Astro Café

Christchurch & Canterbury


This glass-walled pavilion atop Mt John has spectacular 360-degree views across the entire Mackenzie Basin – just maybe one of the planet's best locations for a cafe. Tuck into bagels with salmon or a stonking slice of bacon and egg pie. There is a charge of $8 per car to access Mt John, but it's worth it for the views.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Christchurch & Canterbury attractions

1. Church of the Good Shepherd

1.45 MILES

The picture window behind the altar of this pretty stone church (built in 1935) gives worshippers a distractingly divine view of the lake and mountains;…

2. Fairlie Heritage Museum

19.33 MILES

A somewhat dusty window on to rural NZ of old, this museum endears with its farm machinery, model aeroplanes, dodgy dioramas and eclectic ephemera…

3. Ngāi Tahu Lake Pukaki Centre

21.42 MILES

Opened in 2019, the Ngāi Tahu Lake Pukaki Centre presents the historical, geological and Māori cultural background of the lake and the region. Don't miss…

5. Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre

25.49 MILES

This multimedia museum opened just three weeks before the 2008 death of the man regarded by many as the greatest New Zealander of all time, explorer and…

6. Tasman Glacier

26.3 MILES

At 27km long and up to 4km wide, the Tasman is the largest of NZ's glaciers, but it's melting fast, losing hundreds of metres of length each year. It is…