Christchurch, NZ

Simon and Lisa Levy's 24-seat counter-dining restaurant on Hereford Street - a six-or-eight-plate seasonal tasting menu of share-style modern New Zealand cooking around a U-shaped chef's pass. The Christchurch room everyone in the country names when asked about the South Island.

Alex Davies' 26-seat vegetarian set-menu restaurant on Papanui Road in Merivale - five courses around a slow-changing seasonal sheet, with the kitchen visible across the open counter. The country's most-awarded plant-led tasting room outside Auckland.

An upstairs European-leaning bistro on New Regent Street - Canterbury beef, line-caught fish, and house-made pasta in a 50-seat dining room over the heritage tram tracks. The CBD's go-to special-occasion booking that doesn't require a six-week lead.

A dark-emerald, gold-leaf Pan-Asian dining room on Level 1, 79 Cashel Street - Thai, Vietnamese, and Chinese share plates leaning hot, an in-house cocktail bar called Monarch attached, and the CBD's most committed cocktail program. The big-night dinner the bachelorette parties pick.

A mid-century-styled brasserie on the corner of Lichfield and High Streets - punchy share-plate menu, terrazzo and timber room overlooking Rauora Park, and a wine list deep on small NZ producers. The South Town local that anchors the rebuilt block.

A heritage High Street building converted into nine independent kitchens around a central bar - dumplings, bao, wood-fired pizza, burgers, char-grilled meats, and a 200-strong beer-and-wine list. The CBD's other food court (after Riverside) and the one open later at night.

A High Street cafe in the former High Street Post Office building - pneumatic tubes shooting sliders to tables overhead at 140 km/h, sewing-machine table bases, and a brunch menu the city has built its weekend around since 2012. The Christchurch cafe other cafes copy.

A casual self-order beer-hall and Mediterranean kitchen on Welles Street in South Town - 18 taps, lamb souvlakia, halloumi chips, and a courtyard the locals fill on warm Friday evenings. The CBD's most reliable mid-week dinner under $25 a plate.

A brunch cafe inside a converted 1890s post office on Elgin Street in Sydenham - poached-egg standards plus a rotating sweet board, a tight cabinet of pastries, and a courtyard sheltered from the southerly. The Sunday brunch the inner-east locals queue for.

Chilean-born chef Giulio Sturla's six-seat counter down a back lane in Lyttelton - no signage, no menu, a single set-price experience built on foraged Banks Peninsula ingredients. The country's smallest fine-dining room and the South Island booking serious diners chase.

A 19th-century pub at the eastern edge of the CBD - 31 rotating beer taps, a Victorian front bar, a heated garden out the back, and a pie-and-roast pub menu that hasn't tried to be anything else for 25 years. The cornerstone of Christchurch craft beer.

A kitsch-as-religion late bar under the Lyttelton Coffee Company building - lampshades made of doll heads, padded velvet walls, harbour view from the deck, and live music or DJs in the back room Thursday through Saturday. Lyttelton's longest-running night out.

A Victoria Street Mexican kitchen run by a Mexico City family - hand-pressed tortillas, mole poblano, and a tequila and mezcal list deeper than anywhere else in the city. The CBD's most-quoted Mexican by a wide margin.

A Cashel Street Indian restaurant open since 2000 - butter chicken, lamb rogan josh, tandoori plates, and the long blackboard of weekly specials the locals scan first. The CBD's most-defended Indian and the one open later than the chains.

Simo's Algerian-Mediterranean restaurant in Addington - couscous royale, lamb tagine, harissa-grilled fish, and an owner who'll walk the room if you ask about the menu. The most committed Middle Eastern cooking in the city.

A neo-Neapolitan pizza counter on Hereford Street - sourdough-base pizzas pulled from a wood oven you can see from the entrance, 30-seat narrow room, no bookings. The CBD's most consistently full pizza counter on a weeknight.

A Worcester Boulevard Spanish-Mediterranean kitchen across from the Arts Centre - tapas plates, paella for two, a sherry list, and a courtyard the heritage building wraps around. The gallery-walk dinner stop that fills before performances.

A Sydenham burger counter - house-pattied wagyu and lamb, 20 craft beers on tap, sticky industrial floors and a buzzer-collection counter. The post-rugby and post-show burger the locals queue for.

A plant-stuffed Riccarton brunch cafe set in an old villa - smoothie bowls, the housemade granola, avocado toast with chilli jam and feta, and a big-breakfast plate the locals' marathon runners refuel on. The west-side brunch the CBD goes to for a change of pace.

A Merivale brunch room with an Asian-leaning egg menu - tom-yum hollandaise eggs benedict, charred pork belly bowls, kimchi fried rice, and a coffee program from a Christchurch roaster. Merivale's most-talked-about cafe since the Papanui Road strip rebuilt.

A High Street roastery and cafe in the Switch Espresso warehouse - on-site coffee roasting visible through glass, all-day breakfast plates, and a back-of-house cupping room locals book for tasting flights. The CBD's most serious coffee program by daily volume.

