Arthur’s Pass

Arthur's Pass is the 740-metres-abovesea-level key link between the east and west coasts. It is a 2-hour drive from Christchurch and 1.5 hours from Greymouth. Some visitors arrive by road and others by rail on the TranzAlpine train, a daily service from Christchurch to Greymouth.

If the tiny township of Arthur's Pass were elsewhere, it'd be nothing out of the ordinary. A small cluster of shops, accommodation options, several cafés, restaurants and the Arthur's Pass DOC Visitor Centre sit either side of State

Highway 73 as it connects the two coasts. But the scenery, atmosphere and history of Arthur's Pass make it an essential stop.

In a valley beside the Bealey River, walled with skyscraper-high beech-clad slopes, the tiny alpine settlement sits about 5km south of the pass from which it takes its name. The place is abuzz with young travellers, aboutto-set-off hikers, just-returned trampers, happy tourists and holidaymakers breathing in the crisp air of the Southern Alps (Kā Tiritiri o Te Moana) and absorbing the natural beauty and heritage of the setting. Historically, however, those who made their way to this remote mountainous zone came on foot. The pass was the Ngai Tahu route for east-west crossings and local Maori were instrumental in advising newly arrived European settlers in Canterbury of its existence. When English surveyor Arthur Dobson and his younger brother Edward traversed the saddle of the Bealey Valley in 1864 it set the wheels in motion for access from Christchurch to the burgeoning gold fields of Hokitika. Within 2 years the first coach crossed the Southern Alps – the route named Arthur's Pass after Dobson. In the late 1950s the Arthur's Pass YHA Hostel opened in the village along with the Visitor Information Centre – the country's first national park museum.

Today early tunnel workers' cottages are cute and cosy holiday homes and the village bustles 7 days a week as tourists and travellers from around the globe drink coffee, meander the main street and engage in the alpine pursuits available on the doorstep.