We’re a family living in New Zealand with young kids and love getting out and about, and exploring the country. We’ve experienced New Zealand as both travellers and as residents and I thought I’d share with you our top 10 things to do with children in New Zealand and the activities making our country so special.
We originally travelled to New Zealand, from England, on a year long working holiday visa back in 2000. Ours was mainly a backpacking trip featuring the main highlights the country has to offer, and this was prior to us having kids. We worked a bit, travelled a lot and tried to see and experience as much as possible. This was followed by a year in Australia and then back to the UK for a couple of years before moving to NZ permanently in 2004.
When to come: Being in the Southern hemisphere, it’s usually warm and sunny from November to April with a pretty temperate climate. Known for beautiful scenery and adrenaline activities, there’s a lot to do outdoors so having good weather is pretty key, I would say.
Auckland: You’ll probably arrive into Auckland, being the largest city and, if you’re arriving from Europe or the US, you’ll probably have some jetlag to get over so might want to acclimatise for a couple of days.
There’s plenty to offer families – a great zoo, an aquarium and the Sky Tower for panoramic views of the city. But to me, you may well have seen bigger or better elsewhere. Discovering what is unique to Auckland would be more special. There are some beautiful beaches on the city fringe, a viaduct brimming with restaurant options overlooking the water, stunning islands out in the Hauraki gulf for day trips out fishing and wine tasting and of course there’s a bungy jump off the Harbour bridge.
Auckland also has probably the best selection of restaurants on offer anywhere in the world from high end restaurants to casual brunch spots by the beach, an emphasis on local produce and every cuisine under the sun available. The restaurant scene is awesome, so you’ll be well fed while you’re here.
Waitomo: Heading south from Auckland, an awesome next stop is the Waitomo Caves. There’s guided tours suitable for all here from boat rides through the amazing underground caves to view glowworms to black water rafting for the more adventurous. There’s one or two accommodation options in Waitomo or you might want to head on to your next stop south after your choice of tour. You might want to look here for some tour options – https://www.waitomo.com/
Rotorua: A great next stop is Rotorua – the mecca of activities in the North Island of New Zealand. A small town in the centre of the North Island, only 3 hours from Auckland. Known for its geothermal wonders and outdoor activities, Rotorua is high on any visitor’s bucket list. There’s plenty of different ways to see the geothermal hot spots. From a wander around Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland to view the Champagne pool, bubbling mud pools and geyser, to a hot mud bath at Hell’s Gate, or soaking in the relaxing waters at the Polynesian Spa in the town centre.
There’s literally a ton of activities in the town and it’s surrounds too – quad biking, zorbing, mountain biking or hiking in the Redwood forest, Maori Cultural experiences, bungy, white water rafting, bombing down the mountain side in a luge kart – the list is almost endless. There’s also endless affordable motel options here and Eat Street has an awesome selection of restaurants. And nearby is the Hobbiton movie set which is a real unique NZ experience, if you’re a fan of the movies.
Our favourite New Zealand thing to do with kids in this area is the Rotorua Canopy Tour with half day tours ziplining through the untouched native forest – nature and adrenaline all rolled into one. We’ve done both the Original and Ultimate tours and both are spectacular. If you have kids in tow, they need to be over ten years old for the Ultimate tour. https://www.canopytours.co.nz/
Taupo: Taupo is next south as you head down the North Island and just an hour on from Rotorua. It has more geothermal wonders, like the Craters of the Moon walkway, or you can enjoy water activities on Lake Taupo or jet boat trips to Huka Falls. The cycling here is fantastic too, with anything from mountain bike parks, to short family rides and 90 kms of lakefront cycle tracks. Check out the local website for what would suit – https://www.biketaupo.org.nz/where-to-ride
Wellington: The capital city is home to Te Papa Tongarewa – the national museum, which has interactive exhibits that will engage the whole family. The Wellington Cable Car takes you up to awesome views across the city, as does a walk on Mount Victoria. If you’re a Lord of the Rings fan, as we are, we took a fantastic tour last time we were in Wellington of Weta Workshop who created many of the props, costumes and creatures for these and other movies – https://tours.wetaworkshop.com/
Bay of Islands: 3 hours north of Auckland is the beautiful Bay of Islands offering boat tours, dolphin watching, diving, amazing beaches and stunning walks and scenery. On the way, there are plenty of places to stop off – mostly featuring a fantastic beach. You can also explore New Zealand’s history at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. Life travels at a relaxed pace in this area and it’s a great place to unwind a little.
