When I was researching the top things to do on the South Island of New Zealand, the Franz Josef Glacier was one of the sites not to miss. If you’ve been to New Zealand or researched how to get around the country, nothing is straight-forward…but there’s so much to see, a road trip was a must! So I planned a couple of days of driving to get us from Queenstown to Christchurch (our final destination) with a stop in Franz Josef on the way. There are bus tours that you can take between these cities that will make stops along the way as well, but we decided to rent a car and make our own tour. I will say that driving in New Zealand is no joke (windy, narrow roads, rain, single-lane bridges, driving on the left…), so if you’re not comfortable you might want to take the bus instead!
This post is broken in to two days, with an overnight in Franz Josef at the coolest treehouse hotel! Without any stops, it’s about a 5-hour drive each day, but we took a couple of extra hours each day to stop and see some of the sights along the way…
This post contains affiliate links. When you book using one of these links, I get a small commission without any cost to you. Thank you!
Here is a sample itinerary based on our roadtrip in November (spring in NZ!):
DAY 1: QUEENSTOWN TO FRANZ JOSEF
When we arrived in Queenstown two days earlier, we had rented a car at the airport. It was good to have a car to get around Queenstown (there weren’t many Ubers), and we would need it for the next two legs of our trip until we got to Christchurch. Driving on the left is a little tricky, but getting around Queenstown was no problem. We had a long list of places we wanted to stop on this roadtrip day, but we also had a lake cruise at 5PM in Franz Josef, so we had to be quick!
Our first stop was just about 30 minutes from our hotel (Kamana Lake) in Arrowtown. Arrowtown is a quaint, historic gold mining town, first established in the 1860’s. There are some cute shops and restaurants there, as well as some walking trails along the Arrow River. We took a short walk along the river and then stopped in to the cutest little coffee shop Provisions of Arrowtown for a coffee to take on the road.
The next stop is a pretty quick one, but worth a stop and a photo! The Cardrona Bra Fence originally started in late 1998, and has been filled and cleared many times over the years. It’s just off the side of the road, and now has a collection box for donations for The New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation, raising tens of thousands of dollars since 2014. It’s worth a stop to see (you could donate to the fence and / or the cause if you’d like!). Also, just down the road from here there was a great spot to stop and get some good photos of the sheep as well. Did you know there are about 4.5 sheep for every resident of New Zealand? There’s no shortage of sheep when driving through New Zealand, and since it was spring there were lots of lambs too.
Next, another 20 minutes down the road you’ll come to the small resort town of Wanaka that sits on the south end of Lake Wanaka. If we had more time, this would have been the perfect place to grab lunch. It’s a very scenic area with lots of cute restaurants and shops. One of the noteworthy things to see there is the Wanaka Tree…”one of the most photographed trees in New Zealand”, sitting about 100 yards from the shore. It’s worth a stop to check out and there is a public restroom there, but the tree was less grand than we expected.
From Wanaka, there’s still another 4 hours of driving to get to Franz Josef. Another stop we had on our list but ran out of time for was the Blue Pools Track…about an hour from Lake Wanaka, it’s a scenic boardwalk and hiking area with bright blue pools fed by nearby glaciers. You can swim there as well if you’re up for a cold plunge! We stopped to grab a quick meat pie at the Makarora Country Cafe just before you get to the Blue Pools Track. Meat pies are found everywhere in New Zealand….hand-held pastry filled with meat, cheese, gravy, etc. This was a great option for a grab-and-go lunch, and we didn’t see many more options after this.
The final stop that we had planned for was the Fox Glacier, just about 30 minutes before reaching Franz Josef. The best way to see the glacier is by heli-hike, but this was not in the cards for us this time. I was not about to get in another small aircraft for the second day in a row (see my post on Queenstown for the story behind that!). Our plan was to just visit Te Kopikopiko o te Waka, which is one of the best sites to view the glacier, but thick fog had rolled in and the glacier wasn’t visible at all, unfortunately.
We finally arrived in Franz Josef and got checked in to our hotel, the Rainforest Retreat…we had a Deluxe Tree Lodge and it was fantastic…with a view of the Franz Josef Glacier from our deck. There’s not much to the small town of Franz Josef, but this tree hut was a gem! It had a full living area, small kitchenette, a king bed, a twin bed, and a large bathroom.
It was just a quick walk from the hotel to the little town…maybe half a mile. There were several restaurants, a small convenience store to stock up on snacks and drinks, and a number of adventure tour offices. We met our group for our 2-Hour Lake Cruise on Lake Mapourika with Franz Josef Wilderness Tours. Our guide was very knowledgeable about the history of the area and the wildlife (we even saw black swans), we had beautiful views (the sun had come out by this time), and we brought our own wine and snacks to enjoy during the cruise. It was a great way to end the day.
DAY 2: FRANZ JOSEF TO CHRISTCHURCH
We had another 5+ hour drive on Day 2 of our road trip to Christchurch, so we grabbed breakfast at Full of Beans Cafe in Franz Josef before hitting the road. This was a cozy spot with a great selection of breakfast items, coffees, and teas.
One of the stops along the route that we didn’t have time for was Hokitika Gorge Walk, which is about 2 hours from Franz Josef. The full path takes about 1.5 hours out and back, and we didn’t want to take the time to do this. It’s similar to the Blue Pools, so I’d suggest just doing one or the other, but in hindsight I wish we would’ve taken the time to stop here.
The next stop was the Otira Stagecoach Hotel in Arthur’s Pass National Park, about 3 hours from Franz Josef. Built in 1865 during the gold rush, this historic hotel still operates with 8 rooms. It’s supposed to be interesting to see, but just a quick stop. Somehow we missed it though and didn’t turn back to try to find it.
Going back through while I write this blog, I’m realizing that we missed a lot on this day…I think we were just tired of driving (all the roads were super windy like the one in the picture below) and ready to get to Christchurch! We also struggled to find anywhere to eat along the way. We stopped at a convenience store for snacks, but that was about it. Driving through Arthur’s Pass was an experience in itself though…absolutely beautiful views.
The last stop was about 3.5 hours in to the drive, about 1.5 hours outside Christchurch. This was definitely worth a stop and hard to miss…Castle Hill (Kura Tawhiti). Amongst the green, rolling hills are these huge limestone boulders…it’s hard to appreciate how big they are until you get up close. There are trails throughout the park, as well as free restrooms, making this the perfect spot to stop and stretch your legs.
This was the last stop in our 2-day road trip from Queenstown to Christchurch with an overnight in Franz Josef. Check out my Queenstown and Christchurch itineraries for all the details on what we did there!