Travel Blog

The Southern Scenic Route between Dunedin and Queenstown covers roughly 600 kilometres of coastline, forest, fiords and alpine lakes, and is best enjoyed over 7 to 9 days so you have time for the Catlins, Invercargill, Te Anau and Milford Sound.

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.

The Napier to Wellington road trip is about 320 kms on SH2 and takes roughly 4.5 hours direct, but with stops at Castlepoint, Cape Palliser, Martinborough, Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre and Greytown, it becomes one of the best NZ coastal drives

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 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.

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.

If you love wine, Hawke’s Bay is one of the best places in New Zealand to slow the pace, base yourself in Napier and spend a few days cruising between cellar doors, coastal viewpoints and sunset vineyards in a rental car.

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.

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

Queenstown is widely known as the adventure capital of the world and attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year for bungy jumping, jet boating, skydiving, biking and more. This

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.

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.