80 of the Best Things to Do in New Zealand

The Bay of Islands are beyond beautiful. Protected bays and lots of Māori and Settler history.

You can take a ferry across Paihia harbour to Russell (Kororāreka) to enjoy the beautiful waterfront restaurants, historic buildings, and museum.

If you want a tour, you can join the Russell mini tours for a shuttle tour around a few places.

On the west coast of Northland, in the Waipoua Forest, you’ll find Tāne Mahuta, the largest known kauri tree.

Estimated to be over 2,000 years old, it is revered by Māori, and has been dubbed ‘Lord of the Forest.’

Tāne Mahuta stands at 51.5 meters tall with a massive trunk girth. It is so incredibly awe-inspiring to see in person.

When I was young, you were able to stand at the bottom and touch it, but they built a viewing platform to protect the tree. You must also wash your shoes on the way into the forest to avoid spreading an awful Kauri dieback disease.

The car ferry over the Hokianga Harbour is a tiny hop that takes all of 10 minutes, but saves hours of driving (which is a blessing when doing a road trip around Northland).

Stop by the Rawene shop to grab a snack for the short ride – I recommend the bacon and egg pie if it’s breakfast time!

As a kid, this ferry ride was the highlight of my holiday – especially when accompanied by a Tip Top ice-cream for the journey!

Warkworth, north of Auckland, has many wineries and sculpture gardens to enjoy. These include:

• Sculptureum
• Brick Bay Wines & Sculpture Trail
• The Secret Garden / Matakana Sculptural Habitat
• Runner Duck Estate
• Matakana Estate
  
• Kaipara Coast Plant Centre & Sculpture Gardens (over on the west coast)

Muriwai is one of my favourite beaches in all the world. It isn’t so much a genteel day out to sunbathe, but it is magnificent for the views and wildlife.

The gannet colony covers the rocky outcrops, with tracks out to viewing platforms, so you can watch them swoop and land.

Muriwai has a good parking lot, with a public toilet (with an amazing view out to sea), and many good (albeit windy) spots for a picnic.

Rangitoto Island is another island in the Hauraki Gulf. A true nature-lovers dream, the island is open for limited tourism, mainly just day hikes and kayaking trips.

Pests were eradicated off the island in the 1980s and ’90s and now it is a haven for native bird life.

You can choose a day kayak from the mainland and hike to the summit, or take a sunset kayak out to this dormant volcanic island. You can also just take the ferry from either Downtown Auckland or Devonport ferry terminals.

Hot Water Beach is on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula, south of Cathedral Cove (it makes a good day trip doing both).

Geothermal activity beneath the sand allows visitors to dig their own hot pools during low tide. Hot water seeps up through the sand, creating spa-like conditions. 

The crowds get busy (as you can see) in the summer, and especially on the weekends with day-trippers from Auckland. But if you can find a spot at the right tide, it is a marvellous phenomenon to experience while in New Zealand.

Napier is renowned for its stunning Art Deco architecture. This unique cityscape is the result of a devastating earthquake in 1931, which destroyed much of the town. The rebuilding effort took place during the height of the Art Deco period.

Napier (‘The Art Deco Capital of the World’) now boasts one of the world’s most concentrated and well-preserved collections of Art Deco buildings, featuring classic elements like geometric shapes, sunbursts, and zigzags.

Don’t miss the Daily Telegraph Building, the National Tobacco Company Building, and the Masonic Hotel.

I have such fond memories of taking a glow worm tour in Waitomo as a kid, we just had to replicate it on our recent trip.

We chose the Spellbound Glow Worm Tour, which included a cave walk, coffee and biscuits and a very informative and funny tour guide. You can also take a Waitomo tour with a pick-up from Auckland, if you are running short on time.

With the limestone landscapes, there are many opportunities around New Zealand to see glow worm caves. So if you can’t make it to Waitomo, there are caves in Te Anau, Lake McLaren near Tauranga, Kawiti Caves in Northland, and Waipu.

I would urge anyone visiting Aotearoa New Zealand to take time to learn about the Māori culture. The traditions, language and way the Māori speak about the land is so beautiful.

There are many cultural experiences in Rotorua, but you’ll find opportunities all over the place. Many sights will have interpretive panels that reflect both the Māori and Pakeha (non-Māori) perspectives.

Visiting a marae (Māori meeting house), trying a hangi meal (earthen oven), and appreciating some traditional carving are all great ways to connect to the culture. Top spots include Te Puia and Whakarewarewa.

Chilling on your summer holidays with a swim and a bbq at Blue Lake Tikitapu is about as perfect as you can get.

With large carparks, many bbq and picnic table areas, a boat ramp for motorised vehicles, and a cordoned off area for swimming and kayaking, Blue Lake is a fantastic day out.

Families play in the shallows, and you can set up your picnic on the terraced seating built by the lake edge.

You can also take an amphibious vehicle tour around the Tarawera and lakes area.

We love taking boat trips when we travel. Being out on the water, wind in our hair – it’s a great way to see a place!

We chose an early evening tour on Lake Taupo with Chris Jolly Tours, to include a visit to the modern rock carvings by Maori artist Matahi Whakataka-Brightwell.

The skipper and staff were great guides and talked to us in length (and with a sense of humour) about the history of Lake Taupo, how it is a caldera on top of a volcano, and the Maori legends of the area.

The rock carvings are beautiful, delicate and a nice addition to the tour. The boat company we toured with also has a fully licensed bar, so you can have a drink while out on the water!

If hill climbing isn’t your bag, pay a visit to one of the ski fields in the Tongariro National Park.

Whether you are visiting in winter or not, a trip up the mountain ski lifts is great fun.

