Bit of a lifelong ambition to get to NZ and it’s looking possible for the first half of 2026, if that’s deemed a good time. A couple of forum members have already kindly offered some suggestions. We aren’t hugely into active sports, so not fussed about climbing/surfing etc.
A few on the tick lists, Milford Sound, possibly the Tongariro Alpine walk, maybe Hobbiton, some of the larger cities. I’d like to visit Rotrura, even just to hire a half day ride. Some of the more spectacular glaciers would be good to see and I do like a train ride and I’ve seen there are plenty to go at.
I could probably wangle four weeks off work and thinking that three nights in Singapore on the way down would break it up, but not sure what the best route back is, just get home is the shortest time possible, as I don’t really want to have more days eating into the time in NZ.
Is car hire for three weeks feasible, and economic?
I’m also guilty of overthinking things and three weeks there simply might not be enough.
Flight prices seem “OK” for economy, but is it worth stumping up the extra for premium economy? I’m based in the North, near Manchester airport. Would it be worthwhile getting to London for more flexibility, better prices?
Happy to hear suggestions and tips. And critique!
Think there is at least 2 other threads with tips & ideas. We flew into Christchurch got the train to greymouth & hired a car there to see some of the west coast for a few days, then train back before hiring a car from Apex nr Christchurch airport - a lot cheaper than the usual hire places. Then stayed on the south island for just under 3wks in total. Fantastic place, enjoy.
Your 3-4 weeks will go quickly, and you've picked disparate points already. Maybe consider just the South Island and see it a bit better, or fly between the south of South Island and central North Island with 7-10 days for each. +1 to lots of previous threads. You don't take hire cars across on the ferry, you leave one on one island and pick up another on the other. We found flying fitted better with where we wanted to go. Do consider multi day stuff like hikes to really get into the nature.
yep 3-4 weeks, just do the south island. NZ is a big place and the roads can be slow. Campervan? They are expensive to hire and lots of areas have freedom camping bans so the idea of pulling up and camping at some wild beach won't be happening.
NZ main holidays through to mid-January, then its quieter after that.
Queenstown is the greatest place on earth.
Milford sound is *beautiful* - I was lucky to be travelling solo and pulled for the scenic flight back over the Remarkables instead of the 6 hour return on the bus. 10/10 - would recommend.
If seeing real live penguins in the wild, just pottering about the place and paddling in the sea whilst little cute dolphins brush past your legs, then Curio Bay (right at the very bottom of the South Island) is worth a drive. There is *nothing* else down there, apart from a surf shack/school so I'd spend a few days there catching some waves (I only had time for one night).
Enjoy - it's a fabulous country.
Literally just looking at this right now. I've just asked Claude for a 25 day itenerary but with fewer changes of hotels:
I'll create a well-paced 25-day New Zealand itinerary with just 6-7 accommodation bases, so you can settle in and explore each region without constant packing.
I've created a 25-day itinerary that keeps you at just 6 bases across both islands - you'll only pack and unpack 5 times total! Each base serves as your home for 2-6 nights while you explore the surrounding region through day trips.
Key highlights:
- North Island (10 days): Auckland, Waiheke Island, Hobbiton, Rotorua's geothermal wonders, and Wellington
- South Island (15 days): Queenstown as your main hub (6 nights!), Milford Sound, Franz Josef Glacier, and Christchurch
- 3 flexible buffer days for weather, rest, or extending your favorite spots
The longest stay is 6 nights in Queenstown - perfect since it's the adventure capital with endless day trip options including Milford Sound, Glenorchy, Arrowtown, and Wanaka.
Pro tip: Consider flying Wellington to Queenstown instead of the ferry + long drive - it saves a full day of travel and you'll arrive fresh for the South Island adventures.
Would you like me to adjust the itinerary based on specific interests (adventure activities, wine, hiking, relaxation) or the time of year you're traveling?
Also based around MAN but looking at flying via Beijing for a few nights to see the wall. Chinese carriers are pretty cheap as long as you don't mind flying over Russia.
I haven't been for 15+ years, but have been a few of times.
You can do the highlights of the north island in a week (Northland / Bay of Islands / RotoVegas / *maybe* Napier / Welly) , then three weeks in the South Island will be splendid.
My highlights from all trips - in order of preference (for me).
Dolphin Encounter in Kaikoura / Heli-hike on the Franz Joseph.
