New Zealand

Overview

New Zealand's scale surprises people: the two main islands stretch 1,600km, and the South Island's West Coast can be raining while Canterbury, 60km east over the Alps, is dry and hot. It is a country designed for slow road travel, with a Great Walks system that is the best-run backcountry hut network anywhere.

Things to see and do

Four things worth building an itinerary around, rather than a list of everything.

• 01

  The Catlins

  A southern coast of sea lions, waterfalls and petrified forest, skipped by most Queenstown itineraries.

• 02

  Great Walks

  Ten multi-day tracks with booked huts; Routeburn and Kepler are alpine, Abel Tasman is coastal and gentle.

• 03

  Rotorua and Te Arawa

  Geothermal fields alongside the living Māori culture that has managed them for six centuries.

• 04

  Aoraki dark skies

  One of the world's largest dark sky reserves, and a set of Southern Hemisphere constellations to relearn.

When to go

The usable window is Nov–Apr. January is typically the warmest month and November the wettest; the shoulder weeks either side of the peak give you most of the weather at a fraction of the price.

Getting there and around

International arrivals concentrate on Wellington, and for most visitors that is the sensible entry point even when it is not the first place you want to be.

Overland

Roads follow the valleys, which means the shortest line on the map is rarely the fastest route. Buses are cheap and slow; a shared car is often the better use of a day.

Local transport

In Wellington, use the metered taxi or a ride app rather than negotiating at the kerb, and carry small notes — change is a genuine problem in most of the country. Intercity travel is worth booking a day ahead during the Nov–Apr peak.

Food and drink

Eat where the turnover is fastest. In New Zealand that usually means the market stalls at lunch and the neighbourhood places that open at seven and stop serving when the pot is empty.

Portions, timings and the position of the main meal in the day all vary from what you are used to. Ask what the kitchen is doing well today rather than reading down the menu, and order what the next table is eating.

Passport and visa

Current position: NZeTA required for visa-waiver visitors.

Most nationalities need a passport valid for six months beyond the date of entry, with at least two blank pages. Onward or return tickets are checked at the gate more often than at the border, and airlines apply the rule more strictly than immigration does.

• Check your own government’s travel advice as well as the destination’s rules — they update at different speeds.
• Where an e-visa or travel authorisation applies, apply through the official government portal. Search results are full of paid intermediaries.
• Keep a photo of your passport page and any approval separately from the documents themselves.

Money and costs

The currency is the New Zealand dollar (NZD). Card acceptance is normal in cities and patchy outside them; carry enough cash for two days of small purchases at all times.

Tipping

Rounding up is normal and welcomed; a set percentage is not universal. Check whether service is already on the bill before adding to it.

Health and safety

Standard travel advice applies: routine vaccinations up to date, comprehensive insurance that covers the activities you actually intend to do, and a pharmacy plan for the ordinary things rather than the dramatic ones.

• Carry oral rehydration salts. Most travel stomach upsets resolve in a day, and fluid loss is the part that causes trouble.
• Check whether your insurance covers altitude and trekking above 3,000m — many policies exclude it by default.
• Save the local emergency number to your phone on arrival, and note the nearest hospital to where you are staying.

Petty theft in busy tourist areas is the most common problem visitors report. Situational awareness handles nearly all of it.

Culture and etiquette

The official language is English, Te Reo Māori. Learning six words — hello, please, thank you, yes, no, and the number two — changes how a trip goes far more than the effort suggests.

Biosecurity is serious. Clean your hiking boots before you fly, or they will be cleaned for you.