Travel Blog

Napier is the Art Deco capital of New Zealand, rebuilt after the 1931 earthquake with over 500 Spanish Mission and Art Deco buildings that make it one of the best city tours NZ has to offer.

Auckland nightlife revolves around waterfront dining at Viaduct Harbour and Wynyard Quarter, buzzing night markets across the city and skyline viewpoints from places like the Sky Tower and Mount Eden, with after-dark energy concentrated in downtown.

Taupō in winter offers hot pools at DeBretts and AC Baths, skiing and snowboarding on Mt Ruapehu’s Whakapapa and Tūroa fields, winter hiking on the Tongariro River Trail and indoor fun at The Landing Activity Centre.

Winter driving in New Zealand can involve black ice, snow and rapidly changing weather, especially around mountain passes and ski access roads, so you need to adjust your speed, carry chains where required and check NZTA road and weather updates.

The best places to see autumn in NZ are Arrowtown and the wider Queenstown Lakes district, the Mackenzie Basin around Lake Tekapo and Central Otago, plus Hawke’s Bay’s vineyard country near Napier and Havelock North.

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.