Click HERE for a map of Nelson and surrounding areas

The town of Nelson is located on the northern coast of the South Island, on  the east shore of Tasman Bay.  It is an 88 mile drive (142 kms) from the inter-island ferry terminal at Picton, a one and a half our flight from Auckland, which offers a number of daily flights, and a 50 minute flight to Christchurch, which again is served by a number of daily flights.  Citylink Coaches also offer daily bus service to the island's main cities and towns.

The area around Nelson, including the town of Motueka, which is 10 miles away around the bay, is recorded as being one of the earliest to be settled by Maori tribes.  The current town was founded in 1841 by the New Zealand Company Ltd, in London, who purchased land from the local Maori chiefs.  Nelson was the second European settlement in New Zealand, and the first on the South island.  As you would have guessed, the town was named after the British naval hero, Admiral Horatio Nelson, and many of the towns streets and public areas are still named after people and ships that participated in the famous battle of Trafalgar.

Nelson is a major centre for New Zealand arts and crafts, and hosts two annual craft events, the Nelson Arts Festival and the Wearable Art Awards.  It also has the most small craft breweries of any town in New Zealand, so a few drinks are definitely on the menu!  Wine is also popular, with several vineyards and wineries in the region, and food is fresh, with local produce being used.

It is surrounded on three sides by mountains, with the fourth side fronting onto Tasman Bay, and within a short distance from the town center, there are golden sand beaches and stunning turquoise clear waters.  Nelson is the gateway to a number of the South Island's popular tourist attractions, such as Abel Tasman National Park, Kahurangi National Park, the Lakes of Rotoiti and Rotoroa, and the Nelsons Lake National Park.

For the adventurious who are into caving, the area offers some of the best cave exploration in the World, with several cave systems around the Takaka Hills, Mount Owen and Mount Arthur.  These areas offer the largest and deepest explorable caverns currently recorded in the southern hemisphere.

Accommodation in the Nelson area is huge and varied, with everything from backpackers hostels, farmstays, holiday parks and motels, to boutique hotels, B & B's and luxury lodges.

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