Southern Alps and Arthur's Pass Tour
(Day tour: 9-9½ hours)
$180 ($315 incl. one-way TranzAlpine train ride)
The Arthur's Pass day tour from Christchurch is for those who love mountain landscapes, and want to learn more about them.
You will travel from Christchurch into the heart of the Southern Alps, New Zealand's highest mountain range, and the very visible result of one of the world’s great tectonic plate collisions. Watch how the high country landscape changes as we thread our way north-west among Canterbury’s mountain chains.
Arthur’s Pass National Park is a base for short walks and drives, from which you will view and learn about New Zealand’s distinctive alpine environment.
Highlights of your day include:
- The high, rugged peaks of the Southern Alps at Arthur's Pass
- Evergreen forests of NZ's indigenous 'southern beech' trees
- The wide, shingly, braided Waimakariri River
- Subalpine lakes such as Lakes Pearson and Lyndon
- Crossing Arthur's Pass and descending into the wild, precipitous Otira Gorge
You have a good chance of seeing the kea, New Zealand's mischievous mountain parrot. Watch your food!
Above all however, there are the remote, silent and unspoilt expanses of the South Island's high country. Only a small-group tour of like-minded people can give you the best appreciation of it all.
An optional one-way ride on the renowned TranzAlpine train through the Waimakariri River gorge to Arthur’s Pass can be taken. NOTE that a return trip on the TranzAlpine train omits some of the best scenery in the area including the crossing of Arthur's Pass and the Otira Gorge. A tour encompassing both road and rail options is recommended.
