Welcome to our

New Zealand Travel Guide

Whether it’s adrenalin filled adventure of a lifetime or a relaxing luxury break, New Zealand has something for everyone. A diverse natural landscape, vibrant cities and charming rural towns together with a rich culture and friendly locals makes New Zealand the perfect holiday destination.

In this travel guide, based on our personal experience, you’ll find everything you need to know to help you plan an unforgettable holiday. From essential travel advice and insider tips to sharing must-do attractions and activities, we’ll help you to make your dream New Zealand holiday a reality.

Paddling at Raglan Pancake Rocks

Things to Do

From hiking and mountain biking to paddleboarding and bungee jumping, we share some of our favourite adventure activities. Prefer to just kick back & relax in a hot tub as you watch the stars? There’s some of that too in our A to Z activity guide.

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Tongariro Alpine Crossing

Places to Visit

In this section we list our Top 10 places to visit, we highlight New Zealand’s natural attractions with details on where and how to experience them and we give you a breakdown of New Zealand’s regions with links to our major city and region guides.

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New Zealand travel visa

Top Travel Tips

Our A to Z travel tips cover all of the important things you need to know before arriving in New Zealand, from rules regarding biosecurity on arrival to visas, weather and much more. It may not be the most exciting part of our guide but it’s essential reading.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Our New Zealand travel guide is full of useful information and we encourage you to explore it in detail. Not sure where to start? Below are a few commonly asked questions to help you on your way.

New Zealand is without a doubt a year-round holiday destination and while we may be a little biased, personally we think that there really isn’t a bad time to visit. But is there a best time to visit? For us, based on the kinds of outdoor activities that we enjoy (hiking, mountain biking and paddleboarding to name a few), we think that March through to May is a great time to visit.

This is autumn in New Zealand, or what’s referred to in tourism-speak as a shoulder season, and while it’s obviously not as hot as in summer, the weather is still warm and reasonably settled. But the main reasons why we like this time of year is because it’s less crowded and things like accommodation and paid activities and tours are generally cheaper.

If, for whatever reason, the autumn shoulder season doesn’t work for you, don’t let that put you off visiting. Regardless of when you choose to visit, with a little bit of planning, an open mind and an adventurous spirit, you can have a fantastic holiday, any time of the year. With that in mind you should definitely check out our dedicated Best time to visit New Zealand article. In it we share details on New Zealand’s tourist seasons, what you can expect from the weather throughout the year along with a few ideas on the kinds of activities that are popular in each season.

Unless you live in Australia (hello neighbour), the truth is that you’re probably going to spend quite a long time flying to New Zealand. There’s no escaping the fact that down here at the bottom of the Southern Hemisphere, we’re a world away from anywhere. This is not helped by the fact that, depending on your home country, you may not have the option of direct flights.

To give you some idea, flying from New York takes approximately 16 hours while from LA it takes around 12 hours. If you live in the UK or anywhere in Europe, expect to be in the air for at least 24 hours, with one or more stopovers.

But don’t give up on us just yet. There are lots of different flight options and in our dedicated flight times to New Zealand guide, we share details of the airlines that do fly direct along with average flight time from most popular visitor countries to Auckland, our largest international airport and where most travellers arrive.

Ah, the age-old question – North Island or South Island? It’s a tough one, and an excellent conversation starter no matter who you ask here in New Zealand. Both islands have so much to offer, from rich Maori culture to breathtaking mountain scenery and rolling hills that look like they were plucked straight from Middle Earth. So how do you decide which island is best?

If you forced us to choose, we’d have to say that overall, New Zealand’s South Island is probably better from a tourism perspective. But the truth is that there is no ‘best island’, there’s only what’s better for you based on things like how long you intend to stay and what you’re interested in doing.

Hiking opportunities in our spectacular National Parks? Both islands have got you covered. Beautiful beaches? You’ll probably want to head north. Fancy a spot of glacier trekking? You’ll have to go to the West Coast of the South Island for that. We think you get the picture.

The good news is that our A to Z New Zealand North Island vs South Island guide covers all of these things and more and once you’ve read it, you’ll be able to decide for yourself, which island is best.