Best known for its gorgeous landscapes and wild beauty, New Zealand is a destination featured on many people's bucket lists. Incredible adventures await those who journey there, but planning the trip can be daunting. To help you get started, I've put together tips on crafting your itinerary, booking recommendations, as well as budgeting considerations based on our experience. Hopefully, this guide will aid you as you plan your own epic trip to New Zealand.
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About New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It's made up of two main landmasses - North Island and South Island - plus over 700 smaller islands.
North Island
North Island (Māori name: Te Ika-a-Māui) is the more populous island despite being the smaller of the two main islands. Not only is North Island home to New Zealand's largest city, Auckland, but also to New Zealand's capital city, Wellington.
In addition to its vibrant cities, North Island has plenty of natural beauty to explore. Enjoy beautiful beaches, geothermal attractions and volcanic valleys, mystical glowworm caves, and taste delicious wine at gorgeous vineyards. And if you're a fan of The Lord of the Rings, visit the Shire on a Hobbiton Movie Set Tour.
South Island
South Island (Māori name: Te Waipounamu) is the largest island in New Zealand and is separated from North Island by the Cook Strait. Despite its size, South Island is home to only 23% of New Zealand's population (as of 2024). As a result, most of the island is still unspoiled by development.
Lake Wānaka
What South Island is known for is its pure, natural beauty as well as the diversity of its scenery. As you travel around the island, you'll see the snowcapped peaks and glaciers of the Southern Alps, stunning beaches, breathtaking fiords, and temperate rainforests.
Planning a Visit to New Zealand
When starting to think about your dream trip to New Zealand, it's important to answer a few basic questions:
The answers to these questions will help you determine what type of trip you can have in New Zealand. It will also determine how far in advance you need to book accommodations and tours. The next section is dedicated to helping you figure out the answers to these questions.
How Long to Spend in New Zealand
New Zealand is one of those places where it's hard to specify an appropriate length of time to spend exploring. Driving around most of New Zealand in 3-4 weeks is possible, if you spend most of the time on the road. However, once you start adding in hikes and various adventure activities, that time stretches out.
Combined New Zealand Trip
If you're planning to combine North Island and South Island in a road trip, I'd say you need at least 4 weeks. When we visited New Zealand in February 2024, we only had ~2 weeks for our trip. As a result, we chose to focus on South Island and save North Island for another time.
South Island Trip
Based on our experience, to see most of the South Island and hike a few epic trails, I'd recommend 2-3 weeks. Our 15-day road trip took us around much of South Island. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to drive up to the northern part of South Island, which is why 3 weeks would have been better.
Driving on Rt 6 near Queenstown along Lake Wakatipu
North Island Trip
Although I haven't visited North Island, most blogs and itineraries I've seen seem to recommend at least 1-2 weeks to explore North Island. Again, it depends whether you're trying to see as much as possible, including off-the-beaten path locations, or just hit the key tourist hot spots.
You Won't See It All
Given how much there is to see in New Zealand, be prepared that you won't see everything on your first trip. Unless of course you're like the retirees or people on sabbatical that we met who had been traveling around the islands for 2+ months! Then, you might have a decent shot.
When to Visit New Zealand
In general, New Zealand's climate is fairly mild so you can visit year-round and have a wonderful trip. Depending on when you go, however, you may have to take some seasonal considerations into account.
Visiting New Zealand in Summer
Typically, the best time to visit New Zealand is during the summer months (December to February) when temperatures are warmer, the days are longer, and the weather is better overall. Mid-November to December is lupin season and a popular time for photographers to capture these beautiful blooms.
Sadly, by February, the lupins were brown at Lake Pukaki.
Summer is high season. This means prices will be higher and accommodations need to be booked further in advance than other times of year.
New Zealand in the Shoulder Seasons
To avoid peak season, the shoulder seasons - autumn (March-April) and spring (September-October) are also good times to visit. In autumn, the fall colors are beautiful and in spring, the flowers are blooming.
Winter in New Zealand
Finally, if you're into snow sports, winter (June-August) might be perfect for you, especially on South Island. However, be aware that some hiking tracks and mountain roads may be closed due to avalanche risk.
