Itinerary Highlights

• Time of Year: Summer in New Zealand runs December through February. We took our trip last two weeks in February and could not recommend more. It was beautiful the entire time we were there with just one day of rain, but were told the summers can be quite rainy.
• Duration: At least two weeks. See below for our no fluff itinerary and the mapped out route we took.
• How to get around: Renting a car or van is a must. New Zealand has so much to see (similar to all the variety of the US) packed into two small islands. Even though the islands are relatively small, we had anywhere from 1-3 hour drives between our stops.
• Where to stay: The big New Zealand debate…to camper van or not to camper van. We initially planned our trip set on a camper van, but as we talked more about our goals for the trip, we shifted to a hostel/airbnb/hotel mindset. Here were some of the factors that swayed us:
  • Lots of hiking: We wanted to do a TON of big hikes. People get all sorts of creative with showers in the camper vans, but we did not want to plan for when we would / could shower next. Some of the vans have showers in them, but the ones we were looking at were slightly smaller without them.
  • Rain: We got super lucky with weather while we were there with only one day of rain, but we went into the trip prepared to have rain most days. On the one day it did rain, we were super happy that we had space to get dry quick and lay everything out to dry as well.
• Three Trip highlights – check out our daily journals to see why they were so amazing: Sunrise Hike #1 in Wānaka (Day 7), e-biking to wineries (Day 9), Sunrise Hike #2 in Wānaka (Day 11). Read on for additional highlights for each stop below.

Auckland:

Activities:

• There were endless beach activities (paddle-boarding, boogie boarding, surfing).

Where to Eat:

• This depends on what area you’re in, but you can’t go wrong with some local Fish & Chips on the beach.

Other Notes:

• There are so many beautiful beaches on the North Island, if there was time we would have loved to explore more.
• We listed some North Islands Options we wanted to explore in our itinerary above, and also had checked out.
• The big city feel was similar to a lot of the big cities in the US, so for a few days we didn’t feel like we were in another country.

Christchurch:

Activities:

• Take a walk along the river to the markets.
• Check out the botanical gardens (we didn’t end up having time for this).
• Do a selfie street art tour .

Where to Eat:

• Explore the bustling food markets with diverse options, we loved both Little High Eatery and Riverside Market.
• We stumbled upon Gre3n Superfood & Juice Bar for some healthier bowls.

Other Notes:

• Christchurch is still rebuilding after the 2011 earthquake, so the city was a little quieter than we initially anticipated. We found some livelier pockets centered around newer developments (like the food markets we mentioned above).

Lake Tekapo:

Activities:

• Go hiking or horseback riding along Lake Tekapo (we chose hiking/walking).
• Drive over to Lake Pukaki for stunning views of Mt. Cook.

Where to Eat:

• There was a Wednesday market with food trucks while we were there. Otherwise, there are only a few restaurant / food truck options.

Other Notes:

• This was a nice way to break up the drive, but we wouldn’t put this down as a star on the itinerary. The lake looks beautiful in the spring, with tons of wildflowers, but by the time we passed through it was pretty dried out. The area is super small with a few shops and food truck food options. If we were to have camped, we might have instead stopped along Lake Pukaki, the neighboring lake with stunning views of Mt. Cook.

Mt. Cook:

Activities:

• Hooker Valley Trail: ~6 mile easy walk. Trail was more populated, but pretty views throughout.
• Mueller Hut Route ~6 mile challenging hike with 2,200 stairs up + some scrambles. It was a great workout and the views from up top were stunning. Would definitely recommend.

Where to Eat:

• Nothing exciting, only ~3 spots in the whole area. Bring food if you can (lol).

Other Notes:

• We stayed two nights in Mt. Cook but there really isn’t much out there (2 hotels and maybe 3 food spots). If we were to go back, we might try to stay up at the Mueller Hut one night, otherwise we would just use this as a quick stopping point for a day hike.

Wānaka:

Activities:

• Roy’s Peak and Isthmus Peak were both amazing – could not recommend more. These were two of our longer hikes of the trip, and we did them both at sunrise. Such good things to say about both, but if you’re trying to decide which is the better fit for you, take a look at our summary comparison: Sunrise Summit: Roy’s Peak v Isthmus Peak.
• Diamond Lake and Rocky Mountain Track was a shorter option that also had great views of the lake.
• Lakeside Saunas: We loved The Secret Sauna next to Lake Hawea. No one else had booked, so we had the sauna to ourselves. There were basically three rounds of 15 minute sauna sessions followed by a jump in the lake. The Sauna Wānaka was a second option we didn’t try but heard good things about.
• Low key lake hanging with a good book & some swimming!

Where to Eat (The best food we had all trip):

• Brekky:
  • Urban Grind – Brian’s favorite brekky of the trip. No frills, good basics like eggs & veggies, avocado toast etc.
  • Scroggin – trendier spot, think eggs benedict or avo toast but fancy.
  • Curbside Coffee and Bagels – quick bagel sammies and yummy matcha – we LOVED this little food truck gathering and were there at least once per day.
• Lunch:
  • Kamino – little spot down an alleyway of cute shops, with some yummy bowl options and an amazing blueberry lemon scone.
  • Big Fig – “slow food served fast” – basically select your size plate and fill it with yummy main/sides/salads. Pretty healthy and what seemed to be a local favorite.
• Dinner:
  • The Stoaker – not on the main stretch, but Brian’s favorite dinner spot. They use converted wine barrels to steam and smoke meat to give it a unique oaky flavor. Get the tasting platter…you’re welcome.
  • Burrito Craft – good, basic, burrito or burrito bowl and along the same food truck grouping as Curbside Coffee and Bagels.

Queenstown:

Activities:

• eBike to Arrowtown (historic gold mining town) for some coffee / brekky, then wineries for tastings and lunch on the way back. We rented bikes through Bikes & Beyond for the day, but there are several options in the heart of Queenstown. We loved Ayrburn and Mora Wines (we didn’t make it to Amisfield, but it was along that same route). There’s also a separate grouping of wineries: Mt. Difficult, Mt Rosa, Terra Sancta, Chard Farm. We were out all day, so recommend renting them first thing in the morning.
• Milford Sound Heli & Cruise – We did ours through Glacier Southern Lakes Helicopers, who have a several options. Since Milford wasn’t one of our main stops, as it was a ~4 hour drive from Queenstown, but we wanted to make sure we still were able to see it.

Where to Eat:

• Ayrburn – Word on the street is that there was ~200M poured into this development. They’re basically building a whole little village and the grounds are STUNNING. We had lunch there and it was amazing. Since it’s newer, we were able to easily walk-in but had to sit inside.
• Mora Wines – This was a much smaller, back-yard feel for lunch and tasting, but still very cute. We ate lunch here and it was also incredible. We went a little later and were able to walk-in, bur reservations are recommended since it’s smaller.

Other Notes:

• Queenstown was the adrenalin junkie’s paradise. There were a ton of options for bungie jumping, sky diving, jet boats etc. Since this wasn’t as much of a goal for our trip, Queenstown itself felt a bit more touristy and was less of an exciting stop for us.
• If we had time, we would have looped back around up the West Coast and flown out of Christchurch, that is a pretty common route. We got a hot tip from a local that the West Coast region was another area with so much to offer and and less touristy than Queenstown.