Belfast, Canterbury Map

About Belfast, Canterbury

Belfast is a locality in the Canterbury Region of New Zealand. It has a population of approximately 4,900. It sits at an elevation of around 10 m above sea level. It lies approximately 9 km north of Christchurch, the regional capital. Belfast is located at 43.4500°S, 172.6333°E. It observes New Zealand Time (NZST/NZDT). Statistics New Zealand classifies the area as a small urban area.

Belfast rests on a fertile plain, where the land, a patchwork of cultivated fields, stretches towards the gentle rise of the distant Bald Hills. It lies 9.3 km north of Christchurch (from Christchurch: bearing 0°T), and is situated 8.0 km south of Kaiapoi. The air here carries the earthy scent of turned soil and the fainter, sweeter perfume of blossoming orchards in season. Across the flat expanse, the Styx River threads its way, a ribbon of grey-green water reflecting the wide Canterbury sky, its banks occasionally softened by stands of native bush, a stark contrast to the neatly organised farmland. The light, especially in the late afternoon, has a peculiar softness, filtering through the wide-open skies to cast long, languid shadows that stretch and deepen across the property boundaries.

The history of Belfast is tied to the steady pulse of agriculture, a place where generations have worked the land, nurturing it for crops and livestock. The local economy, deeply rooted in dairy farming and horticulture, provides a quiet hum of activity, evident in the passing trucks laden with produce and the well-maintained farm buildings that dot the landscape. While not a hub of grand historical monuments, the area holds a subtle narrative of hard work and resilience, a testament to the settlers who shaped this corner of the Canterbury region. The nearby Burwood Plantation offers a pocket of verdant refuge, a place where the rustle of leaves can almost whisper tales of earlier times, a counterpoint to the organised, productive rhythm of Belfast itself.

About This Belfast Map Page

This page provides an embedded street and satellite map of Belfast, Canterbury, New Zealand at coordinates -43.45, 172.63333. Use the Map and Satellite buttons to switch views, the plus and minus buttons to zoom, and Fullscreen to fill the screen.

Search Maps opens a second, independent map with four things the embedded map cannot do. It searches OpenStreetMap for any New Zealand town, suburb or landmark by name. It offers LINZ topographic maps as a base layer — the official Topo250 and Topo50 sheets, switching scale automatically as you zoom, and the standard reference for tramping, hunting and back-country travel. It offers LINZ aerial imagery down to 5cm resolution in urban areas. And it can take a single GPS fix from your device and report your position as both an NZTM2000 grid reference and plain latitude and longitude — the grid reference being what New Zealand search and rescue services work from. Map tiles require mobile coverage, but a GPS position does not, so the coordinates remain correct even where the map itself cannot load.

My Location & Navigate starts the vector-tile navigator: live turn-by-turn driving directions from your current position to any destination, with spoken guidance, lane hints and automatic re-routing.

Live weather conditions with current observations and a 7-day forecast are powered by Open-Meteo. Real-time New Zealand and world news feeds keep the page current, while an editorial description provides background on Belfast.

Belfast sits within the Canterbury Region. Location data is drawn from the GeoNames geographical database and verified by coordinates, ensuring the correct Belfast is identified even where the name is shared across multiple New Zealand localities.