North Island has milder winters than South Island, though still wet. But if you're planning to visit popular attractions, such as Hobbiton or the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves, winter is less crowded time to go.
Pro Tip: If you're renting a motorhome in non-summer seasons, make sure it has a heater! We even used our heater a few times in the Southern Alps because it was already too cold for us in February (late summer).
Renting a Campervan/Motorhome in New Zealand
Undoubtedly, the best way to explore New Zealand is to self-drive around the island which allows you to set your own itinerary and stop for all the scenic viewpoints.
When it comes to deciding between renting a motorhome or a car, I think renting a campervan or motorhome/RV is the greatest way to explore New Zealand. Camping not only allows you more flexibility with your schedule, but also allows you to immerse yourself in the wild, rugged beauty of this beautiful country.
However, I realize motorhome travel may not be for everyone. So, I've put together some things you should consider before deciding on your mode of transportation.
White Horse Hill Campground in Mt Cook/Aoraki
For the purpose of this article, I'll be using the terms motorhome and RV interchangeably. Motorhomes/ RVs are large motor vehicles that are built with comfortable living quarters. Campervans are typically normal-sized vans that have been converted to include sleeping and cooking areas. Campervans are smaller and usually only have a toilet cassette, not a whole bathroom.
Things to Consider Before Renting a Motorhome
If you're new to renting a motorhome (as we were), then I think you should ask yourself a few questions before deciding to rent a motorhome or campervan:
Pro Tip: If you plan to stay in off-grid campsites without electrical hookups, pack an external battery (or several) to charge your phones and other electronic devices overnight.
Our RV Experience
Being someone who doesn't normally enjoy camping, I was wary of the whole campervan thing. So much so that I vetoed renting a van. Instead, we rented a 4-person RV just for my husband and me. Personally, I'm glad we did.
Pros of Renting RV vs Campervan
Since I don't really like to "rough it", renting a motorhome was perfect for me. While it still pushed me out of my comfort zone a bit, it didn't stretch me too far.
Due to the spacious interior, we had plenty of room to unpack our suitcases and be "at home" for our 2-week road trip. The rear of the RV had a full queen-sized bed that we never had to put away (like you often do in a campervan), which was also great.
Plus, the kitchen in the RV was large enough to cook delicious meals. A highlight for me was the oven since we don't have one in our Hong Kong apartment! We also had plenty of room to eat inside without feeling cramped. I really appreciated this in a few campsites where it was very cold, raining, or when sandflies were swarming.
Another perk of renting an RV was the full bathroom. Although we didn't always use the toilet inside our RV, at least it was an option.
The shower was the real game-changer. I can't imagine going on some of those hikes we did and not being able to shower afterwards. (Several off-grid campsites where we stayed didn't have showers.) The RV shower was often icy, but at least I was clean!
Cons of Renting RV vs Campervan
Despite my husband being (mostly) comfortable driving a larger vehicle due, we still had a few times when a campervan would have been nice. Driving on certain mountain roads and fitting into tight parking lots were times when we wished we were in a smaller vehicle.
What If You Do Not Rent a Motorhome?
If you don't plan to rent a motorhome, you'll still have a fantastic trip self-driving a rental car around New Zealand. You'll still get the same scenic views as you would in a motorhome and probably have less stress driving a smaller vehicle. But, you may have to plan further in advance (especially hotel bookings) and have less flexibility to change up your itinerary once you arrive.
Planning Your New Zealand Adventures
New Zealand has a plethora of fantastic activities to enjoy at a wide range of prices. Depending on your budget, you might be able to throw yourself into all the adventure activities you can.
Some adventures you might try include skydiving, helicopter tours, whitewater rafting, and ziplining. Or, perhaps more tame excursions suit you better, such as wine tasting tours, scenic boat tours, or dolphin and whale watching trips.
Epic New Zealand Adventures
For us, our big New Zealand adventures mostly included tackling epic hiking trails (known as "tracks" in NZ). Not only is hiking a free activity with incredible views, but it helped us work off all the New Zealand craft beer and wine we were drinking! Our one big "splurge" of the trip was a Milford Sound Cruise - an activity that's worth adding to your itinerary.
Figuring out which activities are "must-dos" for you and how much those things cost will also help you determine your New Zealand trip budget and itinerary.
