Travel Blog

Discover some of New Zealand’s best-kept secrets, recommended directly by our local branch teams, and all within easy reach of a RaD Car Hire location.

This 3-day North Island itinerary blends adventure, relaxation, culture, nature, food, and local expertise, including insider tips from RaD Car Hire teams in Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua and Taupō.

In this guide, we explore New Zealand’s most scenic drives, from legendary icons like the Crown Range Road to remote treasures such as the Forgotten World Highway.

The best self drive day trips from Auckland are Piha on the wild west coast, Matakana in the north for wine and beaches, and Hunua Falls in the south east for forest and waterfalls.

Rotorua and Taupō are two of the best North Island road trips for geothermal sights, hot pools and adventure, linked by a scenic 80-kilometre drive that takes about an hour on State Highway 5. Learn more

Cape Reinga is one of the most powerful NZ road trip destinations; it combines sweeping lighthouse views, the visible meeting of the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean and deep Māori spiritual significance at Te Rerenga Wairua.

Matakana is about a 50-minute drive from central Auckland and has become one of the best weekend trips NZ wide for travellers who want a mix of boutique wine tasting, a famed Saturday farmers’ market, nearby white sand beaches and coastal art trails.

New Zealand is the real-world Middle-earth, with Hobbiton, Tongariro, Glenorchy, Fiordland and the Putangirua Pinnacles all offering easy self-drive access to iconic Lord of the Rings NZ landscapes.

Kiwi slang is playful, quirky and everywhere, so learning a few NZ expressions like “chur”, “sweet as” and “jandals” makes travel slang NZ feel much less confusing and a lot more fun.

New Zealand is packed with powerful historic sites, from the Waitangi Treaty Grounds and Ruapekapeka Pā in Northland to gold rush towns like Hokitika and Arrowtown, plus colonial landmarks in Wellington, Kerikeri and Dunedin.