Nice Places to Stay At in New Zealand?

Hi. I live in the US, and I and my family (three adults) are planning to go to New Zealand around May or July or so next year for a few weeks. We have some sort of resort-trading thing with RCA going on, but there are many resort locations we can choose to stay at in various locations of NZ.

We honestly don’t know much geographically about New Zealand. I come here to ask those who live there, or have had vacations there, about where are some good places to definitely go or stay near, or definitely avoid? Ie. should we choose a resort on the northwest coast, go for the southern shores, avoid the coastal resorts altogether due to weather or noise pollution? The RCA guidebook thing isn’t very helpful, and we don’t want to stay at a resort that has a bad reputation or something.

Any help is appreciated very much. :slight_smile:

Woohoohoo. Where do I start. It is a fantastically beautiful country. Here’s a brief intro.

North Island is picturesque. South Island is majestic.

North Island – North to South

Cape Reinga – views of two oceans meeting
90 Mile beach – what it sounds like only there is hardly anyone there. Wild and remote
Bay of Islands – tourist area and very popular. Game fishing and history
Waipoua Forest – amazing kauri trees
Auckland – where nearly a third of the population lives. Lots to do. I have contacts there, but there are many places to stay.
Coromandel Peninsular – beaches, remote and rugged hills and bush, hiking.
Bay of Plenty – Tauranga, Whakatane – beautiful beaches, dolphin watching, wild coastline, active island volcano, game fishing.
East Cape – a great drive
Urewera Forest – think jungle. Amazing. Lots of hiking. Lake Waikaremoana – hiking, kayaking.
Rotorua – Geothermal area, volcanic landscape, tourist area
Hamilton – not much. (Now I am about to get slaughtered by anyone who likes it!) – Raglan – rugged West Coast surf beach
Waitomo – limestone caves
Taupo – trout fishing, boating on the lake, amazing scenery
Central Plateau – three active volcanoes, good hiking, skiing
Taranaki region – Mt Taranaki, more surf beaches, more hiking, New Plymouth (lovely little city)
Wanganui River – rafting, kayaking, more fishing
Wellington – capital city. Stacks of interesting things to do.

South Island
West Coast – very remote. Very beautiful. Lots of rain. Mosquitos the size of sheep. Coal mining area, wild food festival each March, walk on a glacier.
Northern areas – Nelson/Marlborough – vineyards, two national parks, again geart hiking and kayaking, Stunning beaches – try Kaiteriteri beach. (I think that’s spelled correctly) Boating on the Marlborough Sounds. Diving. Actually, there are places to dive all over the place.
East Coast – Kaikoura Coast – Kaikoira ranges, whale watching, lobster, Thermal pools at Hamner Springs
Canturbury Plains – East coast – Christchurch city (where I now live), modelled after a Victorian English city and still carries a bit of the olde worlde charm. Garden city. Access to the Southern Alps and numerous skifields.
Mt Cook and the Southern Alps – just watch the opening sequence of The Two Towers. And you can visit the glaciers, lots of hiking again, beautiful glacial lakes.
Queenstown – the tourist Mecca of NZ. And rightly so. Everything from jet boat rides, visits to high country sheep stations, beautiful lake, The Remarkables mountain range, more skiing, bungy jumping, you name it.
Fiordland – Milford Sound – one of the world’s most famous walks. A unique area. I don’t know if I could describe it. Look up “Mitre Peak” in google and take a look.
Southland – more hiking in the Catlins, Bluff oysters, access to Stewart Island which is an incredible treasure.

Whew. I have left far more out than I could possibly have mentioned. But you get the idea. I’m not sure what position i will be in in a year, but just at the moment I have two spare bedrooms and would be prepared to host for a week or three if asked. Give me an email and I can send you some stuff by sanail mail if you wish.

J.

Resorts? I’m not sure what to say on that regard. Being a local I tend to avoid the Tourist Resort kind of place. Suffice to say that there is a whole range of accommodation and getting-around options to suit every personal taste and every budget. A lot of people tour the country quite cheaply and comfortably. If you have a year to put it together then you could do quite well by building up a list of contacts and arranging to stay with kiwis. For the most part we are a friendly lot. OTOH, if you wanted to pay for five star accommodation and have someone take you on guided tours, then you could do that too. Tourism is one of our biggest industries and the country is geared up for it. I think the standard is pretty high, but then, I’m easy to please.

Nothing much I can add there, j_sum1 has summed it up really well. Here are some info sites.
http://www.purenz.com/
http://www.iexplore.com/dmap/New+Zealand/Where+to+Go
http://www.tourism.net.nz/

Hope that helps.

Two additions to that excellent list, both in the South Island (which is a must, the North Island is nice to do).

Lake Wanaka, a bit north of Queenstown. Less touristic, and beautiful.
Doubtful Sound. Do this in addition (certainly not instead of) Milford Sound.

Milford Sound is well worth doing twice, if your budget can afford it: once by plain, once by car or bus. Both are unforgettable experiences.

And do realise that with the reversal of the seasons, you will be staying during the late autumn/winter.

That’s wonderful j_sum1, thanks. That’s just the kind of information we need. :slight_smile: Looks like we’ll probably spend most of our time on South Island. And your offer is quite gracious, but we’re good for places to stay.

And yes, we are aware of the seasons. :slight_smile:

In the South Island ;). We always use ‘the’ and we’re in it, not on it.

Dunedin and the Otago peninsula are amazing. Arrowtown. The Cardrona.
Lots of good suggestions already. I’ve been wildly homesick for the past couple of weeks ::sigh::. Don’t know when I’ll manage to go home for a while.