Trails › New Zealand › Lake Forsyth

Christchurch to Little River Rail Trail

In Lake Forsyth

Trail16 km · 10 miEasy · 3/10Best Aug–Jun

Next nearby hike: Te Ara Pātaka 7 mi · 12 kmExplore Lake Forsyth →

New ZealandCanterburyTe Ara Pātaka · CanterburyCanterburyEndStart5 kmN ↑

Christchurch to Little River Rail Trail other trails nearby (tap a dot to open it)

Get directions · Google MapsApple Maps

NZ Department of Conservation (CC BY 4.0) · OpenStreetMap · Official page · Basemap: OpenFreeMap (OpenMapTiles, © OSM contributors).

7-day forecast

Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0)

Best time to hike

Best months: Aug–Jun · highs 11–21 °C (52–70 °F)

  1. J21°13°44
  2. F21°13°44
  3. M19°12°50
  4. A16°10°56
  5. M13°7°76
  6. J11°5°79
  7. J10°4°89
  8. A11°5°93
  9. S13°6°46
  10. O15°8°57
  11. N17°10°51
  12. D19°12°51

Average high °C · low °C · precipitation mm per month. Highlighted: best months.

How we pick months

Best months are those where the 1981–2010 average daily high is 10–27 °C (50–81 °F), the average overnight low is 0 °C (32 °F) or warmer, and average precipitation is 200 mm (7.9 in) or less. Values are long-term monthly averages for the ~1 km cell at the trail point on the map, from CHELSA V2.1 climatologies (Karger et al., CC0), not a forecast. Higher or more exposed parts of a route can be colder, wetter or snowier.

About this trail

The whole 46 km-long walkway and cycleway runs from Hornby in Christchurch to Little River on Banks Peninsula. The Motukārara to Little River section described here covers 20 km.

NZ Department of Conservation (CC BY 4.0).

Trail facts

Length
16 km · 10 mi (DOC route geometry)
Source
NZ Department of Conservation (CC BY 4.0)
Difficulty
Easy (3/10) (Easy · NZ Department of Conservation difficulty (CC BY 4.0))
Official page
doc.govt.nz/link/c68bd6a5a00d4242940e21acec0
Lake
Lake Forsyth (GeoNames)
Nearest town
21 km S of Diamond Harbour (Christchurch City, Canterbury) · GeoNames
Best months
Aug–Jun
Country
New Zealand
Continent
Oceania
Route centre
-43.8156, 172.6996
How it’s scored

Easy (3/10). Official rating: Easy · NZ Department of Conservation difficulty (CC BY 4.0).

A score is omitted when we do not have an official rating or enough measured length and elevation gain to compute one. Nothing is guessed. Read the NPS method: https://www.nps.gov/shen/planyourvisit/how-to-determine-hiking-difficulty.htm

Hikers can rate difficulty from 1 to 10 (1 = flat, short, easy walk for anyone; 3 = gentle hills, a little effort; 5 = moderate climbs, some fitness needed; 7 = steep or long, solid fitness required; 10 = extremely strenuous or technical; long steep climbing; experienced hikers only). The community average is shown once at least 3 people have rated the trail; until then the official or computed score is used when we have one.

Nearest trails

distance from the trail centre

All 1,167 trails in New Zealand →