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New Zealand’s South Island hosts the purest natural landscapes you’ll ever experience. From wildlife to wineries, glacial valleys to star-filled skies, the South Island offers adventure in all its forms. Choose to explore just one region, or road trip from Picton all the way down to Bluff.
- Cruise the Milford Sound/Piopiotahi. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is often touted as one of the most beautiful places to visit in New Zealand. Located in Fiordland National Park, this fiord is home to dramatic scenery, with steep mountains and waterfalls.
- Visit Doubtful Sound/Patea. Doubtful Sound is a nearby neighbor of the Milford Sound. At 40 km long, it is the second largest fiord in New Zealand (the Milford Sound is just 17.5 kilometers long).
- Get Your Adrenaline Fix in Queenstown (Tāhuna) This lovely town sits on Lake Wakatipu and is known as the Adventure Capital of the World. Queenstown | Best Things to Do on the South Island.
- Go Bungy Jumping. One of the best things to do in New Zealand is bungy jumping. Bungy jumping got its start in Queenstown, at the Kawarau Bridge in 1988.
- Queenstown. Queenstown is one of my favorite places in the world. It's the adventure capital of New Zealand and is by far the most exciting and lively place to visit on the South Island.
- Wanaka. Wanaka is another small town in the South Island offering a laid-back atmosphere and breathtaking landscapes– a stark contrast to Queenstown's adrenaline rush.
- Milford Sound. Milford Sound, renowned for its towering Mitre Peak and steep, waterfall-flowing cliffs, is an incredible fjord that is perhaps one of the most beautiful places to visit in New Zealand's South Island.
- Glenorchy. Glenorchy, while once a remote farming town at the end of Lake Wakatipu near Queenstown, has slowly evolved into a must-visit location on the South Island travel route.
The South Island, also named Te Waipounamu in Māori, [1] is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, and to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean.
- 150,437 km² (58,084 sq mi)
- 1,201,300 (June 2022)
- 840 km (522 mi)
- Oceania
Apr 30, 2024 · The Catlins is a beautiful region on the very south of the South Island. It includes places such as Slope Point, the Southernmost tip of New Zealand’s South Island; Curio Bay, home to lots of wildlife and one of the world’s rarest penguins; and breathtaking waterfalls such as Koropuku Falls, Mclean Falls, and Matai Falls. On top of that ...
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The South Island (Māori: Te Waipounamu) of New Zealand is characterised by grand, open landscapes and a great sense of freedom in the sparsely populated areas away from the Christchurch and Dunedin conurbations of the east coast.
