Canterbury
Canterbury is a region on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. The Canterbury Plains stretch from the Conway River in the north, just south of Kaikoura, to the great Waitaki River in the south, just north of Oamaru.| Tap on a place to explore it |
Photo: Podzemnik, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Essential Destinations
Top destinations include Christchurch and Mount Cook National Park.
Christchurch
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the second most-populous urban area in the country. As well as having the most attractions of any place in the South Island, it's the major international entry point for visiting the rest of the island.
Mount Cook National Park
Photo: Petero9, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park is a national park dominated by New Zealand's two highest mountains, Aoraki / Mount Cook and Mount Tasman. Several other high peaks of the South Island's Southern Alps are nearby.
Timaru
Photo: Heather Rainbow, CC0.
Timaru is a city of 28,900 as of June 2023 on the South Island of New Zealand, on the east coast at Caroline Bay. It is a seaport and the second largest city in the Canterbury region, and is about halfway between Christchurch and Dunedin.
Destinations to Discover
Explore places such as Lyttelton and Akaroa.
Lyttelton
Photo: ויקיג’אנקי, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Lyttelton is the seaport satellite town of Christchurch in New Zealand, lying just over the Port Hills from Christchurch.
Akaroa
Photo: Flickr upload bot, CC BY 2.0.
Akaroa is a charming harbourside town on the eastern side of Akaroa harbour, in southern Banks Peninsula in the Canterbury region of New Zealand. Its early settlers were French and British.
Arthur’s Pass National Park
Photo: Tsy1980, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Arthur's Pass National Park is a major national park in the heart of New Zealand's South Island. The park is a popular stop from the TranzAlpine train and has hikes both long and short.
Lake Tekapo
Photo: Cuzza, Public domain.
Lake Tekapo is a lakeside resort village in the Mackenzie Country in the South Island of New Zealand. It gets its name from one of the Southern Lakes in the Southern Alps.
Rangiora
Photo: Kiwi05, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Rangiora is a rural town 25 km north of Christchurch, in the South Island of New Zealand. It is the largest town in North Canterbury and the seat of the Waimakariri District Council. The Ashley River is just to the north of the town.
Kaiapoi
Photo: Schwede66, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Kaiapoi is a town just north of Christchurch on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It lies 17 km from central Christchurch, and north of the Waimakariri River. The town is a separate community, but also a commuter suburb of its city neighbour.
Springfield
Photo: Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Springfield is a small town in the foothills of the Torlesse Range on the way to the Craigieburn ski fields and Arthur's Pass. It was an important source of coal for Christchurch and later became an important staging post to service the stage coaches travelling to the West Coast.
Fairlie
Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Fairlie is a quiet rural town in the Mackenzie District in South Canterbury, New Zealand. It has one of the nicest and cleanest public toilets in New Zealand - with underfloor heating!
Twizel
Photo: Bernard Spragg. NZ, CC0.
Twizel is Mackenzie Country's largest town in the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. Although it's the largest town in Mackenzie Country, it's well-visited as it's the closest decently-sized town near Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park.
Omarama
Omarama is a small town in the Mackenzie Country of New Zealand's South Island that has more gliders parked in hangars than families tucked up safe at home.
Methven
Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Methven is a small town with a population of 1,900 people, and the home of Mt. Hutt ski area in Canterbury, New Zealand. Approximately 93 km from Christchurch International Airport, the area is renowned as being a year-round base for action sports enthusiasts, being home to a wide range of activities.
Hanmer Springs
Photo: Kiwi05, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Hanmer Springs is a small town in the Canterbury region of the South Island of New Zealand, known for its hot pools. The Māori name for Hanmer Springs is Te Whakatakanga o te ngārahu o te ahi a Tamatea, which means "where the ashes of Tamatea's fire lay", referring to Tamatea, the captain of the canoe Tākitimu.
Waipara
Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Waipara is a wine and tourism district in Canterbury, New Zealand, on the banks of the Waipara River. Its name translates to "muddy water", wai meaning water and para meaning mud.
Pleasant Point
Pleasant Point is a small country town in southern Canterbury, New Zealand, some 19 km inland from Timaru, on State Highway 8. It is a service town for the surrounding farming district.
Places of Interest
Highlights include Mount Hutt.
Mount Hutt
Peak
Photo: Wainscotting, Public domain.
Mount Hutt is a mountain located to the west of the Canterbury Plains in the South Island of New Zealand. It rises above the braided upper reaches of the Rakaia River, and is located 80 km west of Christchurch. Its summit is 2190 metres above sea level.
Canterbury
- Type: region of New Zealand with 687,000 residents
- Description: region of New Zealand’s South Island
- Also known as: “Canterbury Region”
- Neighbors: Marlborough, Otago, and West Coast
- Location: South Island, New Zealand, Oceania
- View on OpenStreetMap
This page is based on GeoNames, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikivoyage.
We’d love your help improving our open data sources. Thank you for contributing.
Satellite Map
Discover Canterbury from above in high-definition satellite imagery.
In Other Languages
From Afrikaans to Western Armenian—“Canterbury” goes by many names.
