Journeying to New Zealand and exploring Aotearoa is a good choice any time of the year – but your experience will vary depending on what season you choose to visit.
During summer, you can enjoy a southern hemisphere adventure by hiking New Zealand's Great Walks and partying at the year's best music festivals, while the more affordable months of autumn lend themselves to RV vacations. Winter is the time to combine snow sports with urban experiences, while spring marks the arrival of flavor-packed festivals showcasing local beer, wine and seafood.
Here's our guide to the best time to visit New Zealand.
Summer in New Zealand means busy beaches, (usually) good weather for hiking (known locally as "tramping"), and leisurely cricket matches. On the festival front, highlights include Gisborne’s Rhythm & Vines and Wanaka’s Rhythm & Alps, two DJ and dance music multi-day events. In February, Napier is enlivened with a celebration of all things art deco, while Splore attracts Aucklanders for three days of Burning Man-inspired art, music and dance. Eating and drinking exceptionally well is the focus at the Marlborough Wine & Food Festival. Booking ahead for the most popular festivals is vital – both to score event tickets and secure accommodation.
Summer school holidays from mid-December to early February increase accommodation prices for hotels, motels and holiday parks. Try and book ahead, especially across the Christmas and New Year periods, when popular North Island beach resort towns like Tauranga’s Mt Maunganui and Whitianga are packed with Kiwi families and revelers. Waitangi Day, New Zealand’s national day, is celebrated on February 6.
If you’ve seen New Zealand’s wild lupin flowers flooding your social feeds, December to February is the best time to view these colorful blooms around Central Otago and the Mackenzie Country. Note that some areas of the South Island (especially around Lake Tekapo, where they once flourished on the shore) are attempting to eradicate the spread of the invasive species.
Transitioning from late summer to a southern hemisphere autumn (fall), March to May in New Zealand offers cool but pleasant weather, and a warmish ocean that’s still okay for swimming and watersports – especially at North Island beaches around March and April.
With often settled and drier weather in most regions, it’s a great time to explore Aotearoa. Due to fewer Kiwis traveling (the exception being around Easter, when kids are out of school for two weeks) visitors can expect better value accommodation and shorter lines at key attractions. There’s also less traffic for road trips from Auckland to the Bay of Islands and the Coromandel Peninsula, or for motor home journeys on the most popular routes in the South
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You’ve spent all that money on plane tickets getting to the bottom of the southern hemisphere. Now you want to make the rest of your travel fund stretch as far as possible. The good news is that affordable travel in New Zealand is possible – if you plan carefully.
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