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Home » Riverside Market: Christchurch’s Cutest Lunch Spot

Riverside Market: Christchurch’s Cutest Lunch Spot

Riverside Market is a daily, enclosed farmers’ market in Christchurch, New Zealand. It’s a great place to have some lunch, browse around the shops, or have a cup of delicious coffee. Read on for everything you need to know about choosing a good food spot and making your visit a success!

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riverside market christchurch

What is Riverside Market?

Think of Riverside as a whole bunch of different food, drink, and snack vendors all under one roof. (It reminds me a lot of the Boqueria Market in Barcelona!) You can get all types of different cuisines and it’s open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In addition to restaurants, there are also vendors that sell produce, meats, and fancy cheeses.

The market is two stories tall, with lots of places to sit and an open floor plan. Around the outside of the building, there are more restaurants and heaps of outdoor seating.

outdoor seating at riverside market
riverside market: second floor lamps and stalls
cheese shop at riverside market

How to get to Riverside Market

Riverside Market is located on Oxford Terrace, right in the middle of downtown Christchurch. It’s adjacent to the Avon River and very close to the Bridge of Remembrance Arch. Since it’s close to all the popular shops and hotels, Riverside Market is easy to walk to if you’re visiting the city. There’s plenty of paid parking nearby as well.

Address: 96 Oxford Terrace, Christchurch Central City, Christchurch 8011

riverside market: castro's tapas and bar

Best time to visit

The market gets extremely crowded on weekends. It becomes rather difficult to walk through the throngs of people, and you feel like you’re in the way when waiting for your food. Because of that, I’d recommend visiting either on a weekday or right when it opens on the weekends.

Food stalls at Riverside Market

There are tons of different types of food you can get at Riverside Market. You’ll find everything from baked goods to Greek food to Asian fusion. From the several times we’ve visited, here is a list of some of our favorites:

  • Oat milk flat white from Empire Coffee
  • Turmeric latte from Aki Tea
  • Garden green juice from Pure Pulp
  • Gin flight from Curiosity Gin
  • Almond croissant from Bohemian Bakery
  • Spinach, feta, and onion gözleme from Izmir Delight
  • Sushi and seaweed salad from Hikari Sushi Train
  • Vegan meal and chicken skewers from Indo Tempeh

For a full list of all the food vendors at the market, click here!

riverside market: empire coffee cup
riverside market: almond croissant
riverside market: bakery with pastries
riverside market: aha bakery and pretzels sign
riverside market: cured meats stall

Book a tour in Christchurch

Thanks for reading this post on Riverside Market! Check out my other post here for more fun things to do (and places to eat!) in Christchurch.

xoxo Niki

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