Romantic New Zealand in 11 days: lodges, lakes and an overnight fiord
Eleven days, South Island only, five bases and no attempt to see the country. The point of this route is that you stop somewhere good for two or three nights at a time and drive between them on roads that are themselves the reason to be here.
- Duration
- 11 days
- Pace
- Relaxed
- Hotel changes
- 5
- Best months
- Nov, Dec, Feb, Mar, Apr
- From
- $5,280 per person
It also contains the two best nights we know of in New Zealand: a clear evening under the Aoraki Mackenzie dark sky reserve, and an overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound with the engines off.
Who it suits: honeymooners and couples who want lodges, long lunches and empty roads rather than a list of sights.
Day by day
Day 1: Arrive Christchurch. Transfer to a small hotel in the city or out on Banks Peninsula, depending on your arrival time. Nothing scheduled.
Day 2: To Aoraki. Collect the car and drive inland across the Canterbury plains, about 4 hours, with Lake Tekapo and then Lake Pukaki opening in front of you. Both are that colour because of glacial rock flour, not because of a filter. Two nights at a lodge in the Mackenzie country with the mountain at the end of the valley.
Day 3: Aoraki. The Hooker Valley Track in the morning, about 6 miles (10 km) return across three swing bridges to a lake with icebergs floating in it, and the best short walk in the country. A ski plane or helicopter onto the Tasman Glacier in the afternoon if the weather allows, with the alternative written down if it does not. Then the stars, which in a dark sky reserve at this latitude are a scheduled activity.
Day 4: To Glenorchy. South over the Lindis Pass and along Lake Wakatipu, about 4 hours, ending at the quiet head of the lake rather than in Queenstown. Three nights here, which is the single decision that makes this trip work.
Day 5: The Dart valley. A jet boat up the Dart river and a walk into the beech forest at the top, or horses through the flats, which is a better way to see this valley than anything with an engine. Afternoon reading.
Day 6: Central Otago. East to Gibbston and Bannockburn for Pinot Noir, with a driver so nobody is counting, and lunch that runs long. Arrowtown in the late afternoon, which in April is gold from end to end.
Day 7: Doubtful Sound. Drive to Manapouri, about 2 hours 30 minutes, then across the lake and over Wilmot Pass to the fiord. An overnight cruise: kayaks in the afternoon, an anchorage for the night, and a few minutes with every engine and light switched off, which is the quietest place either of you will ever have been. Doubtful is longer to reach than Milford and almost everybody who does both prefers it.
Day 8: To Wanaka. Back across the lake in the morning and north, about 3 hours 30 minutes via Queenstown and the Crown Range, the highest sealed road in the country. Two nights at Wanaka.
Day 9: Wanaka. The Rob Roy Glacier track in the morning, about 6 miles (10 km) return up a valley with a hanging glacier at the end of it. Afternoon on the lake, or nothing.
Day 10: To Queenstown. A short drive back over the Crown Range, about 1 hour 30 minutes. Last night in Queenstown or back at Glenorchy, and a dinner we book two months out.
Day 11: Departure. Queenstown airport is ten minutes from town.
What is included
Lodge accommodation in the room category we recommend, the hire car for the whole route, the overnight Doubtful Sound cruise with all meals, the Dart valley morning, the Central Otago wine day with a driver and lunch, the Aoraki scenic flight with the weather alternative costed, restaurant reservations that need booking months ahead, a day-by-day document with real driving times, and a WhatsApp group with your specialist and our partners on the ground.
What we would change, and when
- Only have nine days? Cut Wanaka and give the nights to Glenorchy. It is the base we would protect over everything else on this route.
- Travelling December to February? Book nine to twelve months out. The lodges here are small and the overnight Doubtful cruise has a fixed number of cabins, so this is the route where late enquiries hurt most.
- Want the West Coast and the glaciers? We would add three days and route Wanaka to Franz Josef over the Haast Pass. We would also tell you that the sandflies on that coast are genuinely unpleasant, which on a trip built around being outdoors together is worth knowing before you go.
- Prefer Milford to Doubtful? An overnight cruise runs on Milford too, and it is shorter to reach. It is also busier. We will book either and we will say which we would choose.
Related
Shape this trip around us All New Zealand, where the drive always takes longer than the map says trips