Haast is not really one town but a loose scatter of Haast Junction, Haast township, and Haast Beach at the wild southern end of New Zealand's West Coast. It sits where State Highway 6 leaves the rainforest and rivers of the Haast Pass and reaches the Tasman Sea.
The reason to stop is the landscape. This is the edge of Te Wahipounamu, the UNESCO-listed South West New Zealand wilderness, where podocarp forest, braided rivers, wetlands, and empty beaches crowd close together. The weather can be brutal and beautiful in the same afternoon.
Haast works best for travellers driving between Wanaka and glacier country who are willing to slow down. Give it a spare day and you can walk among kahikatea and dune forest at Ship Creek, look over the coast at Knights Point, and detour inland to Roaring Billy Falls. It is remote, damp, and memorable.