The South Wairarapa District Council controls the south-east tip of the North Island of New Zealand.

The district is part of the Wellington region, although historically the Wairarapa as a whole has often been regarded as a separate region, and the people of South Wairarapa have more ties with other centres to the north of the district than they do with the capital itself.

The district includes towns such as Featherston, Martinborough (a well-known wine-producing area, with central streets forming a Union Jack pattern), and Greytown (where Arbor Day was first celebrated in New Zealand).

The topography of the district includes the floodplain of the Ruamahanga River and the associated Lake Wairarapa, as well as the long southern stretch of Palliser Bay and the eastern slopes of the Rimutaka Range, the crest of which forms the western boundary of the district. The southernmost point of the North island, Cape Palliser is in the South Wairarapa.

Shibboleth: New Zealanders tend to refer to "The Wairarapa", rather than just "Wairarapa", and this usage coarries over to the constituent parts of this former region. Thus, South Wairarapa is usually referred to as The South Wairarapa.