South through the Waikato with a long stop at Wai-O-Tapu, where the Champagne Pool and the Artist’s Palette give you the full range of sulphur yellow, copper orange and arsenic green. Arrive in Rotorua in the late afternoon and let your nose adjust.

Included Accommodation: Haka House (or similar)

A free day in the middle of the geothermal belt. Options run from luging and zorbing to white water rafting the Kaituna and its seven metre drop, or an evening at a Māori village with a hāngī meal cooked in the ground. Our guide to things to do around Rotorua covers the full range if you want to plan.

Included Accommodation: Haka House (or similar)

Morning at the Hobbiton Movie Set near Matamata, where 44 hobbit holes sit on a working sheep farm. Then Huka Falls, where the Waikato River squeezes into a narrow channel and pushes roughly 220,000 litres a second through it. Sunset over Lake Taupō, with an optional evening sail.

Included Accommodation: Finlay Jacks (or similar)

Your biggest choice of the trip. Jet boat or sail the lake, skydive over it, or take on the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, a 19.4 km alpine traverse that takes most walkers 7 to 8 hours in summer. The crossing depends on weather, shuttle availability and a free DOC booking, and parts of the park are under a restorative rāhui following the 2025 fires, so your guide will confirm what is running.

Included Accommodation: Finlay Jacks (or similar)

Underground at Waitomo: crawling, abseiling, floating through dark passages on an inner tube with glowworms overhead. Back in daylight, continue west to Raglan, a black sand surf town with one of the longest left hand breaks anywhere.

Included Accommodation: Raglan Backpackers (or similar)

A slow morning in Raglan, coffee and a walk on the beach, then north to Auckland for the afternoon flight across Cook Strait. You land in Christchurch with the evening free.

Across the Southern Alps by Lewis Pass, through beech forest and river valleys, down to the West Coast. Punakaiki is a small settlement pinned between rainforest and the Tasman Sea, and it is the base for the next two nights.

Included Accommodation: Punakaiki Beachcamp (or similar)

The Pancake Rocks at Dolomite Point are a 20-minute paved loop from the highway, and the blowholes perform best at high tide with a swell running. Beyond that, Paparoa National Park has limestone caves, coastal forest, and empty beaches. Kayaking and a bonfire are usually on the cards.

Included Accommodation: Punakaiki Beachcamp (or similar)

North along the coast past seal colonies and Cape Foulwind, then inland through the Buller Gorge and Nelson Lakes to the edge of Abel Tasman National Park.

Included Accommodation: The Adventure Inn (or similar)

Over Takaka Hill for the day. Farewell Spit curves 26 km into the sea as New Zealand’s longest sandspit. Add Ngārua Caves, the astonishing clarity of Te Waikoropupū Springs, and Wharariki Beach with its Archway Islands and resident fur seal pups.

Included Accommodation: The Adventure Inn (or similar)

A full day in the country’s smallest national park: 22,530 hectares of granite headlands and golden sand. Walk a section of the Coast Track, kayak between bays, or do very little on one of the Abel Tasman beaches. Water taxis make one-way walks easy. More on the park from DOC.

Included Accommodation: The Adventure Inn (or similar)

East into Marlborough for a tasting among the Sauvignon Blanc vines that put the region on the map. See our roundup of New Zealand wine tours if you want to add more of this later in your trip. Continue down the coast to Kaikōura, where the seabed drops into a deep canyon close to shore.

Included Accommodation: Dusky Lodge (or similar)

That canyon is why sperm whales stay here year-round. Whale watching by boat or plane, dusky dolphin swims, and seal colonies all sit within a short drive, and our Kaikōura things to do guide has the details. Drive south to Christchurch in the afternoon, where the tour ends.

Included Accommodation: Lylo Christchurch (or similar)