New Zealand in 21 days: both islands, at a pace that stops
Three weeks is the length at which both islands stop being a compromise. The difference between this and the fifteen day version is not that it goes further. It is that almost nothing here is a one-night stop, the long drives have a day either side of them, and there is room to lose a day to weather
- Duration
- 21 days
- Pace
- Moderate
- Hotel changes
- 12
- Best months
- Nov, Dec, Feb, Mar, Apr
- From
- $6,510 per person
It is still a driving trip, and the drives still take a third longer than any map suggests. We have written the real times below.
Who it suits: first-time visitors with three weeks, and returning visitors who saw the highlights the first time and want the parts in between.
Day by day
Day 1: Arrive Auckland. Transfer and nothing.
Day 2: Waiheke Island. The ferry across the gulf for wine and beaches, and an easy first full day while the clock resets.
Day 3: To the Coromandel. Collect the car and drive east, about 2 hours 30 minutes to Hahei. Afternoon on the beach.
Day 4: The Coromandel. Cathedral Cove by boat, and Hot Water Beach in the window either side of low tide, where you dig your own hot pool in the sand. Tide times are in your document because they decide the day.
Day 5: Waitomo and Rotorua. West and south, about 3 hours 30 minutes with the glowworm caves in the middle. Three nights in Rotorua.
Day 6: Rotorua, geothermal. Whakarewarewa, a living Māori village on a geothermal field, guided by the people who live there. Wai-O-Tapu or the quieter Orakei Korako in the afternoon. An evening at a marae with a hangi, booked with a family operation rather than a coach product.
Day 7: Rotorua, open. The redwoods, the lake, rafting on the Kaituna, or a day doing very little. Nothing booked.
Day 8: To Taupo. An hour’s drive with Huka Falls on the way. Two nights.
Day 9: Tongariro. The Alpine Crossing, about 12 miles (19.4 km) over an active volcanic landscape, with a booked shuttle at both ends because trailhead parking is limited. Fully exposed and weather-dependent, which is exactly why it sits inside a three week trip with a spare day either side.
Day 10: To Hawke’s Bay. East and south, about 2 hours 30 minutes to Napier, rebuilt in art deco after the 1931 earthquake. Afternoon walking the town.
Day 11: Hawke’s Bay. Syrah on the Gimblett Gravels and Chardonnay in the limestone hills, with a driver, and a lunch that runs long.
Day 12: To Wellington. South through the Wairarapa, about 4 hours, with Martinborough on the way. Two nights.
Day 13: Wellington. Te Papa, the cable car, Zealandia for birds you will not see elsewhere, and the best small-city eating in the country.
Day 14: The Cook Strait and Marlborough. Drop the car and cross as foot passengers, about 3 hours 30 minutes, ending through the Marlborough Sounds. Collect a second car in Picton. Afternoon at a Sounds mussel farm.
Day 15: Marlborough to Kaikoura. Three cellar doors in the morning with a driver, then south down the coast, about 2 hours. Night at Kaikoura.
Day 16: Whales, then inland. Sperm whales are resident here year round because the trench comes close to shore, so it is one of the few wildlife mornings that reliably delivers. Afternoon drive to Christchurch, about 2 hours 30 minutes.
Day 17: To Aoraki. Inland to Lake Tekapo and the Mount Cook village, about 4 hours. Two nights. Evening under the Aoraki Mackenzie dark sky reserve.
Day 18: Aoraki. The Hooker Valley Track, about 6 miles (10 km) return across three swing bridges to a lake with icebergs in it. Afternoon on the Tasman Glacier lake or a ski plane onto the ice.
Day 19: To Queenstown. Over the Lindis Pass, about 3 hours 30 minutes, with Arrowtown at the end. Three nights, and we would usually put you at Glenorchy rather than in the town.
Day 20: Glenorchy and the Dart. The lake road, about 45 minutes, then the Dart valley by jet boat or on foot. Afternoon free.
Day 21: Milford, or Fiordland properly. The last full day, and there are two honest answers. A long day trip to Milford Sound, 178 miles (287 km) each way with a cruise in the middle, or, better, we move nights around earlier in the trip so this becomes an overnight at Te Anau and a cruise on Doubtful Sound instead. Then Queenstown for your flight out. Where the international timing is tight we add a Queenstown or Christchurch night rather than run a connection against a clock.
What is included
Accommodation with breakfast, two hire cars either side of the ferry with all fees, the Cook Strait crossing as foot passengers, the Cathedral Cove boat, the Waitomo caves, the Whakarewarewa guided visit and a geothermal park, the marae evening with a hangi, the Tongariro shuttle at both ends, the Hawke’s Bay and Marlborough tasting days with a driver, the Sounds mussel farm, Kaikoura whale watching with the alternative if it is cancelled for sea state, Te Papa and Zealandia arranged, the Aoraki scenic flight with a weather alternative, the Dart valley morning, the Fiordland cruise, a day-by-day document with real driving times and the stretches with no phone coverage, and a WhatsApp group with your specialist and our partners on the ground.
What we would change, and when
- Would rather add Fiordland and the West Coast than the Coromandel? Our own preference. Cut days 3 and 4, add the Haast Pass and two nights at Franz Josef between Wanaka and the coast, and be warned that the sandflies there are relentless.
- Want a Great Walk inside it? Entirely possible and it changes the planning order completely, because the huts release on one fixed date each year and the popular tracks go in minutes. We would build the three weeks around the walk rather than the other way round.
- Travelling December to February? Nine to twelve months of lead time, and Queenstown, Te Anau and Aoraki are the constraints. A three week route with late bookings ends up in the wrong towns.
- Want to add Stewart Island? Three days at the end, from Bluff, for a real chance of a wild kiwi at night. It is the best wildlife in the country and it is the thing three week itineraries most often should include and do not.
Related
Shape this trip around us All New Zealand, where the drive always takes longer than the map says trips