Jump on a tram if you've just landed and you're looking to get your bearings in one of the world's most laid-back cities. The beautifully restored tramcars of the Christchurch Tram take you on an inner-city circuit with stops at Christchurch's historic Arts Centre, the Canterbury Museum, Botanic Gardens and Cathedral Square in the heart of the city. One of the tramcars also doubles as a restaurant for a luxe urban sight-seeing and dining experience. 

Busy cafes and rooftop bars line the lanes along the banks of the Avon River as it curves around the city centre. Swap the railway for this waterway and journey upstream in an English-style punt into Christchurch's picture-perfect Botanic Gardens — you'll feel like you're drifting into a Jane Austen novel. 

Further afield, a gondola ride to the top of the Port Hills flanking nearby Banks Peninsula offers you breath-taking views of the city, the snow-capped Southern Alps, Christchurch's port town of Lyttleton and its dramatic harbour. Aside from the panoramic vistas, the Christchurch Gondola Summit Station invites you to stay a while with a cafe and gift shop. 

Banks Peninsula itself implores you to explore a network of hiking tracks across the Port Hills and countless hidden bays and beaches of Whakaraupo-Lyttleton Harbour. For an off-the-beaten track experience head out to Akaroa Harbour. The village of Akaroa is steeped in French settler and Māori history, and the rugged harbour is home to native birds, fur seals and New Zealand's rare Hector's dolphins.