- Afrikaans: “Canterbury streek”
- Arabic: “كانتربيري”
- Aragonese: “Rechión de Canterbury”
- Armenian: “Քանթերբերիի շրջան”
- Basque: “Canterbury eskualdea”
- Belarusian: “Кентэрбэры”
- Bengali: “ক্যান্টাবেরি অঞ্চল”
- Bulgarian: “Кентърбъри”
- Catalan: “Canterbury”
- Cebuano: “Canterbury, Nueva Zelanda”
- Cebuano: “Canterbury”
- Chinese: “坎特伯雷”
- Chinese: “坎特伯雷大区”
- Czech: “Canterbury”
- Danish: “Canterbury”
- Dutch: “Canterbury”
- Esperanto: “Canterbury Region”
- Esperanto: “Canterbury”
- Esperanto: “Kanterburio”
- Esperanto: “regiono Kanterburio”
- Esperanto: “Waitaha”
- Estonian: “Canterbury piirkond”
- Estonian: “Canterbury ringkond”
- Estonian: “Waitaha”
- Faroese: “Canterbury”
- Finnish: “Canterbury”
- French: “Canterbury”
- French: “région de Canterbury”
- Georgian: “კენტერბერი”
- Georgian: “კენტერბერის რეგიონი”
- German: “Canterbury Region”
- German: “Canterbury”
- German: “NZ-CAN”
- Greek: “Καντέρμπερι”
- Gujarati: “કેન્ટરબરી પ્રદેશ”
- Hebrew: “קנטרברי”
- Hindi: “कैंटरबरी, न्यूजीलैंड”
- Hindi: “कैंटरबरी, न्यूज़ीलैण्ड”
- Hindi: “कैंटरबरी”
- Hungarian: “Canterbury régió”
- Icelandic: “Canterbury”
- Indonesian: “Canterbury, Selandia Baru”
- Indonesian: “Canterbury”
- Italian: “Canterbury”
- Japanese: “カンタベリー”
- Japanese: “カンタベリー地方”
- Japanese: “カンタベリー平野”
- Kalaallisut: “Canterbury”
- Kannada: “ಕ್ಯಾಂಟರ್ಬರಿ ಪ್ರದೇಶ”
- Korean: “캔터버리 지방”
- Korean: “캔터베리 지방”
- Korean: “캔터베리”
- Latin: “Cantuaria”
- Latin: “regio Cantuariae”
- Latvian: “Kenterberija”
- Latvian: “Kenterberijas reģions”
- Lithuanian: “Kanterburio regionas”
- Lithuanian: “Kenterberio regionas”
- Macedonian: “Кантербери”
- Malay: “Wilayah Canterbury”
- Maori: “Takiwā o Waitaha”
- Maori: “Waitaha”
- Marathi: “कँटरबरी प्रदेश”
- Moroccan Arabic: “جيهة كانطربوري”
- Norwegian Bokmål: “Canterbury, New Zealand”
- Norwegian Bokmål: “Canterbury”
- Norwegian Bokmål: “South Canterbury”
- Norwegian Nynorsk: “Canterbury på New Zealand”
- Norwegian: “Canterbury”
- Persian: “استان کانتربوری”
- Persian: “کنتربری، نیوزیلند”
- Persian: “ناحیه کانتربوری”
- Persian: “ناحیهٔ کانتربوری”
- Polish: “Canterbury”
- Portuguese: “Canterbury”
- Russian: “Кантербери”
- Russian: “Кентербери”
- Scottish Gaelic: “Canterbury Region”
- Serbo-Croatian: “Canterbury”
- Sinhala: “කැන්ටබරි කලාපය, නවසීලන්තය”
- Sinhala: “කැන්ටබරි කලාපය”
- Slovenian: “Canterbury Region”
- Slovenian: “Canterbury”
- Slovenian: “NZ-CAN”
- Spanish: “Canterbury Nueva Zelanda”
- Spanish: “Canterbury, Nueva Zelanda”
- Spanish: “Canterbury”
- Spanish: “Región de Canterbury”
- Swedish: “Canterbury, Nya Zeeland”
- Swedish: “Canterbury”
- Tajik: “Кентербери”
- Tajik: “Кентерберӣ”
- Tajik: “ноҳияи Кентерберӣ”
- Tamil: “கான்டெர்புரி ரீஜியன்”
- Telugu: “సెంట్రర్బరీ ప్రాంతం”
- Thai: “แคนเทอเบอรี่”
- Thai: “แคว้นแคนเทอร์เบอรี”
- Turkish: “Canterbury Bölgesi”
- Turkish: “Canterbury”
- Ukrainian: “Кентербері”
- Urdu: “کینٹربری، نیوزی لینڈ”
- Vietnamese: “Canterbury”
- Vietnamese: “Vùng Canterbury”
- Western Armenian: “Քենթըրպըրի շրջան”
- “Canterbury”
- “Waitaha”
South Island: Must-Visit Destinations
Delve into Dunedin, Southern Alps, Nelson, and Fiordland National Park.
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Discover places selected for their distinct character and enduring appeal.
About Mapcarta. Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, except for photos, directions, and the map. Description text is based on the Wikivoyage page “Canterbury”. Photo: Podzemnik, CC BY-SA 4.0.