Overnight Milford Sound trip
Diving in Bay of Islands
The Nevis (also did Kawarau + the Swing in Queenstown, but I think that might be gone now)
edit: Air NZ used to do free stopovers - we flew via LA, Cook Islands (def worth a visit while you're over that way), NZ and back via Hong Kong
And critique!
20 tonnes of CO2 according to this calculator:
https://co2.myclimate.org/fr/flight_calculators/new
Knowing that I wouldn't enjoy the holiday but we're all different. Happy hols. 🙂
Did just over 2 weeks back in 2019 and had a great time.
We drove from Christchurch down to Queenstown with a few 2/3 day stops along the way.
Really enjoyed:
Hobbiton, we’re big LOTR fans but think it would be interesting if you weren’t
Rotorua, the thermal pools and mountain carts
Waitomo glow worm caves
Kaikoura - loved the combination of mountains and sea. Did the whale watching but didn’t see anything
Polar Centre Christchurch - bit cheesy but good fun
Favourite accommodation - red cottage Stavely, ( https://www.redcottages.nz/) Great couple of cottages in the middle of nowhere, outdoor baths, cinema barn and log fires everywhere
Things we were less keen on:
Queenstown - Wasn’t into mountain biking then so maybe would feel different now but felt like the town was cheap and catered too much for the party/skiing crowd. Didn’t really get on with it. Was due to do a flight over to Milford Sound but had both days cancelled due to weather so maybe that influenced our feelings.
I spent a month there, touring round in a 1966 VW camper. Highlights:
Diving in Milford Sound and the Poor Knights islands
Walking on the Fox glacier.
Sky diving over Mt Cook.
The Kepler trail and Tongariro crossing.
Cycling round the vineyards in Marlborough.
Swimming with dolphins in the Bay of Islands.
I now live in Rotorua, so I can definitely recommend a stop here and my recommendations might be slightly North Island biased!
The Rotorua trails are awesome and world class. Unless you are quite fit, you may want to go the eBike hire route, or get some shuttle passes to take you to the top of the biggest and best trails. Eagle vs Shark and Split Enz trails are absolute must do's. The entire climb from the trail centre to the top of Split Enz alone will typically take me around 35-40 minutes, for example (and I'm reasonably fit). Most bike shops in town will sell you a handy goggle 'wiper cloth' map of the trail system, or you can use Trailforks app to find your way about. Bike hire is available at the trail centre (Waipa), or various bike shops in town. Shuttle passes, you can get online.
For car hire - the cheapest (and best in my opinion!) will be RaD (Rent a Dent) car hire. They used to literally be old banger rental back in the good old days, but they've gone a bit up market now, the cars are all good and modern, but the prices are still competitive. 3-4 weeks car rental shouldn't be eye-wateringly expensive. Only 6 years ago, when I rented a Mitsubishi Colt from them when we first arrived here, the manager told me as long as I brought it back "in the same shape", it would be okay 🤣 How times have changed..
As a N Island resident I can only be slightly biased in my recommendations. But there is a lot to see here alone. It just depends on what is your preference. Hobbiton is good for a laugh, but not exactly my cup of tea, Waiheke Island is an amazing sub-tropical getaway from Auckland - and worth the spectacular ferry journey alone. If you don't have time for this (it's a whole day out!) - just taking the ferry across to Devonport, near the CBD will suffice. Rangitoto Island is also worth a visit - if you like 600 year old volcanic islands.
The Coromandel region on the west is less-visited, but well worth exploring. Waitomo glow-worm caves in central N Island are a must-do in my opinion. Rotorua has all the spectacular geothermal stuff both in town and 50kms south, plus geothermal spas, which is worth spending at least a few days on, particularly if you hit also up the trails. Plus a great authentic Maori experience in Whakarewarewa Village.
After that, Tongariro Crossing is spectacular - you may need to book your shuttle bus well in advance though.
Taranaki region in the far west is also spectacular, but quite low-key apart from the amazingly beautiful volcano.
The drive down to Wellington is a long way (Rotorua to Wellington alone is like going from London to Edinburgh, but on slower single-carriageway roads). Here, you can get a ferry to the South Island. **You will need to book your ferry well in advance through the high season** Check out the different ferry companies for the best price too. After that... you can hit up all the many, many S Island gems on your way down. It may be best to consider doing a one-way car hire - say Auckland to Christchurch - then flying back to Auckland. Driving distances will be further than you expect.
Finally, if you are considering a 2026 trip - late Jan into Feb is best for the weather. Around Christmas / NY, the weather can be a bit unsettled, certainly in the N Island, with wet tropical systems rolling through. It settles down later.
