South Island driving times and distances

Get the shortest driving distances and times between cities on the South Island of New Zealand. Choose from a list of 46 South Island cities.

South Island distance calculator

Select a start location and a destination from the list boxes below.

If you are looking for distances between cities on the North Island, you can use the North Island driving distances page. For information about Kaikoura and driving from Picton to Christchurch, click here.

The following table [Chart: South Island distances table (82 KB)] displays the distances between a few key places on the South Island. All distances are in kilometers.

To get dynamic driving distances and times and see the route displayed on a map, please go to Google Maps.

There are scenic driving route videos available for a few selected scenic routes on the South Island of New Zealand.

Driving times and road conditions

Please remember that driving times depend on road conditions. Things such as rain, snow, or roadworks may slow you down. There are several websites where you can check driving conditions on highways in New Zealand.

Always allow for enough time for you to reach your destination so that you do not have to rush and consequently cause an accident. Adding one hour to the estimated driving time is almost always a good thing to do.

For the South Island, in particular, you should also expect to sometimes come across herds of cows or sheep on the road as they are being moved to or from grazing areas. Please be patient as farmers move their stock via the road.

Alternative driving route from Picton to Christchurch

As you may have heard, the last big earthquake that hit New Zealand, and Kaikoura in particular, damaged State Highway 1 and there were slips preventing direct access from Picton to Christchurch via Kaikoura.

The Picton to Christchurch route via State Highway 1 was closed for a while but has been reopened as of December 15, 2017, so you now have two options for traveling from Picton to Christchurch and vice versa via Kaikoura.

You can read more about driving between Christchurch and Picton here and here.

The second route that goes from Picton to Christchurch goes via State Highways 1, 63, 6, 65, and 7 from Picton to Christchurch. This route is open 24/7.

The NZTA estimates the driving time via this route to take approximately 7 hours and 30 minutes and is about 478 km (297 mi) in length.

Google estimates the Picton – Blenheim – Murchison – Christchurch route to take approximately 6 hours and a half. I would add half an hour to this time to accommodate for extra traffic on the road.

Note that you will be going through a pass (Lewis Pass) on this route and that traffic might slow down at times due to trucks also using this route. Just be patient and allow for extra travel time. In addition, Lewis Pass may have snow or can be closed in winter.

Distances between popular South Island cities

The amount of kilometers between popular cities/towns on the South Island of New Zealand:

• Christchurch – Lake Tekapo: 227 km / 141 mi
• Christchurch – Dunedin: 361 km / 224 mi
• Christchurch – Franz Josef: 379 km / 236 mi
• Christchurch – Greymouth: 241 km / 150 mi
• Christchurch – Omarama: 314 km / 195 mi
• Christchurch – Queenstown: 483 km / 300 mi
• Dunedin – Franz Josef: 554 km / 344 mi
• Dunedin – Gore: 151 km / 94 mi
• Dunedin – Nelson: 770 km / 478 mi
• Dunedin – Queenstown: 282 km / 175 mi
• Picton – Ashburton: 560 km / 348 mi
• Picton – Fairlie: 657 km / 408 mi
• Picton – Invercargill: 1037 km / 644 mi
• Queenstown – Lake Tekapo: 256 km / 159 mi
• Queenstown – Milford Sound: 286 km / 178 mi
• Queenstown – Motueka: 812 km / 505 mi

If you are looking for driving ideas, you can check out the Short day trips from Queenstown, Short day trips from Christchurch, and the official New Zealand scenic highways and routes articles.