New Zealand Trips

Kiwi classic

12 days

From the
New Zealand travel guide

Classy cities, geothermal eruptions, fantastic wine, Maori culture, glaciers, extreme activities, isolated beaches and forests: these are a few of NZ’s favourite things, and what you’ll want to see if you’re a first-time, short-trip visitor. Sample the best of both islands on this 3000km trip.

With just 12 days, you’re gonna have to move fast to squeeze in all the good bits, north and south!

The City of Sails, Auckland is a South Pacific melting pot – spend a few days here shopping, eating, drinking and savouring NZ at its most cosmopolitan and worldly. Truck north to the Bay of Islands for a dose of aquatic adventure, then scoot back to check out the forests and beaches on the Coromandel Peninsula. Further south in Rotorua, get a nose full of egg-gas, giggle at volcanic mud-bubbles and experience some Maori culture. Get your skates on and cruise down to Napier, NZ’s archetypal Art Deco sun-city. While you’re here, don’t miss the bottled offerings of the Hawkes Bay Wine Country. Down in Wellington, the coffee’s hot, the beer’s cold and wind from the politicians generates its own low-pressure system.

Swan over to the South Island for a few days to experience the best the south has to offer. Start with a tour through the Marlborough Wine Region, then jump on a boat/plane/helicopter for a close encounter with a massive marine mammal in Kaikoura. Refined, manicured Christchurch is next, followed by the coast road south to the wildlife-rich Otago Peninsula, which juts abstractly away from the Victorian façades of student-filled Dunedin. Try to catch some live music while you’re in town!

Head inland via SH8 to bungy-obsessed Queenstown. If you have time, you’ll never forget an encounter with Franz Josef Glacier and Fox Glacier on the West Coast. Play aeroplane hopscotch from Hokitika to Christchurch and back to Auckland.

by Charles Rawlings-Way, Lonely Planet author