Oh and finally, finally, don't get fixated on all the bucket list things to see here. NZ is actually at its very best when you go off the beaten path, away from the crowds and head to some of the beautiful quiet places that all the tourists overlook. A map, car and a curious mind will help here. Only the locals know this!
4 weeks would allow you to do a whistle stop tour of most of the best stuff, plus a few esoteric locations between Auckland and Chch. It will be a lot of driving though. Alternative would be car hire Auckland - Auckland, then fly Chch and return car hire from there - this option would make it difficult to see the lovely Nelson region, Abel Tasman and Kaikoura though. My call would be one-way car hire. You'd also need to get your internal flights booked in advance too..
Oh yes, forgot... Northland region, Bay of Islands, Paihia, ferry across to Russell are dreeeaaammy 🙂 , but will be going totally the wrong direction from Auckland if you want to head south.
You'll regret going all that way and not visiting the bra fence
There's often threads about this and you could easily end up with a 'must do' list that would take several years to work through. When we lived in NZ we met quite a lot of folk who were trying to cram a lot in - understandable given the cost/hassle of the travel. Quite a lot of folk seemed pretty wired about trying to see the whole place and it didn't seem like a huge amount of fun.
We'll probably go back for a trip at some point, and when we do I think we'll pick a few things that we really want to do and leave a good bit of time between them. Rather than spend days at a time driving around, take the time to stop and enjoy places along the way. Try and leave the FOMO at home.
We're doing 3 weeks in January this year, and bar 2 nights in Auckland, we're just staying in the South island. We took a view when planning that we'd rather do less thinks properly than rush and see bits of lots. We also find constant travelling exhausting so have an extra night or 2 in places that others wouldn't.
Roughly, we're seeing:
Kaikoura
ChCh
Franz Joseph (though given how much the glacier has receded I'm not sure how much we'll see)
Wanaka
Milford Sound
QT
Mount Cook and Lake Tekapo
Auckland
We've got a car for some of it, and are also doing the TranzAlpine railway.
Thanks all for the input. I’m coming to the realisation that I’ve probably vastly underestimated the size of the place, logistics and how much there is to see.
So now I’m kind of struggling to come up with any sort of itinerary. Here for x days, see this n that, then to somewhere else for Y days, to see something else.
Drawing board needs dusting off…
We did 4 months pre-kids back in 2005-2006 and still felt like we missed "bits".
We did a lot of backcountry hiking, a fair bit of sea kayaking and a lot of "going and looking at stuff..."
Obviously thigs will have changed a bit and I'll be forgetting stuff but if I was doing 4 weeks I'd:
1) Try and get at least a couple of nights in mountain huts. You might need to book the huts and you'll very likely need to book a van shuttle as lots of hikes are one way.
2) Get out on water as much as possible, be that on sea kayak, whale watching boat or even something like https://www.rocktheboat.co.nz/
3) Our favourite places off the top of my head were Wanaka, Takaka (Golden Bay and Abel Tasman/Kahurangi in general), Arthur's Pass, Kaikoura and Te Anau
4) You could fly around but the Ferry into Picton was pretty scenic and obviously driving around you can stop and look at things as you go.
No more to add from the above I don't think, but back in the late 90s we did the South Island, 'based' in Christchurch because of family, but spent most of it travelling. We got to Doubtful Sound, Franz Joseph Glacier (we were meant to get a helicopter to the top then hike down, but the weather wasn't favourable, so we just hiked part of it), Mt Cook, Nelson, Kaikoura, Greymouth and Dunedin (I think) over four weeks. The one massive disappointment for me was Queenstown – it was when I was doing loads of riding, so got booked in on a full day riding – it was probably crap research on my behalf, but we didn't really have the internet to research back then, however the experience was awful – watered down trails and we were asked to get off and walk 'technical' bits that weren't even beginner standard in the UK back then (although I convinced the guide to let me ride them). But overall, a great experience, and I did have some chilli king prawns overlooking the lake in Queenstown that took my breath away, and I still remember fondly to this day, so I do have one good memory of the place.
We are going out in January for 6 weeks to visit our daughter before her visa runs out. Staying with her in Rotoura before moving on to the South Island.
She has sorted out the itinerary which will include a lot of riding. Just got the final touches to sort out.
