Find inspiration with pictures, tips and stories of South Island from travelers sharing their experiences
Book your trip to South Island and remunerate who inspired you
Travel guide of South Island36 km from South Island
On my trip through New Zealand I met one guy how also comes from Germany and slept in the same ski lodge. He offers us to give us a free paragliding flight if we will drive his car down in the valley. Guys this was just awesome! We get to free paragliding flights (it was the first time for me) and it was just perfect. :)
Experienced by Pablo Heimplatz
36 km from South Island
On my trip through New Zealand I met one guy how also comes from Germany and slept in the same ski lodge. He offers us to give us a free paragliding flight if we will drive his car down in the valley. Guys this was just awesome! We get to free paragliding flights (it was the first time for me) and it was just perfect. :)
Experienced by Pablo Heimplatz
36 km from South Island
Truth be told, I didn’t even realise there were people in the image until I looked at it a few weeks later. It was a winter’s day in Queenstown and I was out for a walk while taking a break from the tours I guide. I always have my camera with me and the fall colours were out - a rare sight for a North Islander in New Zealand.
Experienced by Joel Staveley
36 km from South Island
We decided to go for a hike up the infamous Queenstown Hill Summit walk. It wasn’t easy for us beginners, but we kept on. We came to a fork in the track. The sign to the left “5 minute track” and the sign to the right “20 minute walk”. We decided to take the longer route which lead us to this dark looking forest where the sun light was kept away by the tall pine trees. We instantly felt mysterious and pulled out our cameras to capture this enchanting (some would say dead and dry) forest.
Experienced by Bulb Creative
57 km from South Island
During our trip through New Zealand we found this sweet spot. All the bras are from visitors. This is a social campaign from the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation near Queenstown. They collect some money with a little box for donations. Greet opportunity to finance a little bit for the research to fight agains breast cancer.
Experienced by Pablo Heimplatz
69 km from South Island
I shot this from a plane on a scenic flight through Fiordland National Park in New Zealand. It was so amazing to see the patterns of the river from above, observing how it carved its path into the landscape, before feeding Lake Wakatipu at its mouth.
Experienced by Alistair MacKenzie
75 km from South Island
This climb to Roy’s Peak seemed like a great idea when I read the description on New Zealand’s Department of Conservation’s website. “Easy Walk”, they said. After a painstaking 3-hour climb, my feet were practically bleeding and I was quite dehydrated. The only thing I wanted to do was run back down to go back to my hotel—but not before taking some shots of the exquisite view.
Experienced by Félix Lam
75 km from South Island
Began my hike up Mt. Roy at 5.40am at temperatures of -2 degrees celsius. The terrain was easy to walk on and the exposed trek gave me full-view of the night sky - I caught five shooting stars in the short 2.5hr hike! The view atop was well-worth the effort and the cold!
Experienced by Jingwei Ke
75 km from South Island
While on an eight month backpacking journey, we stopped by Queenstown, New Zealand to visit a friend in Wanaka. Not knowing this was a miserable six hour hike up to Roy’s Peak, we happily agreed but were met with some of the most humbling views. Worth it in the end!
Experienced by Rashel Ochoa
75 km from South Island
One friend of ours decided to celebrate his father’s birthday by taking him to the Roys Peak and watch the sunrise over Wanaka. We’ve got there at night, slept under the peak and in the morning continue to the highest point.
Experienced by Martina Vitáková
75 km from South Island
One friend of ours decided to celebrate his father’s birthday by taking him to the Roys Peak and watch the sunrise over Wanaka. We’ve got there at night, slept under the peak and in the morning continue to the highest point.
Experienced by Martina Vitáková
77 km from South Island
During the climbing up to Roys peak. This is the most known photo spot on the track. The girl on the picture is Kelsea. Thanks for being there for me :) She is a great photographer btw.
Experienced by Martina Vitáková
78 km from South Island
Seeing one of New Zealand’s great walks from the air has only made me want to hike it on the ground even more! I can’t imagine what the scale of these mountains must be like from the ground.
Experienced by Alistair MacKenzie
82 km from South Island
Lake Marian track leads to this final lake where you can see a full reflection to the mountain peaks behind in the lake. the track itself goes through a forest with some interesting birds that you can see along the way.
Experienced by Nishant Dania
82 km from South Island
I did this hike to Lake Marian because people told me the reflection of the mountains would be amazing. After 3 hours of walking I arrived and couldn’t see anything because of the clouds… how disappointing! But instead of the beautiful reflection I found this antlers standing on a rock by the lake and I got instantly reminded of my hometown Hirschhorn (translated it means “horn of the deer”). After travelling for 7 months and being away from my home this made me smile and gave me new strengh. I will never regret this hike, because unexpected events are always the best.
Experienced by Tanja Zöllner
84 km from South Island
It is amazing that we are able to access the most remote parts of the world so quick and easy. It is like you are on a complete other planet. I had so much adrenaline in my blood and I was amazed by the pure nature during this helicopter flight I took.
Experienced by Thomas Hetzler
93 km from South Island
After a long five hour trek uphill on day two of the Kepler Great Walk in New Zealand, we finally reached the top of our climb and were blessed with this breathtaking view. When I think about that hike I remember how mentally and physically difficult it was, but when I look at this photo I’m reminded that it was completely worth it.
Experienced by Samuel Bordo
93 km from South Island
This is one of my favourite photos from the Kepler Track in New Zealand. We had a lot of rain the day beforehand but this day was clearing with some lingering clouds around us. Looking behind us you could see the pathway snake its way around the mountain, really showing the scale of the walk we were doing.
Experienced by Jade Stephens
93 km from South Island
Hiking the 4 day Kepler Track in Fiordland, New Zealand. This was taken on day 2 of the hike, after crossing these immensely tall and steep ridgelines - they can be notoriously dangerous to cross if you have poor conditions (wind, rain) but we somehow had perfect weather after a day of rain before. I fell in love with the texture of the mountains from the snow carving it out.
Experienced by Jade Stephens
96 km from South Island
As we climbed through the valley, a white-turquoise river began to appear, it was obvious we were coming to a glacier, however, the real beauty hid beyond the glacier, as the rough mountains spiked through the valley almost like a non-passable gate, we knew we couldn’t go any further. New Zealand is truly amazing.
Experienced by Will Turner