Winter Holiday

Skiing or snowboarding at world-class ski fields can be the focus of a New Zealand winter holiday. But there are also a wide range of other exciting outdoor activities available to the visitor. Experience the breathtaking New Zealand landscape and natural environment, exhilarating recreational pursuits, including bungy jumping and canyoning, jaw-dropping views by helicopter, or a soak in geothermal hot pools.

Winter weather options include sophisticated shopping, top-class restaurants, cafes and bars, spas and museums.

Accommodation ranges from luxury mountain lodges and hotels to fully equipped motels, cosy bed and breakfast lodgings, homestays, backpacker hostels, campsites and motorparks.

Enrich your holiday by experiencing New Zealand’s unique Maori culture and heritage. Whether it’s a Maori concert and feast with traditional poi and haka, a visit to a marae, a Maori guide on an eco tour, or discovering authentic Maori arts and crafts.

North Island

Ruapehu

Mountain biking in Canterbury
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Three volcanoes, Ruapehu, Tongariro and Ngaurahoe, together form the Tongariro National Park, which has dual World Heritage status, in recognition of its important Maori cultural and spiritual associations and its outstanding volcanic features.

Visitors base themselves at Whakapapa Village, at Ohakune, or at the settlement of National Park.

Bungy jumping, skydiving, mountain biking and horse trekking can be tied in with skiing and snow boarding activities.

South Island

Christchurch/Canterbury

Canterbury stretches from the Pacific to Arthur’s Pass and Mt Cook in the Southern Alps, and from near Kaikoura in the north to near Oamaru in the south.

New Zealand’s third largest city, Christchurch, is an ideal base from which to explore the South Island and the vineyards of the Canterbury Plains. Tours and activities include rafting, paragliding, mountain biking, ballooning, and whale watching at Kaikoura. 

Rising high over the plains is Mt Hutt ski area.  Renown for having the longest ski season in Australasia the mountain offers skiing for all levels.  Nestled beneath the Mt Hutt is Methven, only 30 minutes from the top of the mountain and an convenient base for any ski holiday in Canterbury.

The village of Methven comes alive in the winter.  Only one hour's drive from Christchurch International Airport, it's great base for the nearby ski fields and a host of other year round outdoor activities.  Make the most of the Waimakariri and Rakaia Rivers, with jet boating, and salmon and trout fishing.

Banks Peninsula is a popular excursion. Lyttelton is Canterbury’s most historic port and a mere 12 km from Christchurch city centre. Only 82 km from Christchurch is Akaroa, one of the oldest European townships in Canterbury.

Mackenzie Country

Mt Hutt has incredible views to complement the superb trails
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Famous for its huge sheep stations and glacier-fed lakes, Pukaki and Tekapo, the Mackenzie Country is a high inland basin beneath the Southern Alps and Mount Cook, south-west of Christchurch. Mount Cook is New Zealand’s highest mountain. Lake Tekapo lies in the centre of the region and rivers run through the high country plains to the Waitaki River system, offering opportunities for fishing and four-wheel drive safaris.

The Aoraki Mount Cook region has it all – native forest or mountain walks to suit every degree of fitness, unique native plants, insect and bird life, horse treks, boating, kayaking, golf, farm visits and mountain biking.  This spectacular region is also home to outstanding heliskiing, including skiing the Tasman glacier. 

Queenstown

An idyllic lakeside town located in the heart of New Zealand’s South Island, alongside Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown is famous for its skiing and is the perfect base from which to make excursions into the surrounding countryside.

Queenstown is the home of bungy jumping. Thrill seekers can also experience white-water rafting, skydiving, climbing, kayaking, jet-boating, ballooning, mountaineering, and mountain biking. Heliski options abound as do the thrills of skiing the Remarkables and Coronet Peak ski areas.

Take a jet boat ride on the Shotover River, experience a flying fox ride at Skippers Canyon, go for a nature walk, pan for gold, or just sit back and enjoy the wonderful scenery.

Don’t miss the Queenstown Winter Festival, the Southern Hemisphere’s most legendary winter party.

Lake Wanaka

	Cardrona Hotel is ideal for relaxing with a drink
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Located 55km northeast of Queenstown, Lake Wanaka is in the heart of a World Heritage park, Mt Aspiring National Park. Wanaka is renowned for its diverse landforms, including glaciers, snowfields, rock bluffs, alpine meadows, forests and river flats.

For adventurous spirits there’s canyoning, rock climbing, whitewater sledging, water skiing, windsurfing, rafting trips and kayaking, jetboat rides, trout fishing, and back country helicopter deer hunting safaris.

Wanaka is conveniently located near to Treble Cone and Cardrona ski areas.  It also boasts New Zealand’s only Nordic ski area.