See, now I’m wondering if we delay this, as retirement is imminent next year, and do six weeks/two months in Oct/Nov? It’s a blooming long way to rush stuff and miss things trying to squeeze too much in…
Some random contributions:
bookabach.co.nz is good for accommodation
if you go slightly longer (later in the year, like you are contemplating) it might open up longer term car hire rates. contact firms to ask. otherwise just hire when you need, you'll probably fly some of the time anyway.
OR look at https://www.transfercar.co.nz/ for one way cheap (even free) cars. it's incompatible with pre-booking. but when it fits your plans, it's amazing.
Emirates have (in my view/experience) the best timed flights from Manchester to the South Island: evening departure, morning in Auckland (+2 days) giving you a late - afternoon arrival to the South Island. (Or go with them to Christchurch - arrive earlier but still jet-lag friendly). This is better than faffing for 2 days in Singapore or wherever, or taking flights at (or with connections at) rubbish times which increase your recovery time on arrival and steal time from your trip.
see the cities is an ... idiosyncratic entry on your tick list 🙂
Tongariru is on fire right now. I don't think there will be long term damage affecting your plans, but it's not totally clear yet.
Stargazing evening in the hot springs at Tekapo is ace
Oamaru for penguins
Waitomo glow-worm caves in central N Island are a must-do in my opinion.
Forgot about that - yes, they are awesome.
If post retirement trip is an option meaning more time there ,then 'it's a no brainer 'you should wait. Up to 6 months on a UK passport and more than doubling your financial spend due to an extemely weak Dollar. Oct -Nov less predictable weather wise (see recent England Cricket tour for evidence of that). A much more reliable Jan, Feb Mar means you get great weather plus missing most of the UK winter. Do you want to take in the MTB or sight see because they could be two completely seperate holiday experiences more time allows for both.
If you want MTB Rotorua and something like the Old Ghost Road/Paparoa-Pike River trails are a must but there are many others just as good.
Defo wait! Perfect way to kick off retirement!
Waitomo glow-worm caves in central N Island are a must-do in my opinion.
Forgot about that - yes, they are awesome.
Glow worm caves are available in Hokitika south island too.
We spent 3 months in New Zealand in the 1990s. We did a big canoe trip in the North Island then cycled the length of the south island stopping off to do cool stuff.
With all these trips you’re trying to match the country to what you like doing.
So bearing in mind I’m not you
No urban area was worth spending time in. Ok maybe the commuter boat trip across the bay in Auckland. We spent time in Auckland, Wellington and Christ Church visiting friends and doing to admin. For us this was VISAs and jsbs for India. Queens Town is great for booking stuff but it’s not special as a town
The kayaking at Abel Tasmin and Doubtful Sound was great
The hut to hit hiking was great. It varied massively in difficulty. If you want to know more ask
Milford Sound was great
I wish we’d been whale watching. We dolphins and penguins but not on special trips
Campsites have kitchens. This makes camping easier and way more sociable
Oh we're doing NZ photos now are we?
First 2 are from the Heaphy Track and the last one is from Tongariro Northern Circuit...
I am extremely grateful to all the contributors to this thread, but I’m now getting extremely overwhelmed by the possible logistics of this. A sizeable part of my thought process is now to push this back and go for longer. It’s a 30hour flight, so something I’d like to avoid having to repeat..
Or maybe I’m overthinking it…
No urban area was worth spending time in. Ok maybe the commuter boat trip across the bay in Auckland. We spent time in Auckland, Wellington and Christ Church visiting friends and doing to admin. For us this was VISAs and jsbs for India. Queens Town is great for booking stuff but it’s not special as a town
This was our experience too, we spent Christmas in the Northern Suburbs of Auckland with family which was lovely, but really we were only in towns between adventures to recover a bit, restock food and gear.
It can feel like a lot of planning, but it'll be worth it and I think however long you go for you'll want to go back. You can't do it all.
We spent march in NZ (my first time, but partner has family there so her third) and it was great. I think March was a good choice, the weather was for the most part very nice, but being shoulder season things were quieter. My tips would be
Auckland is nice enough but a bit dull. Waiheke island was great and we did a day trip to glow worm caves (we went to a smaller one called spellbound which was great and my partner much preferred to the main one she'd been to before)
Wellington was a much nicer vibe, more interesting and the best non-pie based food in NZ (I love a pie, but there's only so many you can eat). Funicular was great as was Zealandia.
Kapiti coast is nice and chill.
