool, chic hot tub and wood-fired sauna, stretching through a morning yoga session with Sabina, and exchanging tales thanks to little prompt-cards Sabina and Toby have cleverly devised to spark conversation. Not that we needed it – comparing notes on everyone’s travels around New Zealand so far was conversation-starter enough. Paired wines, a four-course dinner and homemade breakfast the next morning helped, too. The food and drinks were the best we had anywhere in New Zealand, and we left feeling energised. Golden Bay Glamping and Kimi Ora Eco Resort are other popular accommodation options in the park that came highly recommended. Days four to six: Blenheim and MarlboroughMarlboroughPexelsWe checked into a charming garden cabin on Booking.com and signed up for a self-guided tour around the cellar doors of the region with Explore Marlborough, opting for a tandem for the fun factor. Cloudy Bay is the most famous winery in the area (the sauvignon blanc was our favourite, as is the case for around 89 per cent of visitors, according to staff) so we started there before pit-stops at two other wineries on our way back to the start. You may or may not need dinner depending on how many wine and cheese boards you’ve tried, but Harvest Restaurant is a popular Blenheim dining option, while we opted for shepherd’s pie at a more relaxed English pub. Days six to eight: Kaikōura PexelsSimilarly to Blenheim, you don’t need three days in Kaikōura, but you’ll need two nights there by the time you’ve driven over and found a bed before your early start. That’s presuming you’re as keen as we were to swim with dolphins in the famous east coast seaside town. A couple of tips if you’re driving the coast road from Blenheim: make a lunch stop at one of the fresh crayfish shacks en route and make sure you stop the car whenever you see a cluster of vehicles by the side of the road — they’re probably looking at the dozens of seals and seal-pups relaxing on the rocks below. Kaikōura is a pretty little town, with a small high street and a nice mix of oceanfront hotels and motels (we stayed at Kaikōura Peaks eMotel on Booking.com, which was surprisingly chic). But the main attraction by far is its dolphin tours, which sell out months in advance so, once again, you’ll need to book ahead. We booked with Dolphin Encounter Kaikōura and spent the morning pinching ourselves as we swam with 50 to 100 of the region’s famously acrobatic dusky dolphins.Read MoreWe stumbled across a pub with what has to be the best view in town, The Pier Hotel. Take a book, grab a pint and enjoy views of the snow-capped mountains in the distance. It’s still my phone background six months on. Days eight to ten: Christchurch Another two-nighter, realistically, by the time you’ve driven there and had a full day exploring. Christchurch wasn’t high on our South Island bucket list as two people more keen to climb mountains than explore cities, but it turned out to be an unexpected highlight.A few hotspots to add to your must-see list: the Botanical Gardens, lunch at Riverside Markets, and a general wander around Cambridge, Oxford and New Regent Streets, with their oak trees and red postboxes and other nods to home. The earthquake museum, Quake City, is also well worth a visit and reminiscent of the 9/11 museum in New York for its powerful testimonies and emotive storytelling. A few restaurant suggestions for foodies: Unknown Chapter for brunch, and 5th Street, Twenty Seven Steps and Rascal for dinner. Asian fusion restaurant King of Snake was our personal favourite. Leave a few hours for a little road-trip to the coastal suburbs of Sumner and Scarborough if you have time. We took the bus back to our Airbnb, jumped in the car and spent a sun-soaked few hours dipping in the sea, lying in the sand, and winding our way along the steep Devon-like roads to Taylor’s Mistake, an amusingly-named little beach that reminded us of Salcombe when it’s just the locals there, but with black sand. Time it right and you’ll be treated to a glorious sunset on the way home as you drive back into town. Days 10 to 11: Lake TekapoIt’s a three-hour drive from Christchurch to Lake Tekapo and chances are you’ve been recommended the favorite road-trip pit-stops already: Geraldine for coffee, condiments and cheese, then Fairlie for one of its famous pies. The Church of the Good ShepherdPexelsIf there’s any day you feel like you’ve arrived in the New Zealand you see in the postcards, this is it. Lake Tekapo is the first big breathtaking lake you’ll get to in South Island if you take this route and the USP for most visitors is stargazing, so make sure you get there a few hours before sunset for a Dark Sky Project experience and a wander around the shoreline before some pre-bed stargazing. We lay on the ground close to the lake, following the tips we’d gathered on our tour earlier, before grabbing a customary shot of New Zealand’s most famous church, the Church of the Good Shepherd, on the edge of the water. Days 11 to 14: WānakaIt’s impossible to put into words the majesty of this next part of the South Island of New Zealand. Photos are the closest you can get to conveying the drama, with the Southern Alps reflected in these vast calm lakes, but even they don’t fully capture the wow-factor. Tekapo to Wānaka will probably the best drive of your trip, so take it slowly and take at least these three stops: first, Lake Alexandrina. Second, the High Country Salmon Farm just outside Twizel — a perfect lunch stop where you can feed the salmon as well as eating them. Third, Lake Pukaki, which is slightly more on the tourist trail but equally breathtaking. We stopped for a game of cards there before pressing onto Wānaka.Scout Lodge by Release WanakaWe checked into Scout, one of a series of ridiculously luxe alpine lodges run by Release Wānaka, our home for the next three nights. If Domu was our most social stay of the trip, Scout has to have been our most aesthetically pleasing, with everything from a living room conversation pit and games room with a vintage record player to an outdoor bath tub with views of the snow-capped mountains. Leaving the tub and putting our hiking boots on was worth it though, thankfully. Wānaka is a hiker’s paradise, with