New Zealand for the first time
Most first New Zealand trips are planned the same way, and they go wrong in the same three places. People choose the country because the photographs are extraordinary, they build a route that visits every one of those photographs, and they discover on about day five that the country is small on a ma
This article is what we say on the first phone call. It is the list of things that surprise people, followed by the decisions we would make differently if we were planning our own first trip.
What surprises people
The drives are longer than the map says
This is the single biggest correction we make to a draft somebody sends us. The roads are excellent and slow: two lanes almost everywhere, constant curves, one-lane bridges, and long stretches where overtaking is not possible. The open road limit is 100 km/h, about 62 mph, and you will very rarely average it.
Add a third to whatever your mapping app says, then add the stops, and the stops are the point of the country. A drive quoted at four hours is a six hour day once you have pulled over three times. Our real driving times gives the honest numbers for every leg we use.
Peak season books out a year ahead, not three months
December to February is high summer, and in Queenstown, Wanaka, Aoraki Mount Cook, Te Anau and Milford the good accommodation and the boat and flight capacity go close to a year in advance. Domestic holidays layer on top of international visitors from late December into January.
We say this not as a sales line but because a January enquiry that arrives in September gets a different and much narrower answer about what is still available. If your dates are fixed to the school holidays, ask early and accept that the shape of the trip will be decided partly by supply.
The Great Walks are booked on one day of the year
The eleven Great Walks are allocated through a system that opens on a single announced date each season, and the Milford and Routeburn huts sell out within minutes of that opening. A walking trip here is not planned around your annual leave, it is planned around that date. If a specific track is the reason for the trip, we need your dates six to eight months ahead and a second and third choice ready.
The activities cost more than the hotels
New Zealand’s signature days are expensive: a helicopter onto a glacier, a jet boat, a heli-hike, an overnight cruise on Milford or Doubtful Sound. Two or three of them is a real line in a budget, and it is common for the activity spend on a two week trip to exceed the accommodation spend at the careful end. We quote them separately so you can choose rather than discovering them as extras.
The weather is not a season, it is a day
Four seasons in a day is a literal description in the mountains rather than a phrase. Layers and a waterproof belong in every month, including January. The ultraviolet is unusually strong and burn times are short even on cool days, which catches out people who judge the sun by the temperature.
Milford Sound rains on roughly two days in three, and Milford in rain is arguably the better version, with hundreds of temporary waterfalls running down the walls that are not there on a clear day. The mistake is not the rain. The mistake is booking a single Milford day with nothing behind it.
Sandflies
On the West Coast, in Fiordland and on the Abel Tasman beaches at dusk they are relentless. They go for ankles and wrists and the bites itch for days. Covered skin and repellent are the only answers, and we mention it in the first proposal because people arrive unprepared and it genuinely colours their memory of a place.
The two islands are different countries
The North Island is geothermal, Maori cultural life is at its strongest, the towns are closer together and the driving is easier. The South Island is alpine, emptier, colder and the reason most people come. Trying to do justice to both in fourteen days produces a driving holiday rather than a trip.
What we would do differently
One island on two weeks, and we would choose the South
The most common improvement we make. Fourteen days across both islands means the Cook Strait ferry, two long transit days and a permanent sense of being behind. Fourteen days on the South Island alone is the trip people describe afterwards as the best they have taken. See the South Island in 14 days, and how many days you actually need for the full ladder.
If both islands are the requirement, the honest length is seventeen to twenty-one days. Our classic fifteen day route does a version that keeps the North Island deliberately tight.
Fewer bases, more nights in each
We aim for two or three nights in most places, and we will push back on a route with six one-night stops. In a self-drive country, six one-night stops means six mornings of packing, six check-ins and no evening anywhere. Cutting one region almost always improves a trip more than upgrading every hotel in it.
Sleep outside Queenstown
The accommodation premium in Queenstown and Wanaka is larger than anywhere else in the country, and the town itself is the busiest place you will visit. Arrowtown, twenty minutes away, and Glenorchy at the head of the lake are quieter, cheaper and better, and Glenorchy is where the road to the Routeburn and the head of Lake Wakatipu begins.
Build in a spare day before you need one
Scenic flights do not fly in cloud. The Milford road closes for avalanche control. The ferry occasionally does not sail. We do not put a fixed, unrepeatable commitment on the far side of an evening crossing, and on any trip with a helicopter or a boat in it we write down what you do instead if it does not go.
Travel in March, April or November if you can
Settled weather, warm days, far fewer people, lower rates, and in late April the autumn colour through Central Otago and around Arrowtown and Wanaka is the most beautiful the South Island gets. November is the other window we push hard: everything open, long light, the Great Walk season underway and the crowds not yet arrived. The full picture is in New Zealand month by month.
Cross the strait without the car
Taking a hire car on the Cook Strait ferry is expensive. It is usually cheaper to drop the car in Wellington, cross as a foot passenger and collect a new one in Picton. We arrange it that way by default.
What it costs
Land only, per person, two people sharing, excluding international flights. Accommodation, food, the hire car and fuel, the ferry, entries and normal activities.
| Style | Per day | 10 days | 14 days | 21 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Careful: motels and good B&Bs, self-drive throughout | $200 | $2,000 | $2,800 | $4,200 |
| Comfortable: strong 4 star and country hotels | $310 | $3,100 | $4,340 | $6,510 |
| Boutique: small lodges, selected private days | $480 | $4,800 | $6,720 | $10,080 |
| Luxury: top lodges, private guiding, scenic flights | $800 | $8,000 | $11,200 | $16,800 |
The month moves that number more than the standard of hotel does. January in Queenstown against March in Queenstown is a large gap for an identical room. The line by line detail is in what two weeks in New Zealand really costs.
The practical things nobody tells you
- Entry. Most visa-waiver nationalities need an NZeTA approved before boarding, plus a visitor levy. It is not issued on arrival and airlines check it. We confirm the current rule and fee for your passport and dates, and send you the official link rather than a copy of a rule that might be a year old.
- Biosecurity. Strict and taken seriously. Declare all food. Clean your hiking boots and tent pegs before you fly, because soil on footwear is a real issue and inspections happen.
- Driving on the left. If it is new to you, the first two days are the risk, and the specific hazard is turning out of a car park onto an empty rural road.
- Fuel. Fill up in towns. There is no fuel between Te Anau and Milford, and the gaps on the West Coast and in the Catlins are long.
- Phone coverage disappears between towns in Fiordland, the West Coast and the Catlins. Route notes need to work offline.
- Unsealed roads are excluded by most rental agreements, including some that look like ordinary routes on a map. That rules out a few short cuts people plan.
- Cards work almost everywhere and tipping is not expected.
- Wildlife distance rules around seals, sea lions and penguins are legal requirements rather than suggestions.
Plan this trip
Send us the dates you have and the shape of the trip you imagine, and a New Zealand specialist will build a first outline with real lodges, honest driving times and the reasoning behind the order of the days. Free, and with no obligation.
Related
- New Zealand: the complete guide to planning your trip
- How many days do you need in New Zealand?
- New Zealand month by month
- The real driving times in New Zealand
- Classic New Zealand in 15 days
Frequently asked questions
Is two weeks enough for New Zealand?
Do we need a four wheel drive?
Is a campervan a good idea for a first trip?
When should we book?
Plan a trip to New Zealand, where the drive always takes longer than the map says All New Zealand, where the drive always takes longer than the map says trips