Christchurch hotels

Hotels in Christchurch

New Zealand's second largest city, and the largest city on the South Island, Christchurch is a vibrant, creative and inventive metropolis.

The city has rebuilt itself admirably after the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011. Book one of our Christchurch hotels and explore a myriad of outdoor and sporting activities, beaches, parks, restaurants, bars and more.

Parks

Christchurch is known as the Garden City for its abundance of parks and gardens. The stunning, 161-hectare Hagley Park, in the city centre, houses a golf course in its northern half and the dazzlingly colourful Botanic Gardens in its southern half. The gardens are home to plants from around the world, and include a herb garden, rose gardens, a Victorian glasshouse with tropical plants, cacti, rhododendrons, lilies, irises and more. Look out for birds too, including wood pigeons and cormorants.

Mona Vale is another major tourist attraction - a Victorian homestead surrounded by five-and-a-half hectares of landscaped gardens on the banks of the Avon River. There's a rose garden, trees, lawns, herbaceous borders, exotic ferns, a pond filled with water lilies and a gazebo with stained-glass windows.

Beaches

The gently sloping Sumner Beach is popular with surfers and swimmers, and there are a number of restaurants, cafes and ice-cream parlours nearby. The sandy beach at New Brighton has a pier where you can walk or fish, and the Southshore Spit, at the southern end, is a good birdwatching spot. Taylor's Mistake Beach is surrounded by hills and rocky outcrops, which are the result of volcanic activity. The beach itself is small, with clear water, and has some of the best surf in the area.

Outdoor activities

If you want to see some spectacular scenery and get your adrenalin going at the same time, you can go jet boating on the Waimakariri River. The Alpine Jet boat will take you along the river canyon, through the foothills of the Southern Alps. Look out for salmon, rainbow trout and brown trout in the clear waters. Another way to see the countryside, especially for rail enthusiasts, is a journey on the TranzAlpine™ rail line between Christchurch and Greymouth. The train runs along the top of the gorge, through the mountains and across the Canterbury Plains farmland.

At the Adrenalin Forest Adventure Park, you can test your nerve on an aerial obstacle course more than two kilometres long and 20 metres off the ground in places. The course features 100 different activities and takes around three-and-a-half hours - there are six courses of varying difficulty, so the whole family can take part.

Eating and drinking

Unsurprisingly, given its name, a wide range of burgers are on offer at the Burgers and Beers Inc. restaurant, including fish, venison, and lamb, as well as vegetarian and gluten-free options. Waffles, pancakes, French toast and all-day breakfasts are on the menu at Drexels Breakfast Restaurant, which prides itself on its homemade hash browns. Housed in a turn-of-the-last-century villa, Dux Dine, a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence winner, serves breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner, with plenty of vegetarian options and a kids' menu. Sit out on the veranda or in the courtyard on sunny days, and enjoy an award-winning home-brewed beer.