Lyttelton's original third-wave cafe on London Street - high-ceilinged brick room, in-house roasting at the back, a brunch menu the harbour-village locals built a community around. Pair with the Saturday farmers market two blocks down.

A sourdough bakery and pastry counter inside Riverside Market - long-fermented loaves, almond croissants, brown-butter financiers, and the cinnamon scrolls the CBD office crowd queues for at 10am. The bakery the city's other cafes stock from.

A small-batch gelato counter on New Regent Street - rotating seasonal flavours including manuka honey, hokey-pokey, and a sticky-fig sorbet, made in a tiny back kitchen the size of a wardrobe. The local pick over the chain ice-cream stands in the Square.

The 2.4km historic settler track climbing from Heathcote Valley over the Port Hills crater rim to Lyttelton - the route European arrivals walked in 1850 to reach the Canterbury plains. Steep, sealed in places, with the Lyttelton harbour view as the reward at the saddle.

A 3-hour return coastal loop from Taylors Mistake car park out to the WWII coastal-defence ruins on the cape - cliff-edge track, dolphin and seal sightings on a calm day, and the gun emplacements you can walk through. The big coastal walk locals send visitors on first.

A 27.9km ridge walkway along the rim of the extinct volcano that became Lyttelton Harbour - walkable in sections, full traverse Godley Head to Gebbies Pass takes a fit day. Most locals do the Mt Pleasant to Bridle Path 8km segment.

A gentle 3km uphill bush-and-grass walk from the Sign of the Takahe at Cashmere up to the Sign of the Kiwi at the crater rim - native bush, glimpses of the Southern Alps, and a stone resthouse cafe at the top. The walk locals do to clear a hangover.

An old basalt quarry on the city's southwestern edge converted into a 71-hectare park - heritage stone walls, a sister-city friendship garden series, and a 4km loop including the Crater Rim summit climb if you want to keep going. The locals' family-walk default.

A 119-hectare freshwater wetland reserve between New Brighton and the airport - boardwalks through raupo reedbeds, native birdlife including bittern and pukeko, and a 5km loop track. The city's quietest walk inside the boundary.

A 144-hectare bush park on the northern slopes of the Port Hills - mountain bike trails, walking tracks, and a 5km figure-eight loop through regenerating native forest. The closest Port Hills park to the CBD.

A 7-hectare remnant of pre-settlement kahikatea swamp forest fenced inside Riccarton - 600-year-old trees, predator-proof, and a 10-minute boardwalk loop through the only old-growth lowland forest left in the Canterbury plains. Small, free, and unlike anywhere else in the city.

A 770-hectare pine plantation north of New Brighton crisscrossed with running, walking, and mountain biking trails - flat, sheltered, the city's biggest off-road network. The locals' wet-day walk when the Port Hills are clagged in.

A 10-minute cable car ride from Heathcote Valley up to Mt Cavendish at 500m - 360-degree summit views of the city, harbour, plains, and the Southern Alps on a clear day. The single fastest way to understand the city's geography.

A heritage tram loop running 2.5km through the CBD - Cathedral Square, New Regent Street, Worcester Boulevard, the Arts Centre, and back. Hop-on-hop-off ticket valid all day, conductor narration on each leg. The orientation ride first-time visitors take to learn the streets.

Edwardian-style flat-bottomed punts pushed by pole along the Avon River through the Botanic Gardens - 30-minute slow drift past willows, mallards, and the rebuilt arts precinct. The city's most photographed boat ride and the easiest way to see the river loop.

An indoor Antarctic visitor centre next to the airport - a -8C storm room with simulated wind chill, a Hagglund all-terrain ride, husky pups and a Little Blue penguin rehab pool. The interactive museum families spend a half-day inside.

A 32-hectare native and exotic wildlife reserve north of the city - kiwi nocturnal house, eels, wallabies, lemurs, and a Maori cultural performance. The wildlife park that splits the difference between zoo and conservation reserve.

The national air force museum at the old Wigram base - 31 aircraft from a Tiger Moth to a Skyhawk, a flight simulator, and the country's deepest aviation collection. Free entry, three hours minimum, and the kid-pleaser the airport-visit families add.

A 358-hectare Port Hills adventure park on the doorstep of Cashmere - 50km of downhill mountain bike trails, four parallel ziplines including the country's highest, and a 1.8km chairlift that doubles as a scenic ride. Half-day for ziplines, full-day for biking.

A saltwater hot pool complex on the New Brighton foreshore - five pools at varying temperatures, a sauna and steam room, all looking directly over the Pacific surf. The post-walk soak the locals book on a winter Sunday.

A 1908 Edwardian-baroque theatre on Gloucester Street - fully restored after the earthquake, 1,300-seat auditorium, and the city's main touring venue for ballet, opera, musicals, and major drama. The CBD's grand night out.

The South Island's largest professional theatre company - a year-round season of contemporary plays, musicals, and the city's beloved annual Court Jesters comedy night. Moved into a new $61 million purpose-built CBD venue at the corner of Colombo and Gloucester Streets in May 2025.

