How to Travel
Around NZ on Your Own by Car
A Selection of Self-Drive Itineraries
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Traveling around NZ by
car is generally easy and simple. Roads are good
quality, and directions are clearly signposted, while
traffic is moderate to light.
Driving around by
yourself is a great way to see this beautiful country.
Part
of a series on travel to and in New Zealand -
click the links in the right hand
column for more articles.
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Driving in New Zealand is
usually easy and simple. Most towns and cities are small
in size and seldom experience traffic congestion (Auckland,
Wellington, and Christchurch during rush hour times being the
main exceptions), and most drivers are usually sensible and
courteous.
Probably the only difficult
part of a self-drive vacation in NZ is deciding where to go.
And hopefully these sample self-drive itineraries will help you
plan your travels.
Some More Considerations when
Planning a NZ Self Drive Vacation
See also our separate article on
Self Drive Touring in New Zealand for discussion on various
other considerations.
In addition to the issues discussed in the Self Drive Touring
article, there are a few other practical considerations now that
you're at the stage of actually choosing where and when you'll
travel.
Time to Recover from Flying to
New Zealand
If you're going to New Zealand for a week or less, the chances
are that you're either traveling only a short distance (eg from
Australia) or that NZ is one part of a larger itinerary.
Perhaps you're going to do a grand tour of the South Pacific,
visiting NZ, Australia and Fiji.
In such a case, with only have a week (or less) in NZ, you want to be
able to 'hit the ground running' and minimize the time you spend
adjusting to the new time zone and recovering from the flights.
For those reasons, we suggest you try to make any long journeys
either after leaving NZ or before arriving.
For example, if you're going to New Zealand and Australia from
the UK or US, and assuming you're spending more time in
Australia than NZ; fly first to Australia, then after your
Australian touring, fly the relatively short distance (typically
under four hours and only two time zones) on to NZ. Fly
back home from NZ.
If you have more time in NZ, then it becomes less important that
you be able to 'hit the ground running', and if you are arriving
in NZ from a long flight, we suggest that you consider not
getting straight into a rental car and driving a long distance.
One Island or Two?
Do you have enough time to see both islands
of New Zealand? Even with a short stay of perhaps a week,
that is possible, especially if
you don't have to backtrack and return to the city you started
from.
If you do have to return to the city you started
from, consider either seeing if you can add a flight within NZ
to your international ticket to connect on with your flight out
of the country (sometimes this can be included at no extra
charge), or, if this is not possible, buying a ticket to make
this journey will save you probably two days of driving time,
making it money well spent.
As your time in NZ increases beyond a week, it becomes
increasingly practical to travel further, of course, and to
spend time on both the North and South islands.
Rental Car Restrictions
A quick reminder. Not all rental car companies have
offices in every town and city, and not all companies allow you
to take vehicles from one island to the other.
Make sure your choice of rental car company is compatible with
your choice of travel itinerary.
Reverse Direction Itineraries
At the risk of stating the obvious, all the itineraries we
provide will
generally lend themselves to being used in the reverse direction
as well as in the direction detailed in the itinerary.
Your Last Night in New Zealand
Generally we've designed these itineraries so your last night is
in the city you'll be flying out of the next day.
This gives you greater peace of mind, and reduces the number of
things that might go wrong on that departure day. But if
you've a late flight out of NZ on your departure day, there's no
reason at all why you can't spend the day traveling from some
further away place back to your departure airport - just be sure
to give yourself plenty of time so that there's no worry about
making your flight.
Seasonal Issues
Most of the main roads in NZ have no problems staying open year
round. A few of the higher altitude roads may have
infrequent weather issues in winter however (eg from Te Anau to
Milford Sound) and you should check before traveling on such
roads. You can ask the local Automobile Association, or
the people at the front desk of where you're staying or in
a gas station will probably be helpful too - such things tend to
be common local knowledge close to where roads are problematic.
The other seasonal issue is daylight. There's little point
in sightseeing and touring when it is dark outside.
Remember that NZ has reversed seasons and daylight - they have
longest daylight hours when we in the northern hemisphere have
the shortest daylight hours, and vice versa.
In their summer time, you can usually expect daylight from well
before 7am through until some time after 8pm every day, and there is
appreciably more daylight as you travel further south.
In their winter, there's much less daylight of course, and
appreciably less the further south you go.
Pace of Travel
This is an important thing and you need to know yourself (and
your travel companions) to get this right.
Are you the type of person who likes to cram in as many
activities as possible every day, or do you prefer a relaxed,
easy-going style? Do you consider driving from one place
to another as a pleasant way of sightseeing, or as an
inconvenient way of spending a day?
To help you understand the implications of each itinerary, we
include daily distance traveled and driving time information so
you know how full each day will be.
A Note on Times and Distances
I've used the wonderful mapping tools at
maps.google.com to calculate times and distances; any
significant deviations from the routes they suggest are
mentioned in the text.
Travel times are conservative. If you're a fast driver and
if you're traveling at off-peak times, you'll manage
considerably quicker journey times (I've done journeys that
Google says will take four hours in less than three, but that is
driving very fast).
Of course, if you're wanting
just to amble along and stop regularly, then you should allow
more time.
Table of Itineraries
Click any of these links to be taken to a more detailed
explanation of the itinerary.
Note - these itineraries are not listed here in any sort of
logical order, other than that of when they were written and
published, so do quickly look through all of them, just in case
something you're hoping for appears 'out of sequence'.
Note also that these itineraries are a 'work in progress'.
To start with we are publishing nine itinerary ideas, all of
seven days duration. We'll add more itineraries with
longer durations in the near future.
Seven Day Itineraries
Part
of a series on travel to and in New Zealand -
click the links in the right hand
column at the top for more articles.
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Originally published
22 Aug 2008, last update
30 May 2021
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