Explore New Zealand – 6 Stages loop with Epic Moto Journey, a motorcycle road-touring route in New Zealand created for scenic riding and practical trip planning. This is a 6-stage route. Verify current road access, weather and local restrictions before departure.
Route area: New Zealand.
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Epic Moto Journey · Southern Alps & West Coast Loop (New Zealand)
New Zealand · South IslandWest Coast · Southern Alps · High CountryAll-tarmac
Southern Alps & West Coast Loop — Christchurch Base
A six-Stage ride that threads the Great Alpine Highway, glacier country, big-sky passes, turquoise lakes and a crisp coastal finish — returning to Christchurch only at the very end.
MAP
Nearest Airport(s)
Primary
CHC · Christchurch International
Best for start/finish logistics.
Alternative
ZQN · Queenstown
Useful if you shorten/extend via Otago.
Season note
Dec riding
Long daylight; alpine weather can flip fast.
Introduction
Start in Christchurch, where the plains meet the foothills, and aim your front wheel towards the Southern Alps. The first Stage follows the famous Great Alpine Highway, climbing through wide valleys and limestone outcrops before the land tightens into Arthur’s Pass. From there, the route drops into West Coast rainforest and the salt-air grit of Greymouth. Stage by Stage, you’ll drift south along SH6 into glacier country, where the road feels pressed between dense green and ice-carved grey. Past Fox Glacier, the Haast corridor delivers a cinematic change of tone: waterfalls, beech forest and the clean sweep of the pass before the lakes appear, glassy and cold, at Wānaka. The high country then opens: Lindis Pass rolls like a slow wave, and Lake Tekapo arrives in a wash of turquoise. Stage 5 is chosen deliberately to keep the kilometres honest while adding the high-country character of Twizel and Omarama before dropping to Oamaru’s Victorian streetscape. Only then does the loop close — a clean run back to Christchurch on the final Stage. Expect big surfaces, fast weather, and one of the best “variety-per-kilometre” rides in the South Island.
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