An outdoor bar in a converted school bus and railway-carriage yard - burgers, regular live music on the deck, a fire pit in winter, and the CBD's most committed share-table backyard. The pre-rebuild Christchurch the rebuild kept.

A jazz bar on the upper level of The Terrace overlooking the Avon - live bands six nights a week, a dance floor that fills by 10pm, and a balcony bar for the breather. The CBD's most committed live-music room.

A small independent brewery taproom in New Brighton - 10 taps of beers brewed on-site, a pizza oven, and a pier-facing deck. The local everyone walks to after the beach.

A Saturday-morning produce-and-craft market on London Street in Lyttelton - peninsula growers, local bakers, a goat-cheese stall the city's chefs queue at, and the harbour town's social anchor since 2007. Pair with the gondola or a Bridle Path walk for the day's spine.

A small Lyttelton craft brewery and taproom on London Street - eight rotating taps of in-house beer, a fire-warmed harbour-facing room, and a pizza menu out the back kitchen. Lyttelton's quiet alternative to Wunderbar.

A boutique cinema in Sumner village in the 1938 Marriner Street heritage building - three screens with recliner seating, an in-house cafe and licensed bar, and a curated lineup of first-run and arthouse films. The seaside cinema the locals walk to after dinner.

21 hectares of Victorian-founded gardens tucked into the loop of the Avon inside Hagley Park - rose garden, conservatories, the New Zealand alpine collection, and the cafe in the curved-glass Visitor Centre. The orientation point every first-time walking tour uses.

165 hectares of flat parkland wrapping the Botanic Gardens - cricket pitches, cycle paths, daffodil lawns in spring, and the most direct walking route between the museum and Riccarton. The lung the CBD planned around in 1855 and still uses.

The South Island's flagship natural and human history museum on Rolleston Avenue - currently in a major redevelopment with a CBD pop-up site running the core collection. Antarctic gear, Maori taonga, moa skeletons, and the city's most-photographed Edwardian frontage.

The city's contemporary art gallery in a glass-fronted Worcester Boulevard building - free general entry, a permanent New Zealand collection downstairs and rotating exhibitions upstairs. Reopened in 2015 after earthquake reinforcement.

Shigeru Ban's cardboard-tube cathedral on Hereford Street - built in 2013 as a temporary replacement after the 2011 earthquake felled the stone cathedral, and still in use a decade later. A working Anglican church and one architect's pro-bono gift to a recovering city.

Canterbury Museum's earthquake exhibit in a Durham Street North site - a one-room walk through the 2010 and 2011 sequences with survivor video, the salvaged cathedral spire rose window, and the timeline of the rebuild. Ninety minutes and the city's recent history makes sense.

The 1881 Anglican cathedral on Cathedral Square - partially collapsed in 2011 and being reinstated in stages under a plan adopted in 2025. Construction is underway on the nave and tower; occasional open weekends offer guided tours into the nave. The spire stub and scaffolding remain the recovery's most public symbol.

A one-block Spanish Mission pedestrian street built in 1932 - pastel facades, the heritage tram running through the middle, and a strip of small bars and cafes. The CBD's most photographed street and the bit that survived the earthquake almost intact.

A 1924 triumphal-arch war memorial bridge over the Avon at Cashel Street - rebuilt after the earthquake and the western gateway to the City Mall pedestrian zone. Walk under it once and you've connected the river loop to the shopping precinct.

An indoor food and produce market on Oxford Terrace - around 30 vendors covering Vietnamese, Greek, Argentine, French, fresh fish, cheese, and bread, seven days a week. The CBD's most-used lunch room and the post-2011 hospitality scene's centrepiece.

A converted 1870s tannery building in Woolston now housing 50 boutique shops, a brewery taproom, a cinema, and a cluster of cafes - red-brick atrium, Victorian glass, free parking, and the antidote to the chain malls. A half-day potter on a rainy afternoon.

The Southern Hemisphere's largest playground on the banks of the Avon - three-storey spiral slide, in-ground water playpark, flying fox, climbing towers, and accessible equipment throughout. Named for the New Zealand children's author and the city's bet on family-centred CBD recovery.

The 1877 Gothic Revival stone-and-brick complex on Worcester Boulevard - originally the University of Canterbury, now 23 heritage buildings of galleries, artist studios, the Teece Museum of antiquities, weekend markets, and a couple of bars. The single biggest concentration of pre-quake heritage left in the CBD.

The city's main seaside village 12km east of the CBD - white sand crescent, the namesake Cave Rock at the southern end, surf school, and a tight cluster of cafes and bars along The Esplanade. Christchurch's Sunday afternoon since 1875.

The locals' surf beach over the hill from Sumner - a narrow bay backed by old fisherman's bach huts dug into the cliff. Cleaner break than Sumner, harder to find, no shops. Park top of the ridge and walk down.

A 300-metre concrete pier built in 1997 over the Pacific surf - free to walk on, anglers fishing from the end, library and hot pools on the foreshore. The bones of New Brighton's seaside-suburb era and the easiest sunrise vantage in the city.