so many walks to choose from we spent a good hour in the visitor centre simply trying to narrow our list down. Friends say Rob Roy’s Glacier is the underrated gem of the whole island, while we found the 5km walk up to the Diamond Lake Lookout to be a perfect little warm-up ahead of the main-event the following morning: sunrise from Roys Peak, which might just be the most famous hike in New Zealand for its steep climb and extraordinary panoramic views over Lake Wānaka and the surrounding peaks. Lake Wānaka PexelsYou’ll need to get up in the early hours if you want to catch sunrise from the top (we started just before 7am as we didn’t have headtorches, so saw the sunrise on our way up as a happy medium) and it’s a decent slog to get there via a steep zigzagging track (again, bring walking poles). But it’s worth it for the summit views if you get lucky enough not to get stuck in cloud. Pack layers and gloves — the top can get very chilly very quickly.Days 14 to 21: QueenstownYou should spend your entire final week in Queenstown — or based in the town, anyway, ready to make specific day trips from there. You may notice Mount Cook and Milford Sound haven’t made it onto the road-trip itinerary so far. Both involve considerable detours and, in Milford Sound’s case, an extremely long driving day from Queenstown.One solution (albeit expensive and weather-dependent)? Fly to both hotspots from Queenstown over two separate day trips instead. Glenorchy Air, a family-owned scenic-flight company operating small aircraft from Queenstown, was our airline of choice and while taking a tiny eight- or ten-seater plane feels extravagant, it becomes a surprisingly economical option when you consider how many nights of accommodation it’s saving you in each place. Flying over Lake Erskine with Glenorchy AirGlenorchy AirThe even bigger upside? The most awe-inspiring plane views of your life. For weather reasons we made both flights on back-to-back days and just when we thought nothing could top the Jurassic Park-esque scenes we’d seen from jetting through the deep glacial valleys surrounding Milford Sound on day one, our second day in a small plane – this time to Mount Cook, New Zealand’s highest peak – somehow took our breath away even more.We stepped off the planes to explore Milford Sound (our package included a cruise through the fiord) and Mount Cook, where we spent the majority of our day on the ground doing the Seely Tarns hike featuring what was probably the most dramatic scenery of our entire trip. Note that Sealy Tarns is 2,200 steps and weather-dependent, so you’ll need to make a call on the day.The remainder of our time in Queenstown was spent doing the Ben Lomond Saddle hike. or exploring Lake Hayes, Millbrook and Arrowtown — a nice little day trip for a day when you have tired legs. Dip at Lake Hayes, stop at new dining hotspot Ayrburn for lunch or dinner, and catch a film at the cute little cinema on Arrowtown high street. A few other activities to add to your Queenstown bucket list: hiking the Tiki Trail or taking the gondola to the top of the Queenstown luge; a Shotover Jet boat ride along the Shotover River; and a soak at Onsen Hot Pools & Day Spa — a luxe private hot-pool experience overlooking the Shotover Valley.Onsen Hot Pools & Day SpaQueenstown is bursting with food options but Flame, Tanoshi, Margo’s and Blue Kanoe are some local favourites. Perky’s floating bar is a great spot for a post-hike beer, and Ferg Burger is a must at some point during the week — tourists queue around the block for it and plenty claim it’s the best burger in the world. We had two over the course of our stay and enjoyed the second on board Perky’s with an end-of-trip cocktail. The jewels in the crown of our already spectacular South Island adventure were stays at Azur Lodge and Rosewood Matakauri, two ultra-luxury, lodge-style stays on the edge of Lake Wakatipu just outside Queenstown, and both exceptional. We’ll remember Azur Lodge for its bath views over the lake, cocktail and canapé hour in a Soho House-style lounge, and the steepest walk from reception down to your hotel room I’ve experienced. The terrace at Rosewood MatakauriRosewood MatakauriMeanwhile, our room at Rosewood somehow managed to beat any other I’ve stayed in a decade of hotel reviewing (think chess boards, roaring fires and 180 degree views of Lake Wakatipu). It was impossible not to set our alarms for sunrise given the sweeping lake view we could see from both bed and the bathtub, and the five-course tasting menu was exquisite (the mānuka honey espresso martini is a guest favourite). There’s a gym, sleek stainless steel pool and chic lakeside sauna, too. No wonder I heard several guests say they’d checked in for the full week. The final drive of the trip was from Queenstown to Glenorchy, which takes the gold medal for most scenic drive of our whole month (play the Lord of the Rings soundtrack as you drive for the full experience — much of the film was shot along the banks of Lake Wakatipu). An hour flew by and we were so mesmerised we didn’t want to stop the music and get out of the car. Katie StrickThank goodness we did: having assumed our Dart River Adventures tour might be a repeat of the other jet boats we’d tried across New Zealand, we were quickly proved wrong as we set out into the Te Wāhipounamu South West New Zealand World Heritage Area and found ourselves embarking on a whole morning’s adventure along the Dart River, much of which is so shallow that an ordinary, non-custom-made boat wouldn’t be able to navigate it. For two hours we raced up rapids, spotted waterfalls in the distance and gazed up at the incredible snow-capped peaks surrounding us. As for the overall highlight of the South Island, my mind changes every time someone asks. Sometimes I say the small planes we took to Mount Cook and Milford Sound. Other times I say swimming with backflipping dolphins. But most frequently my mind comes back to the drives: snaking between lakes and mountains; dipping in the ice cold water as a quick pit-stop; pausing our audiobook because we couldn’t stop saying ‘wow’. But no photo or phrase can do justice to landing in this magnificent country and seeing it for yourself. It’s epic in every way.