If visiting Turoa, on the south side of Ruapehu, you get to travel through an ancient forest (protected from destruction by the mountain when Tarawera erupted in 1886).

On the north side, at Whakapapa, the grand old Chateau Tongariro welcomes you to the ski village. Built in 1929, and now closed due to seismic safety concerns, it is an icon of New Zealand’s winter holiday spots.

Stay at one of the accommodation options on the mountain, or in Ohakune, a ski-town full of character. Don’t miss a visit to the giant carrot statue (the area is known for growing great vegetables)!

Pukekura Park is a lush jewel in the middle of New Plymouth. The park was founded in 1876 and boasts a diverse range of native and exotic plants.

The lake has row boats for visitors to hire, and you can get refreshments at the tea rooms (once the Victorian bath house).

In summer (over Christmas), the park is lit up for the Festival of Lights. These incredible displays run right throughout the park and make the evenings quite magical. It was a favourite destination during childhood Christmases.

Castlepoint is way out on the east coast of the North Island, east of Masterton. This remote settlement is popular with holidaymakers, and day-trippers from the Wairarapa.

Watching the sunrise at the Castlepoint Lighthouse is spectacular. Take a walk up pre-dawn and marvel at the 360 views across the township, Pacific Ocean, and over the Castlepoint lagoon.

The network of secluded bays, inlets and sea-drowned valleys of the Marlborough Sounds is breathtaking.

A fun way to discover this area is by hitching a ride with one of the mail boats that delivers post to the secluded settlements. Touring the bays and helping the remote communities at the same time, it couldn’t be better.

As you make your way southwest, towards the wildly beautiful West Coast, stop at the Buller Gorge Swing Bridge. At 110m, it’s the longest in NZ.

The swing bridge is part of a larger adventure park that includes zip-lines and jet boat rides.

The Punakaiki ‘pancake’ rocks are one of the most popular spots on the west coast. Geared up to accommodate tourists, there are large carparks, shops and public toilets along the main coastal road.

The well-maintained pathways and lookouts make an easy loop walk that take in both rock views, nesting birds and the blowholes. A highlight for us was seeing the baby terns and nesting parents dance as they returned with food.

These amazing limestone formations were formed over millions of years through the layering and erosion of sediment. Now their eroded towers are like some kind of alien landscape.

There are a few routes across the Southern Alps, at the lower end is the Haast Pass through Mount Aspiring National Park. It is a route with remarkable landscapes, great hikes and perfect camping spots.

Cameron Flat Campsite is opposite the confluence of the Makarora and Blue Rivers, and allows access to the Blue Pools. These swimming holes at the bottom of this glacier-fed river are perfect to cool off on a hot day.

[Note, on our visit in 2023, the bridge over to the Blue Pools was closed, so access was restricted. Check reopening before you visit.]

The historic Cardrona Hotel is along the road between Wānaka and the Crown Range, and was built in 1863. It is one of the only surviving buildings that dates back to the Cardrona Valley gold rush.

Stop for a beer or refreshment and explore the historic buildings, cars and this little slice of gold rush history on the roadside.

Arrowtown is a beautifully preserved gold rush town near Queenstown. Clearly the site of extreme wealth (check out the bank and mint!), it has been so well looked after and brought to life again.

Don’t miss the partially restored 1880s village of the Chinese gold miners who toiled and thrived here, with interpretive signs.

There is lots of tourist parking at the bottom of the village, and some very fancy public toilets too.

Take a ride on a 1911 steam ship, the TSS Earnslaw, across Lake Wakatipu. The old coal powered engine is visible to admire, and the old fittings in this vintage ship are stunning.

Take a tour across the lake and back, or add a gourmet BBQ lunch or a Walter Peak Farm tour.

Scapegrace is my favourite New Zealand gin. Perfectly balanced, and delightful on a hot summer’s day, you can find it in any bottle store in NZ.

Opening in 2024, the new Scapegrace Distillery and tasting rooms on Lake Dunstan will be a stunning location to enjoy their gins, vodkas and whiskeys.

The drive from Te Anau down to Fiordland is jawdroppingly beautiful. From the lupin fields to the wild rivers, kea spotting (a wild parrot) at Pop’s View, to the crazy Homer Tunnel and following switchbacks – it’s a whole trip unto itself.

Although because it is mostly driven as a day trip to visit Milford Sound, many don’t leave as much time as they’d like to really enjoy it.

So that’s my tip to you, factor in 2-3 hours each way – stop a zillion times, picnic by rivers, take scenic walks, and enjoy the mountain views.

Dunedin is a funky student city, with Otago University being a big draw for the area. With students come great bars and cheap eats, and Dunedin isn’t short of those two things.

When you visit, take an afternoon to hop from brewery to bar to craft beer joint. We enjoyed Emerson’s Brewery and the Duke of Wellington in particular.

The statue of Rabbie Burns in the town square gives away the fact that Dunedinites are incredibly proud of their Scottish history. A great place to learn about this settler journey is at Toitu Otago Settlers Museum.

With interactive exhibits and artefacts chronicling the journey of Scottish settlers who arrived in the mid-19th century. They laid out streets and street names akin to Edinburgh, and locals still boast about it today.

We didn’t want to burst their bubble, so didn’t tell any of them that it really isn’t like Edinburgh at all. Incidentally, the Scots brought Fish & Chips to NZ, which I think is far more impressive than a few similar street names!

As Dunedin had Edinburgh as its muse, Christchurch has Oxford. Even the tradition of punting was transplanted.

You can relax in flat-bottomed boats, as a guide, traditionally dressed, propels you through the scenic Botanic Gardens and city centre.