Twizel, New Zealand

Twizel () is the largest town in the Mackenzie District, in the Canterbury Region of the South Island of New Zealand. The town was founded in 1968 to house construction workers on the Upper Waitaki Hydroelectric Scheme. Twizel has a resident population of 1,650 (June 2020); during the summer, holidaymakers nearly triple the town's population. Twizel is 37 km (29 minutes drive) east of Lake Ōhau, 30 km (20 minutes drive) north of Omarama and 60 km (42 minutes drive) south of Tekapo.

The present town was built in 1968 by the Ministry of Works as a greenfields project to house workers constructing the Upper Waitaki hydroelectricity scheme. The name comes from the nearby Twizel River, in turn named for Twizel Bridge in Northumberland by John Turnbull Thomson, Chief Surveyor of Otago in the mid-19th century.