Christchurch
City in New Zealand: population, location, elevation, climate and landmarks.
Overview
Christchurch is a city in New Zealand, in Canterbury. About 419,200 people live in the city proper, making it the 2nd largest city of New Zealand in our atlas.
It lies at 43.53° S, 172.63° E, about 14 m (46 ft) above sea level, and keeps time on the Pacific/Auckland time zone.
Location
Red dot: Christchurch. Green dots: other major cities of New Zealand. Map data: Natural Earth.
Climate
Christchurch has a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb). The warmest month is usually Jan, with average highs near 24°C (75°F); the coolest nights come in Jul at about 2°C (36°F). Around 844 mm (33 in) of rain and snow falls in a typical year, spread fairly evenly through the year.
Bars: average daily high and low (°C) for each month; blue columns and figures: average precipitation (mm). Gridded 2001-2025 averages from NASA POWER, so mountain and coastal spots can differ from local station records.
Landmarks and places to see
Popular sights within a few kilometres of the city centre, ranked by how widely they are documented on Wikipedia.
What to eat in New ZealandNational dishes, street food, desserts and drinks on Intercontinental Chef.Nearby major cities
- Population, coordinates, elevation, time zone: GeoNames 2192362 (CC BY 4.0)
- Wikidata Q79990 (CC0)
- Climate: NASA POWER 2001-2025 climatology
Text written by Geographical Effect from these sources.
- ManchesterCourts1 annzstream: Ann (Helen) Devereux from Christchurch, New Zealand, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- New Building, Old Facade: Allie Hogg, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Ravenscar House Museum: Quilt Phase, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Canterbury Television building, 2004 crop: Canterbury_Television_Building_in_2004.jpg: Phillip Pearson derivative work: Schwede66, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Mona Vale - Avon River: Lorne Douglas, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
