The South Island folds turquoise glacial lakes, limestone cliffs and rain-soaked fiords into a few hundred kilometres of road. The best South Island campgrounds put you inside that scenery rather than an hour’s drive from it, close enough to watch the light change from the door of your camper. Some are holiday parks with powered sites, hot showers and a kitchen block. Others are Department of Conservation (DOC) sites where a non-flush toilet and a cold tap are the extent of it. Hire a camper from Camplify and work these seven South Island campgrounds into your route.
1. Moke Lake, Queenstown
Moke Lake sits in a tussock basin 20 minutes from Queenstown, and the quiet arrives the moment the town drops out of sight behind you. The road climbs steeply off the Glenorchy highway before turning to gravel for the last stretch, past the smaller Lake Kirkpatrick. Check with your van owner before you commit a hired camper to that surface, and know that the final section can need four-wheel drive in winter. All 75 sites at Moke Lake Campsite are non-powered, and you have to book before you arrive, because DOC holds nothing back for walk-ins. A night costs $18 for an adult and $9 for a child. Facilities run to non-flush toilets, a shelter for cooking and a tap whose water needs boiling. That tap is turned off from May to September because the pipes freeze, so carry your own supply outside summer. Dogs are not allowed here and open fires are banned year round. The Moke Lake Loop Track runs 6 kilometres around the water, and a two-hour walk carries you over to Lake Dispute.
2. Lakes Edge Holiday Park, Tekapo
Lakes Edge Holiday Park runs down to the shore of Lake Tekapo, and it is the milky turquoise of that water against the Two Thumb Range that stops you mid-sentence. The sealed front-row sites are the ones to ask for, because nothing parks between you and the lake. Behind them sit cheaper shingle sites and unpowered grass sites, most of them eight metres square. Give reception your camper’s length when you book, and flag anything longer than eight metres. Powered sites need a current Electrical Warrant of Fitness on the vehicle, which is worth confirming with the owner before you drive south. Dogs get their own corner of the park, 11 unpowered and 13 powered grass sites with dedicated toilets, showers, a small kitchen and a laundry. No dogs are accepted between 15 December and 15 January. You are in the heart of the Mackenzie Country here, inside the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve, so the night sky earns as much attention as the lake does.
This Tekapo campground fits neatly into a road trip from Christchurch to Queenstown. Browse campervan hire in Christchurch and start the drive where the flights land.
3. Purakaunui Bay, the Catlins
The Catlins is the rugged, wind-worked corner at the bottom of the South Island, where the road runs past waterfalls and empty surf beaches. Purakaunui Bay Campsite puts you on the flat behind the beach, with cliff faces rising at either end of the bay. Forty non-powered sites are spread across the grass and none of them are marked out, so your booking covers your party rather than a numbered spot. A night costs $15 for an adult and $7.50 for a child, paid at the time of booking. You do need that booking rather than a hopeful arrival. Same-day sites can still be booked online until 8pm when spaces remain, so sort that out before you turn off for the bay. Facilities come down to non-flush toilets, an untreated tap and fireplaces where campfires are allowed outside a fire ban, so bring your own firewood. Dogs are welcome on a lead. There is no mobile coverage in the bay and the road in is narrow gravel, which suits the mood of the place. Purakaunui Falls are a short drive inland and Jacks Blowhole is ten kilometres north.
4. Milford Sound Campervan Park
Piopiotahi / Milford Sound empties out in the afternoon when the day-trip coaches head back down the Milford Road, and staying the night is how you get the fiord at its quietest. The Rainforest Campervan Park at Milford Sound Lodge holds just 20 powered sites under native canopy, and it is the only overnight campervan option in the sound. Those sites are for self-contained vehicles, so ask the owner to show you the van’s green self-containment warrant rather than assuming it has one. A portable toilet no longer meets that standard, and the transition to green warrants finished in June 2026, so there is no grace period left to rely on. Guests get a 24-hour kitchen and lounge, which matters when the rain arrives, and in Fiordland it usually does. Peak season from November to March carries a two-night minimum, and the park is often full from November through April. Book this stop first and build the rest of the route around it. Dinner at the lodge’s Pio Pio restaurant needs a booking too.
5. Punakaiki Beach Camp, Punakaiki
Limestone cliffs stand over the camp here and the Tasman Sea does the rest, throwing spray up a beach that is a minute’s walk from your door. Punakaiki Beach Camp sits between the two on the West Coast, with campsites tucked into native bush and 30 of them powered. Every site includes hot showers and use of the communal kitchen, which runs to stoves, microwaves, fridges, freezers and a dining room with a fire in it. There is a dump station on site, a shop at reception and a shuttle service for anyone walking or riding the Paparoa Track. The Pancake Rocks and their blowholes are a short walk south, and they perform properly on an incoming tide.
6. Driftaway Queenstown
Driftaway Queenstown tiers down towards the Frankton Arm of Lake Wakatipu, ten minutes from the airport, the supermarkets and the restaurants in town. The powered lakeview sites are the ones worth asking for, spread across the slope so that some look out from up high and others from the lower terrace. The park is careful to call them lakeview rather than lakefront, which is a useful thing to know before you arrive expecting water at the step. Standard powered sites take motorhomes and caravans up to 8.5 metres. The unpowered grass sites suit vehicles under six metres and are not set up for a motorhome or caravan. A split-level facility hub holds the bathrooms, kitchens, a barbecue area, a guest laundry and a ski-drying room for winter. Book one of the private hot tubs when the weather closes in, and let the children wear themselves out on the jumping pillow and the embankment slide.
Browse campervan hire in Queenstown if you would rather start and finish the trip here.
7. Kaiteriteri Reserve Campground, Tasman
Kaiteriteri Reserve Campground sits on the sheltered golden sand of Kaiteriteri Beach in the Tasman region. Nelson is about an hour’s drive back up the road, and the Abel Tasman coast begins just north of here. More than 400 powered sites mean there is room here for the sort of multigenerational family summer that needs three vans and a spare awning. Four amenity blocks carry the kitchens, showers, toilets and automatic laundries, and there is a store, a cafe and a restaurant on the reserve. A boat ramp, a wash-down and a fish-cleaning station sit close to the water for anyone bringing a boat. Labour Weekend has to be booked over the phone rather than online, so sort that date out early if you are chasing the long weekend. A larger motorhome suits a stay like this, with the space to keep everyone comfortable through a week of Tasman sun.
Cover image credit: Punakaiki Beach Camp
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