Seeing New Zealand in 7 days

If you only have 7 days to travel around New Zealand, you’re just going to have to resign yourself to seeing a chunk of the country and bypassing the rest. I think you’d be stupid to miss the south island so here’s my suggested 7 days itinerary for the independent NZ traveller:

Day 1

Arrive in Chistchurch, drive to Greymouth. This gives you time to see something of Chistchurch then a fairly short drive through amazing scenery.

Day 2

Hokitika - Franz Josef and Fox glaciers. Another short day with time to see the West Coast of South Island. You could take a scenic flight up the glaciers.

Day 3

Visit Wanaka. You could checkout Queenstown but it’s a bit touristy - not too far to drive and has a beautiful lake.

Day 4

Arrowtown - Queenstown - Te Anau. Heaps of action here - bungy jumping, rafting, jetboating, etc. plus spectaular mountains and lakes.

Day 5

Milford - Te Anau. Milford sound. need I say more?

Day 6

Stop off at Dunedin. It’s an interesting city. You have the option to skip this destination if you want and make day 7 into two easy days.

Day 7

Drive to Christchurch via Mt Cook and Tekapo - fly out. This would be a long day but worth it to see the MacKenzie country I think.

You could opt for a completely different programme but to travel to any of these places in any less time than this would be a crime.

What would be your “must see” destinations if you were to travel around New Zealand in only 7 days?