Budgeting for a Trip to New Zealand
The big question when figuring out a trip to New Zealand is, how much will it cost? Unfortunately, New Zealand is a pretty expensive place, so budgeting and being prepared for that is important.
To help you get an idea of what a 2-week road trip in New Zealand might cost, I'll share a breakdown of our actual trip expenses. Plus, I'll share an estimate of what I think our costs might have looked like if we'd rented a car and booked accommodations instead.
As you'll see, the total amounts are pretty comparable. For us, that meant renting a motorhome was a personal preference more than a budget consideration. Perhaps it will be the same for you.
Note: These trip expenses are all listed in US Dollars and are for a 2-person trip. Not included in these charts are our flights to New Zealand or any expenses from our 2 days in Christchurch at the end of our trip. When we visited NZ, the US dollar was strong against the NZ Dollar so things were a bit cheaper for us than they might be at another time.
Breakdown of New Zealand Expenses with Motorhome Rental
As you can see from the chart below, our motorhome rental was a large chunk* of our New Zealand trip budget. However, by renting a motorhome and purchasing groceries, we saved a lot of money by not eating at restaurants as often. Since our refrigerator traveled with us, we could plan meals, purchase groceries for several days, then not have to worry about where we'd eat at the end of the day.
Steak is much cheaper in NZ than HK!
Chili - an easy meal to make and pack away leftovers.
Plus, we also avoided many coffee and drink expenses since we made mostly our coffee in the RV and bought beer and wine from the grocery store to enjoy in the campgrounds.
*Unfortunately, our motorhome rental ended up being several hundred dollars more expensive than we anticipated due to a guard rail accident. We'd paid a deposit for extra insurance and didn't get that back since they had to repair the bumper.
Estimate of New Zealand Expenses without Motorhome Rental
In contrast, here is an estimate of what I think Jeremy and I would have spent if we hadn't rented an RV. These estimates are for a mid-range budget in New Zealand.
The accommodations estimate is based on mid-range hotels in peak season, but you can find a wide range of places to stay in New Zealand from hostels to luxury hotels. Similarly, I estimated the restaurant eating based on the few meals we ate out and how much we spent. If you rented accommodations with a kitchen, you could also buy groceries and cook "at home" to save money.
Depending on your lifestyle, the expense categories may also look different for you. For example, if you're not a coffee-addict or a fan of happy hour, you may not need to factor in those coffee and drinking expenses.
Planning Your New Zealand Itinerary
Because there are so many gorgeous and exciting places to visit in New Zealand, figuring out what to put on your itinerary can be tough.
Deciding What to See
Since I didn't know much about New Zealand before we started planning, I watched a variety of vlogs on YouTube, read a bunch of blogs, and asked a Kiwi friend of mine for suggestions on what to see.
One vlog I found particularly helpful was 3 Weeks in New Zealand on a Budget by Lisa and Josh. It's a long one and I only watched the South Island parts. What I liked was that it gave me an idea of what it would be like to travel around New Zealand in a campervan. Plus, I saw how they planned their itinerary as they went and though having that flexibility would be nice.
Planning Your Route
Most likely, you'll begin your New Zealand road trip in either Auckland (North Island) or Christchurch (South Island). However, if you're planning to visit both islands, many recommend seeing North Island first. On North Island, you can learn more about Māori culture and traditions. Meanwhile, South Island is supposedly the more stunning and laid-back of the two islands, so is a great place to end the trip.
Alpine lakes in Mt. Cook / Aoraki
Ferry between South Island and North Island
On a joint island road trip, the best way to travel between North Island and South Island is to take a ferry across the Cook Straight. The Cook Straight ferries run between Wellington (North Island) and Picton (South Island) and take roughly ~3.5 hours. On the Interislander website, you can book tickets for passengers, animals, and vehicles.
Determining the New Zealand Itinerary
Despite wanting flexibility, I'd get too stressed out if I left all of the planning until I arrived. So, once I had a list of places I wanted to see, I began laying out the itinerary.
Pro Tip: In order to help me visualize an itinerary, I create a calendar template in Google Sheets which I use to input a basic schedule. As I plan, I include more details, such as reservation times, campgrounds, etc. Not only does it help with planning, but I use it while on the trip to help me remember what our itinerary is each day.
