Kaikōura
Good to know
- Best time to go
- Year-round; October to August for whale watching
- Budget
- $$
- Accessibility
- wheelchair-accessible
- Coordinates
- Open in maps
A coastal town on South Island's northeast coast where the Kaikōura Ranges descend almost directly into the sea, creating an unusually deep ocean trench that sustains year-round populations of sperm whales, dolphins, and New Zealand fur seals. Whale-watch boat tours and sperm whale observation flights operate from the town. The combination of snow-capped mountains and whale encounters at a single location is geographically rare.
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