Guides

Start with your question

How long have you got? Who are you with? What is the weather doing? Each guide answers one of those with the council's and DOC's own figures, not filler.

Photo: W. Bulach / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Itineraries by time2 hours, half a day, a day, a weekend Ferry travellersTerminals, before and after a sailing Without a carOn foot, by water, by coach Free things to doReserves, tracks, beaches, lookouts With kidsEasy tracks, boats, birds, a ship Rainy dayIndoors and weather-tolerant Beaches & baysFrom ten minutes' walk to a 25-minute drive Best viewsLookouts by walk and by road Day tripsThe Sounds, wine, the Kaikōura coast Practical informationBuses, parking, toilets, shops, distances Weather & when to goClimate, seasons, what to do in each Getting hereFerries, driving, the train

The itineraries

Picton's grassy foreshore reserve beside the harbour

Between sailings, or a cruise-ship morning

Two hours in Picton

Looking down on Waikawa Bay and its marina from the Snout track

Three to five hours

Half a day in Picton

Sheltered water and green hills at Okiwa Bay in the Grove Arm

A full day, no car needed

One day in Picton

Te Mahia Bay in the foreground and Kenepuru Sound behind, from the track

Two nights, three days

A weekend in Picton

A Picton water taxi launch underway in the Marlborough Sounds

On foot, by water, by coach

Picton without a car

A small playground with swings and a slide on grass at Momorangi Bay

Short walks, boats, birds and a ship

Picton with kids

Still winter light over the water at Picton

Indoor and weather-tolerant

A rainy day in Picton

Two Cook Strait ferries moored at Picton's terminals

What fits in the time you have

Before your ferry

Picton township and harbour viewed from an arriving ferry

Orientation in ten minutes

Just off the ferry