We did a bit of bussing in the North island which was ok (and good value) but I'd probably rent a car next time
A day riding in Rotorua on an ebike was awesome, Te Puia was great and the polynesian spa was worth visiting and the rafting was a great experience. town itself isn't nice though
South Island was fabulous, rented a car in Christchurch and did a lap. Didn't feel we'd missed out on having a van at a lot more money. NZ police are much hotter on speeding than here, so be careful.
I thought Milford Sound was a bit overrated and touristy, i think I'd do one of the other sounds next time.
Driving round the South Island and stopping as and when for a brown sign etc was great and didn't involve too much planning.
Hooker valley trail was busy but worth it.
Christchurch is nice, not super exciting, but good for a chill day or two.
Queenstown was nice in the sun but pricey and based around activities, could easily be skipped.
Personally I found the flying there to be ok in one hit Heathrow to SF then SF to Auckland as the rip was ahead of us and exciting, but the way back felt much harder and more miserable and I wish we'd broken it up (if only for a day or so). Flights were actually pretty reasonable via Air New Zealand, premium economy was over twice the price so we went cheap and managed to get a row of 3 to ourselves for 3 of the 4 flights which made things a lot nicer, so I'd maybe aim for less popular flights
Can I come please? I'm near Manchester Airport too and always fancied this trip.
NZ police are much hotter on speeding than here, so be careful.
Cough - Can confirm! - Cough
I'm just going to paste in a spreadsheet - how else would you summarise a honeymoon?
This was December 2010. Ebikes were not a thing, the Queenstown gondola did not take bikes - that's obviously my excuse to use a helicopter to get to the top.
We avoided all cities - because you can get those anywhere (we lived in London at the time).
We were heavily advised to go to Doubtful Sound not Milford. Doubtful was amazing, but can't obviously compare as didn't go to Milford as well.
We hired a car in Auckland, dropped it off in Wellington, picked a different one up on the South island, then flew back Queenstown to Auckland.
Has anyone mentioned that Rotorua smells of fart?
There is so much to do, that you could go for 6 months and then see something on the last day that you wished you'd seen/done so don't try and cram in everything you see. We did 4 weeks South Island in a hired camper (a little Mazda Bongo so small/basic but easy to get around in) and then across to Sydney for NYE for a few days and back to North Island just to chill out for a couple of weeks in the Coromandel and used that as a base for day trips to Rotorua/Taupo to Skydive etc.
What I mainly learned was that we over-planned and tried to do too much, the bits I enjoyed the most were the Routeburn/Greenstone/Caples trails which we walked over three days staying in the mountain huts and also when we broke down on Christmas Eve in Franz Josef and spent a few days under the glacier socialising with other travellers and locals, followed by Doubtful & Milford Sounds by Kayak/Seaplane.
If I was going for under a month I'd probably go to one island and give myself a more leisurely schedule, then try and go back a few years later if I could/wanted to see the other island.
Most of our trip has been finalised this morning. Just had the bike hire for one to sort out, as I'm using daughters Enduro and a heli ride for the Kaimanawa Descent
Bike hire for 6 weeks riding was going to be expensive and flying one bike out and back was £400. Thinking out side the box this morning found a 2023 Giant Reign 2 for sale at £1000. Had a chat with daughter with a view to buying it and leaving it behind for her to re sell.
A hour later and she has picked it up with a bit more of a discount in so bike now sorted 😎
We did 4 weeks in NZ in Feb. this year and flew into Queenstown (via Singapore) and did a one way car hire and flew out of Auckland. It's very possible to do (almost) the length of NZ/both islands in 4 weeks, without feeling like you are constantly driving, but, we found we definitely missed things, or didn't have long enough in places that we'd have liked to stay in longer.
Our big high light was 'The Old Ghost Road', I couldn't recommend that enough !!! But, hire sleeping bags, rather than carrying them. You get the combination to a Lock Box at the hut, and just remove them when you arrive, place them back in the next morning (you do have to take your own sleeping bag 'liner' though, but they pack up tiny). It allows you to pack much much lighter and allows the adventure to be a proper Mountain Bike ride, rather than a 'Bike Packing' thing.
It doesn't sound like you are taking bikes with you, but for those that are planning this in the future and do want to take bikes,
1 read your airlines luggage allowance carefully, we we're nearly caught out by Singapore Airlines, to the figure of well over a thousand pounds ! and
2. definitely, fit an Air Tag (or similar Android compatible tracker) into your bike bag. Our bikes didn't arrive in Queenstown for 3 days, and WE had to keep phoning the airline/airport and telling THEM where they were !!!