Explore Christchurch

Cathedral Square is the cross-shaped square at the centre of Christchurch, laid out in the 1850 town plan around Christ Church Cathedral. The cathedral, damaged in the 2011 earthquake, stands behind construction fencing while it is reinstated; around it are the Chalice sculpture of 2001, the 1867 statue of John Robert Godley and the old Chief Post Office.

New Regent Street is a short pedestrian street in central Christchurch, built as a private development in the early 1930s with 40 shops in the Spanish Mission style. Its pastel facades, listed as a historic area, line the loop of the heritage tram, and the ground floors hold cafés, bars and small shops.

Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū is the city's public art gallery, opened in 2003 on Worcester Boulevard as the successor to the Robert McDougall Art Gallery of 1932. Its curved glass-and-steel building holds the city's collection of New Zealand and international art and presents changing exhibitions.

The Cardboard Cathedral, formally the Transitional Cathedral, is the Anglican cathedral used in Christchurch since ChristChurch Cathedral was damaged in the 2011 earthquake. Designed by Shigeru Ban with Warren and Mahoney and opened in 2013 opposite Latimer Square, its A-frame roof rests on large cardboard tubes and its front is a wall of coloured glass triangles.

The Arts Centre Te Matatiki Toi Ora occupies the Gothic Revival buildings of the former Canterbury College and the city's boys' and girls' high schools, many designed by Benjamin Mountfort from the 1870s. Restored after the 2011 earthquake, its stone quadrangles, Great Hall and clock tower now hold galleries, studios, shops and Rutherford's Den.

The Christchurch Botanic Gardens cover 21 hectares inside a loop of the Avon River beside Hagley Park, in the centre of the city. They were founded in 1863 with the planting of an English oak, and hold collections of New Zealand and exotic plants, several conservatories, a playground and lawns along the river, where boats pass.

Riccarton House and Bush is the estate of the Deans family, the first British settlers on the plain where Christchurch stands. The house, built in 1856 and enlarged in 1874 and 1900, is shown on guided tours; beside it are Deans Cottage of 1843 and Riccarton Bush (Pūtaringamotu), a fenced remnant of kahikatea forest with trees up to 600 years old.

Ferrymead Heritage Park is an outdoor museum in the Heathcote Valley, founded in 1964 beside the site of New Zealand's first public railway of 1863. Volunteer societies run its recreated Edwardian township of cottages, a school, a church and shops, along with collections of trams, trains, fire engines, printing presses and telephones.

The Air Force Museum of New Zealand opened in 1987 at Wigram, the first operational base of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, in south-west Christchurch. Its halls show aircraft from the First World War to the jet age, including a Spitfire, an Avenger and a Skyhawk, alongside uniforms, photographs and the story of New Zealand military aviation.

New Brighton Pier is a 300-metre reinforced-concrete pier in the Christchurch suburb of New Brighton, opened in 1997 on the site of a timber pier of 1894 that was demolished in 1965. Repaired after the Canterbury earthquakes and reopened in 2018, it leads from the beach out over the surf of Pegasus Bay.

Willowbank Wildlife Reserve is a wildlife park in Harewood, in northern Christchurch, opened in 1974 and home to about 95 species. A nocturnal house shows kiwi in daytime, and visitors also see takahē, kea, tuatara and longfin eels in its stream, as well as rare farmyard breeds and animals from abroad such as lemurs and otters.

The Christchurch Gondola is a 1-kilometre cable car that opened in 1992 and climbs from Heathcote Valley up Mount Cavendish in the Port Hills. The summit station, 445 metres above sea level, has a café and the Discovery Ride on the area's history, and looks across the city and the Canterbury Plains to the Southern Alps and down into Lyttelton Harbour.

The International Antarctic Centre is a visitor centre on Antarctica beside Christchurch Airport, next to the Christchurch bases of the New Zealand, United States and Italian Antarctic programmes. Visitors walk through an Antarctic storm room, watch little blue penguins being cared for, ride a Hägglunds all-terrain vehicle and see exhibits on Antarctic science and history.