When to Go

When to Go

Choosing the best time to come to the Christchurch area depends largely on your tolerance for crowds. In summer, Christchurch is especially busy as its events calendar gets the city buzzing. Christchurch could be called the Festival City of New Zealand. The city council runs the Summertimes program from New Year's until late February, offering free classical music concerts and other activities in Hagley Park. Mid-January brings a World Buskers Festival; the Festival of Flowers & Romance is held in late January or early February. The city's older buildings are celebrated in Heritage Week in October. And in July 2007 the city will be host of the next Arts Festival.

The other main consideration is weather. The song by New Zealand band Crowded House about "four seasons in one day" barely exaggerates the local climate. Summer days can be chilled by a sudden east wind, and the nor'wester can be calm and warm one day and blustery the next. Winter's weather (June-September) is more settled but colder than summer's, and though some activities close down, the lack of crowds can make traveling easier. For skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports, this is the time to come. From the first weekend in June through October you can be assured of snow at Mt. Hutt, the first local ski area to open and often the last to close. Snow in Christchurch, though, is a rarity.