Once I had a basic schedule laid out, I began researching accommodations in each place. This was ultimately what led to the decision to rent a motorhome. Many hotels were already full. The ones that weren't were kind of expensive and not appealing.
After deciding to rent a motorhome, we knew we'd have more flexibility with the itinerary. So even though we had a basic plan and I'd researched some hikes in the places we planned to go, we had the flexibility to change our minds... which we did.
Example of How Plans Can Change
In our draft itinerary, we'd planning to go up north to Marlborough wine country at the end of our trip. After a few days in New Zealand, we realized that it would be a lot of driving just for one day of wine tasting. So, we decided to spend longer in the Queenstown area to see Glenorchy and visit a couple wineries in Otago instead.
We had to shift the itinerary around, but since we were only booking DOC campsites a couple days in advance, it was easy to change our plans.
Booking Your New Zealand Trip
Once you've planned the basic outline of your trip, it's time to start booking!
Booking Flights to New Zealand
Although I didn't mention them in the budget section, flights will most likely be a huge chunk of your New Zealand trip costs, unless perhaps you're coming from Australia. I recommend checking flight options several months in advance to get an idea of what to budget. Typically, I'd also book flights at least 3 months in advance.
If you're coming from abroad, you'll most likely fly into one of New Zealand's major international airports - Auckland Airport (code: AKL), Wellington International Airport (code: WLG), or Christchurch International Airport (code: CHC).
Pro Tip: If you're doing a full New Zealand road trip, you may find it easier to fly into Auckland, then fly out of Christchurch at the end of your road trip. Many motorhome and car rental companies have offices in both cities so that you can return your vehicle to a different location.
Booking NZ Hotels and Accommodations
If you're not keen on renting a motorhome, my biggest piece of advice is to book your accommodations early - several months in advance of your trip. Maybe even before your flights, if you can find places with free cancellation.
The Hermitage in Aoraki / Mt Cook - it books up quickly!
When we started to plan our trip to New Zealand in November (for a trip in February), I found that many hotels were already booked up. That was especially true in the national parks (i.e. Mt. Cook/Aoraki, Arthur's Pass) since they only have a handful of hotels from which to choose. Lack of hotel availability is another reason we decided to rent a motorhome, as campsites still had plenty of open spots.
Booking a Motorhome or Rental Car
Whether you're renting a campervan, motorhome, or car, it's good to book it 2-3 months in advance. When we booked, it seems like there were plenty of options still available three months in advance, at least at the larger rental company chains.
Since we rented from a smaller company, one of their models was already booked for our dates. So if you rent from a smaller company, booking earlier is always better so you get the type of vehicle you prefer.
Where to Rent Your New Zealand Motorhome
We rented our RV from a family-run company called Kiwi Motorhomes (model: Liberty). They only have a limited number of vehicles, but they keep them in great condition and I'd highly recommend them.
Creeksyde Queenstown Holiday Park
As you drive around South Island, you'll see lots of campervans and RVs branded with their company name. Some of the ones we saw regularly include maui Motorhomes (RVs), Happy Campers, and Jucy (campervans).
These larger companies have a lot more vehicles from which to choose and may have more options still available if you're booking closer to your trip. To compare prices across companies, check out Motorhome Republic.
Where to Rent a Car
New Zealand has a nice selection of car rental companies. To start searching for cars, I recommend using Rental Cars and Expedia rental cars to compare prices.
Booking Activities in New Zealand
If you have certain activities that you don't want to miss while on your trip to New Zealand, you should book those a couple of weeks to a month in advance. Especially in peak season, certain tours and activities may sell out and you don't want to miss out.
For activities that you're considering, but are not sure you want to do them, you could wait until closer to your trip and they may still be available.
Our Milford Sound Cruise - smaller boats get closer to the falls.
For our February trip, we booked our Milford Sound Cruise 3 weeks before our trip to be sure we'd get the timeslot we wanted. When we were considering the Doubtful Sound Cruise, it was still available for the next day so we could have booked that one last-minute if we'd chosen to do it.
