New Zealand with children

A route that works for two adults will not work for a family, and the reason is not that children are difficult. It is that an adult route assumes four to six hours in a car is an acceptable price for arriving somewhere better, and for a seven-year-old it is not.

Here is what we change, what works, and what we would leave out.

The six things we change

1. Nothing over three hours

This is the rule that shapes everything else. On a family route we cap driving days at about three hours, and we would rather have three hours twice than six hours once. That immediately removes some legs we would otherwise build: Christchurch to Franz Josef over Arthur’s Pass, and Te Anau back to Aoraki, are both family-route breakers as single days.

The solution is not to drive faster. It is to split the leg with a night in the middle, or to remove the region. Our honest driving times is the document we plan from, and it already assumes the stops.

2. Three nights per base, not two

Adults tolerate a two-night rhythm. Children need somewhere to be bored in, unpack into and come back to. On a family trip we build three-night bases and accept that this means fewer regions, which is a better trip anyway.

3. Motel units and holiday parks, not hotels

New Zealand’s most useful accommodation category barely exists in Europe or Asia: the motel unit, which is a self-contained apartment with a kitchen, a washing machine and usually two bedrooms, at a price close to a hotel room. Holiday parks add a playground, a pool and other children.

For families this beats a boutique lodge in almost every practical way, and it is the reason a family trip often costs less per day than a couple’s trip on the same route. We will build lodges into the trip where they genuinely earn it, usually for two or three nights out of thirteen.

4. One big activity per region, not three

The signature New Zealand days are expensive and they are also long, and the third one in a week is the one the children stop enjoying. We build one per region: a helicopter or a jet boat or a boat or a cave, and then two days of beaches, short walks, playgrounds and swimming around it.

5. The North Island gets more weight

Most adult first trips are weighted to the South Island and we would keep it that way. Family trips are the exception. The North Island has shorter drives between things, warmer sea, the geothermal parks, Maori cultural life at its most accessible, the glowworm caves and Hobbiton, and it is simply easier ground for a family with primary-school children.

6. A rest day that is not a driving day

At least two days in a thirteen-day trip where the car does not move. A beach, a pool, a playground, a laundry, a long lunch. Parents resist these in planning and name them afterwards as the days that made the trip work.

What works, by age

Age and height minimums for adventure activities are set by the operator and vary, and they are checked at the counter rather than negotiated. Bungy, jet boats, rafting and canyon swings all have them. We confirm the exact limit for the specific operator on your dates before it goes into a proposal, because a fourteen-year-old being turned away at a Queenstown counter is a bad afternoon.

What genuinely works well

Rotorua and Taupo. Geothermal parks where the ground steams and smells of sulphur, which children find far more interesting than adults expect. A guided evening at a marae is the best cultural experience in the country for a family and children are usually included properly rather than tolerated. Add Huka Falls and a hot pool.

The Waitomo glowworm caves. A boat under a ceiling of light in the dark. It is short, it is genuinely memorable, and it works from about four years old.

Wildlife you can actually see. Fur seals along the Kaikoura coast, yellow-eyed and little blue penguins on the Otago Peninsula and in the Catlins, albatross at Taiaroa Head, and on Stewart Island a real chance of a wild kiwi at night. The distance rules around seals, sea lions and penguins are legal requirements rather than suggestions, and children take them seriously when a guide explains why.

The Hooker Valley Track at Aoraki, about 6 miles (10 km) return over three swing bridges to a lake with icebergs floating in it. Flat, spectacular, and the swing bridges are the attraction rather than the obstacle.

The Abel Tasman by water taxi. Walk one section, get collected from a beach, swim. The single best family walking day in New Zealand, and the only multi-day track we would build with children on it.

Hobbiton, if the films mean something in your house. It is well run and it delivers exactly what it promises.

The Queenstown luge and the gondola, which is the one Queenstown adventure activity with no age barrier and no adrenaline requirement.

Eating. Cafes are excellent and universally child-friendly, portions are large, and the fish and chips are a national institution. See what to eat in New Zealand.

What does not work

The West Coast glaciers with young children. The valley walks no longer reach the ice, and getting onto a glacier means a helicopter with an age minimum and a weather risk. It is a long drive for a viewpoint and a wet town with the worst sandflies in the country.

A one-night stop anywhere. Two hours of unpacking for eleven hours of sleep.

Milford as a day trip from Queenstown. Roughly twelve hours of coach or car for two hours on the water. From Te Anau it is a reasonable family day. From Queenstown it is not.

Both islands in two weeks. With children this becomes a transport exercise. Two weeks is one island. See how many days you need.

Late-December and January without booking very early. Peak season is peak for New Zealand families too, and the holiday parks and motel units that suit you are exactly the ones that fill first.

Campervans with children under about six. They work well for some families and the failure mode with small children is specific: everyone is in the same room, the driving is slower on every hill, freedom camping is restricted and enforced, and the good holiday parks in January are full anyway.

The practical points

• Car seats are a legal requirement and the rules are specific by age and height. Hire companies supply them and we book them at the same time as the car, but check the fit yourself at the desk.
• The sun is fierce. Burn times are short even on cool days, and children burn on the beach at Abel Tasman in a way that surprises northern-hemisphere parents.
• Sandflies on the West Coast, in Fiordland and on the Abel Tasman beaches at dusk. Covered ankles and repellent.
• Water is drinkable everywhere from the tap.
• Coverage disappears between towns in Fiordland, the West Coast and the Catlins. Download what the children watch in the car before you leave the town.
• Biosecurity is strict. Declare all food, including anything in a child’s bag, and clean walking boots before you fly.

What it costs

Land only, per person, based on two adults sharing, excluding international flights. Children sharing a family motel unit typically reduce the per-person average rather than adding a full share, which is the one place where a family trip is cheaper than a couple’s.

The activities sit on top and we cost them line by line so you can choose. Our New Zealand with children route in 13 days is this article turned into a document.

Plan this trip

Tell us your children’s ages and your dates, and we will build a route with the driving honestly capped and the activities checked against the age limits for your actual dates. Free, and with no obligation.

Start planning

Related

• New Zealand: the complete guide to planning your trip
• New Zealand with children, 13 days
• The real driving times in New Zealand
• What to eat in New Zealand
• How many days do you need in New Zealand?

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