Christchurch

The centre is small and easy to cover on foot or by bike. The Botanic Gardens and the bordering Hagley Park form a large green core, and you can be punted along the Avon much as you could a century ago. The transitional Cardboard Cathedral, built after the old one was wrecked, stands near the quake memorial.

Things to do

• Walk the Botanic Gardens and Hagley Park, free and open daily.
• Take the tram loop or hunt out the street-art murals across the rebuilt blocks.
• Ride the gondola up the Port Hills for a view over the city, the plains and Lyttelton Harbour.
• Browse the Riverside Market and the container-built lanes of the new centre.

Where to go nearby

• Akaroa on Banks Peninsula, a former French settlement on a drowned volcano, about 90 minutes by car.
• The Canterbury Plains and the drive up to Arthur's Pass and the Southern Alps.
• Hanmer Springs hot pools, around 90 minutes north.

Good to know

The Botanic Gardens, Hagley Park and the quake memorial are free, and the street-art trail costs nothing to walk. The heritage tram and the Port Hills gondola are paid, around NZ$30 to NZ$40 each. Bike hire is cheap and the flat centre makes it the easiest way to cover ground. If you are continuing south, this is the natural place to pick up a rental car and stock up before the smaller towns of the Alps and the West Coast.

Honest note: some of the rebuild is still bare lots and roadworks, and a few central blocks feel quiet at night. It is a comfortable, low-key city rather than a thrilling one, and most people use it as a base for the wider South Island.

Christchurch has a drier, more continental feel than the North Island cities, with bigger swings between the seasons. Summer, December to February, is warm and settled, often 20 to 26 degrees and the best time for the gardens and day trips, though a hot, dry northwesterly wind can push temperatures higher and leave the air gusty. Autumn turns the parks gold and stays pleasant. Winter is cold and frosty, frequently down to freezing overnight, with clear crisp days and the Alps an hour or two away under snow, which suits a ski trip. Spring is changeable. The city sees less rain than Auckland or Wellington, but mornings can be sharp, so pack warm layers outside summer.

Because it is flat and gridded, Christchurch is the most bike-friendly major city in the country, with marked cycleways across the centre and bike hire easy to find; the Botanic Gardens, the market and the cathedral square are all within an easy ride or walk. Buses run on the Metrocard and funnel through the central bus interchange, though services thin out at night and on weekends. A heritage tram does a sightseeing loop of the inner city. Parking is cheaper and easier here than in Auckland or Wellington, which makes a rental car a sensible choice for reaching the wider region. Christchurch Airport is about 12 kilometres northwest of the centre, roughly 20 minutes by car; the number 29 bus and the Purple Line connect it to town, and a taxi runs around NZ$45 to NZ$60.