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Arrival and information
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Christchurch Airport
, 10km northwest of the city centre, stays open day and night so you may well find yourself arriving at the international terminal at some ungodly hour. Fortunately there's an ATM, plus a foreign exchange booth and a
visitor centre
(tel 03/353 7774, fax 353 7754) which both stay open for all flights. In addition, there's a freephone board in the arrivals hall for accommodation and car rental bookings, and many Christchurch hotels will provide a free pick-up service from here if you've already booked a room. Failing that, there is one airport hotel
. The domestic terminal is next door and also has a visitor centre (Mon-Sat 6.30am-8pm, Sun 7.30am-8pm; same phone), beside which is a
left luggage
office (daily 6am-11pm; $1 per hour or $8 per day). Checked items can be retrieved out of hours by contacting security.
City buses connect the airport with the central Cathedral Square every 30-60min (Mon-Fri 6.45am-9.15pm, Sat 8am-9pm, Sun 8am-7pm; $2.70); while various shuttle buses operate a door-to-door service (roughly every 20-30 minutes, although departures depend on demand; $6-10) linking the airport with the Christchurch destination of your choice. There are taxi ranks in front of the airport terminal building (otherwise ring Blue Star on tel 03/379 9799 or Gold Band on tel 03/379 5795), with the ride into town costing around $20. Trains arrive at Addington Street Station at the southwestern tip of Hagley Park, just over 2km from Cathedral Square. You can pick up a shuttle bus ($3-5) or taxi ($8-10) from the station into the centre, although city buses don't serve the train station directly - you have to walk 400m down the station access road to the nearby thoroughfare of Blenheim Road to pick up bus #25 into town.
Most of the long-distance
bus
companies conveniently drop off at the major hostels and some hotels around town as well as near the visitor centre
usually for no extra charge provided you are staying in the central area bounded by the so-called "Four Avenues" - Moorhouse, Fitzgerald, Bealey and Deans. Cathedral Square itself is within easy walking distance of most of the hostels, major hotels and some of the B&Bs and motels. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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New Zealand,
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