A Guide to visiting Christchurch

You will probably be surprised by a fact - almost all of the stores in Christchurch - the biggest city in South Island of New Zealand close at 5:30 PM. Actually, Christchurch isn’t a big city. If this sounds vague, let me raise an example for you. I was staying in an Airbnb within 15 minute walking distance from the downtown. If evaluated by normal standard, I am supposed to be in the center of the city still. But the reality is within this walking distance, I already felt like I am in suburb. Then you get the idea of how big the city is.

Since it’s relatively small compared to world-known cities, you can definitely explore the main tourist attractions in 1 day. And I recommend you to follow the sequence of this table of contents so you won’t miss things because of the early-closed business hours.  

Table of Contents

• New Zealand Customs

  • 2 things recommend to do in advance

• 1. Christchurch Gondola

  • Buying Gondola & Shuttle ticket

  • Taking the shuttle to the Gondola

  • Experience

• 2. Christchurch Tram

  • Buying Tram ticket

  • Experience

• 3. Riverside Market

New Zealand Customs

2 things recommend to do in advance

1. Do custom declaration form online. When you arrive at the airport, you will have to take different passages to enter based on your custom declaration form (Online/physical). The passage for travelers who completed form online is pretty empty, so I’d recommend you to go by this if you can. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait in line for 10 minutes like me.

2. Check if your carry-on has any products that are not allowed to bring in. New Zealand is quite strict about this and your carry-on will be inspected again when you arrive, so you wouldn’t want to bring things that are not allowed (for example honey that isn’t manufactured in NZ) and get fined. This is quite different from those countries I visited. For example, when arriving at Heathrow Airport, London from the US, I was able to get out quick without getting my carry-on checked again. I guess New Zealand takes their natural environment very seriously.

1. Christchurch Gondola

Buying Gondola & Shuttle ticket

You can either buy tickets online or buy at the local Booking Office here on Google map. They will likely try to sell you the Tram All-Day-Pass & Gondola combo which costs $77NZ. If you add the Gondola shuttle, it costs $92NZ in total, which is $5NZ cheaper than if you buy the tickets separately.

But I wouldn’t recommend you buying the combo because it’s less likely that you would take the tram more than one time (at least I only took once and I kinda regretted buying the combo). As mentioned, Christchurch isn’t big, many places in center are accessible by foot. The tram is just a way to go sightseeing around the city but not a necessary type of public transportation. In this case, I would recommend you to buy 1+2+3 separately, which costs $81NZ in total.

1. Gondola shuttle price: $15NZ/round trip

2. Tram one time pass: $24NZ (Source here)

3. Gondola adult price: $42NZ

4. Tram All-Day-Pass price: $40NZ

5. Tram All-Day-Pass & Gondola combo price: $77NZ

Taking the shuttle to the Gondola

Now there’s a location on Google map called Christchurch Gondola Shuttle, which is submitted by me actually 🤭. Before that, there’s no such spot on Google map so I could only try to remember the Office lady’s instructions and felt unsure while looking for it. To make it easy for other travelers like me, I decided to make a contribution to Google map. Anyway, the shuttle isn’t that frequent (timetable provided below), so you may want to keep an eye on it.

Experience

Taking the gondola to the top of the mountain takes 10 minutes. In the cable car, you can get the sense of what Christchurch looks like - not like any other world-known cities having metropolitan area extending several kilometers but a relatively simple and peaceful small town vibe city.

When you get to the top of the mountain, there’s a cafe and souvenir shop. The sheep and honey soap sold there is a good deal and looks more authentic compared to those sold in downtown souvenir stores. I’d recommend you to buy here if you are interested. (I did’t because I wanted to catch the gondola 🥲. When returning to the Christchurch downtown, I just realized those soaps sold here is cheaper than the average downtown price)

2. Christchurch Tram

Buying Tram ticket

There are 3 ways to buy the ticket:

1. Online

2. Booking Office

3. On board

Experience

The tram I hopped on is a classical style one. While the tram is moving on, the driver would tell some facts about the area we passed by. For example, how the earthquake reshaped the Old Government Building in Cathedral Square. Honestly, I maybe caught only ¼ of what he said because it’s hard for me to understand NZ accent, especially when he spoke in a “performance tone.” 🤯 

3. Riverside Market

Riverside Market is a great spot to get foods! If you have no idea what to eat, it won’t disappoint you. Especially if you have an Asian appetite like me, you can find some options here as well 😊. In addition to meal options, I also wanted to recommend a dessert place here called Sweet Revenge. They have so many tempting options that make you hard to decide. But I ended up getting a Toblerone choco flavor, which is satisfying 😋.

For the 3 spots listed above, I’d recommend you to plan wise when visiting. As mentioned, businesses close early here in Christchurch. If you don’t plan in advance, you may end up missing some of them especially if you have tight schedule like me. For next week’s newsletter, I’ll share more about how the early closed business hour could possibly affect your travel plans and how you can plan wisely, especially when you rent a car in New Zealand.