Travel Guide > Oceania > New Zealand > South Island
The South Island is one of the three major islands of New Zealand, the others being the North Island and Stewart Island, which is south of South Island.
South Island is ruggedly beautiful, dominated by the Southern Alps, which run through the heart of the island from north to south. It is larger than North Island, but only holds a quarter of the nation's population. Much of the island is undeveloped and inaccessible, though most of the main tourist attractions can be reached by road.
The largest cities on South Island are Christchurch, Dunedin and Nelson. Queenstown is smaller but very popular due to its reputation as the place to go for adventure activities.
The South Island on average is colder than the North Island. Summers last from December to March with generally warm weather, around or slightly above 20 degrees Celsius on average though hot days up to 35 degrees are not unheard of, especially in the north and east of the island. Winters last from June to September with cool to cold weather and snow in the moutains. The westcoast of the island can be particularly wet and rain is possible in all months. Nelson on the other hand, in the north, is one of the sunniest places in New Zealand.
Christchurch International Airport (CHC) is the main airport on the South Island and has a growing number of connections to destinations in the Pacific. There are also international airports in Dunedin, and Queenstown, though these airports only have flights to/from Australia. Air New Zealand and Qantas have domestic and international flights and other airlines serve Christchurch as well.
Interislander operates a regular ferry service between Wellington on the North Island and Picton on the South Island.
Though there are flights to various destinations within the South Island, most travellers use buses, cars or the scenic trains. Christchurch International Airport (CHC) has most flights, for example with Air New Zealand and Qantas.
One of the most scenic routes in the world is the Tranz Alpine between Christchurch and Greymouth on the South Island. It is operated by Tranz Scenic.
Renting or buying a car is incredibly cheap and easy and coupled with the relatively short distances it helps explain why road transport is the preferred way to travel around. It is quite possible to see several major attractions in the space of a few weeks when travelling by car. Driving is on the left hand side of the road. Explore More is a cheap rental option with depots in Christchurch offering several car and camper types.
The distances and infrastructure make bus travel a great way to see a lot of the island inexpensively. The Kiwi Experience, Magic and Stray backpacker buses are a popular "hop-on, hop-off" method to travel around, visiting most of the major sights with commentary and advice provided by the driver. There are many different long-distance bus providers, which are all listed on the Bus and Coach Association New Zealand website. The two main nationwide bus companies are Intercity and Nakedbus.
This is version 10. Last edited at 19:50 on Feb 20, 09 by Utrecht (+5034). 21 articles link to this page.

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