Booking Holiday Parks and Campsites
Unlike hotels and other accommodations, we found that campsites and holiday park RV sites do not book up as far in advance. Powered sites at holiday parks are in higher demand and tend to fill up faster than unpowered sites or those at the DOC campgrounds. Typically, weekends book up more quickly as local Kiwis are out camping.
Mrs Woolly’s Campground, Glenorchy
If you know your schedule, I recommend booking powered sites about 1-2 weeks your trip. For most Department of Conservation (DOC) campsites, booking 1-2 nights before your stay should be fine. But if it's a particularly popular site, like Mt. Cook region, consider booking a bit earlier.
Pro Tip: Since you can check on the DOC website how many spots are available, you can see which sites tend to fill up more quickly and gauge how far in advance you should book.
Booking Winery Visits
If wine country is on your list of things to do in New Zealand, then you may want to consider making some advance bookings. Some of the wineries allow walk-in tastings, others are by appointment only.
Some of the wineries, like Cloudy Bay - The Shed - have restaurants where you can dine. For this particular winery, a reservation was highly recommended for the restaurant. However, we only made ours a day in advance, so these reservations could probably be done once you're on your trip.
New Zealand Wine Tours
Things to Do Before Traveling to New Zealand
Before you head out for your trip to New Zealand, be sure to take care of a few things in order to ensure a smooth trip.
Apply for New Zealand Visa or NZeTA
Depending on what nationality you are or how long you plan to stay, you'll either have to apply for a Visitor Visa or a NZeTA (New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority) to enter New Zealand. The NZeTA is usually processed within a few days, whereas the Visa takes several weeks so be sure to figure out which one you need well in advance.
As U.S. citizens, we applied for the NZeTA using the free mobile app which offers a slight discount on the cost (NZ$17 instead of NZ$23). Beginning in October 2024, New Zealand also requires visitors to pay an IVL (tourism levy) which costs NZ$100 (~US $65). The IVL is paid at the same time as the NZeTA. The NZeTA lasts for 2 years, so perhaps good to plan multiple trips in those two years to get your money's worth!
Download Apps and Bookmark Sites
During our trip, we found the following apps and websites helpful as we traveled around New Zealand.
Purchase DOC Campsite Pass
When planning your trip to New Zealand, consider purchasing the DOC Campsite Pass. For a set fee, this pass allows you to book as many DOC campsites within the time period (30-nights or 1-year) as you want. Each person in your family/group needs a pass since the fees for the DOC sites are per person fees.
Otto/MacDonalds Campsite (DOC) outside Franz Josef / Waiau
Is the 30-night DOC Campsite Pass Worth It?
For our 2-week South Island trip, we purchased the 30-night DOC Campsite Pass. As I laid out our draft itinerary, I figured out how many DOC campsites we'd stay in versus private campgrounds to see if buying the DOC pass was worth it.
For us, the DOC campsite pass was worth it. We stayed in just enough DOC sites that it paid off. Plus, using the pass to book allowed us to avoid the hassle of paying the fees in cash at each campground. Despite having the pass, you still have to book the campgrounds online in advance before you arrive.
Tips for Clothing & Gear to Pack
Given the unpredictable weather in New Zealand, packing for the trip is a challenge. In the space of an hour, you can be in warm, sunny weather that turns into a blustery, cold afternoon.
To be well-prepared, a good rule is to pack clothing that layers well and dries quickly. Even in the summer (especially South Island), be sure to bring plenty of warm clothing (warm coat, hat, gloves). Those mountain regions get quite cold, especially at night!
Below are a few other essential items to make sure are on your packing list:
Purchase Airalo eSIM Card for New Zealand*
On our trip to New Zealand, we found that having data connectivity for maps and using the camping apps as we drove was extremely helpful. Purchasing an eSIM from Airalo not only saves time when you arrive, but their packages are cheaper since they only include data and not local calls.
*Currently not all devices support eSIM cards. Check here to see if your device is supported.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, this article has given you some things to think about when planning your dream trip to New Zealand. This beautiful country is truly a bucket list destination that will not disappoint. Whether you spend months exploring North and South Island or just a couple of weeks getting a small taste of one of them, it will be a trip you'll never forget!
Other Articles You Might Enjoy
Planning a big trip and in need of inspiration? Here are some other articles that might help!
Happy travels!
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