Queenstown: At the other end of the spectrum, Queenstown is the adventure capital of New Zealand and a highlight of the country. When you see pictures of pristine lakes, stunning mountain tops and adrenaline activities, you’re probably looking at a photo of Queenstown. The town itself is compact, and can get pretty crowded during summer, so you need to book your accommodation ahead especially if you want a view over the lake from your hotel.
You could literally stay for weeks here and also get through a lot of money in the process. During winter, Queenstown, and nearby Wanaka, have the best skiing and snowboarding that NZ has to offer. Then all year round, it’s packed full of family-friendly activities like the Skyline Gondola and Luge, the Kiwi Birdlife Park, jet boat rides, bungy, horse riding, paragliding, indoor or outdoor skydiving, vineyards – the list is literally endless. Our kids love us to empty our pockets in Queenstown!
But it’s such a stunning destination that you don’t necessarily have to be big spenders. There are dozens of walks in the countryside and surrounding lakes from 30 minute jaunts to multi-day adventures. You’ll find all that’s on offer on the fantastic Alltrails app – https://www.alltrails.com/new-zealand/walking.
We try to pick something that is a couple of hours long so we can then head for lunch and activities in the afternoon. Our favourites are the Moke Lake Loop track for something reasonably flat but in a more undiscovered part of the area, or the Lake Alta track which takes you up into the mountains at the top of the Remarkables ski field.
This really is only scratching the surface of what’s on offer in Queenstown though and I might have to dedicate an article to just this town and its surrounds on its own.
Milford Sound: Located inside Fiordland National Park, this is a truly spectacular landscape with mountains, waterfalls and native rainforest. You can reach Milford by a 30 minute scenic flight or 5 hour drive from Queenstown. As with so many parts of New Zealand, there are multi-day walks to be done, the most famous being the Milford track which needs booking well in advance. https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/fiordland/places/fiordland-national-park/things-to-do/tracks/milford-track/
When we visited, we took a cruise out to see the waterfalls and colonies of fur seals, which was a much more relaxing way to visit with the family and just stunning. We went with Jucy https://jucycruise.co.nz/ who offer cruise only or transport and cruise options, but there are a few tour operators to choose from.
Nelson: Known for its sunny climate, Nelson offers family-friendly beaches, the World of WearableArt & Classic Cars Museum, and the Nelson Fun Park. It’s also close to the Abel Tasman, Kahurangi and Nelson Lakes National Parks where you can truly get off the beaten track on multi-day hiking and camping adventures.
Our favourite in this area is the 60km long Abel Tasman Coastal Track. We’ve done this twice now and our three day, two night camping trip early in 2020 with our kids was truly memorable. Hiking from one spot to the next along the track, camping overnight by the beach and then getting picked up at the end by the water taxi was a really special family experience. It needs a bit of planning – booking the camping and water taxi in advance, and taking in all your own food and supplies, but so worth it. Three magical days of beautiful, reasonably flat hiking with camp spots in the most amazing locations. You can even kayak some sections of the track as well. https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/nelson-tasman/places/abel-tasman-national-park/?tab-id=50578
Dunedin/Otago: I had to feature this area to conclude our top ten as it includes literally the best thing we’ve done in the country. Otago is vast and can be reached by car from Dunedin or Queenstown. It’s filled with stunning scenery, vineyards and outdoor pursuits. But, for me, a highlight in this area is the incredible mountain biking on offer such as the Dunstan, Roxburgh Gorge and Clutha Gold Trails.
Our favourite though is the Otago Central Rail Trail – 150 km’s of wide, flat track following an old gold mining railway line. https://www.otagocentralrailtrail.co.nz/ We did this back in the day before kids as a 3 day, 2 night trip on our own bikes, with our panniers stuffed with all our belongings for the 3 days. But more recently we’ve done this as a more laid back 4 day family trip on hired e-bikes through https://www.shebikeshebikes.co.nz/ who literally organised everything for us – the shuttle bus from Dunedin to the start of the track, accommodation, bikes, pick up of bikes at the end and moving our suitcases to our accommodation each day. It was such a fun 4 days – not too strenuous at the pace that we were doing, outdoor picnics along the track each day, all the hassle taken out of the trip by our tour operator and cute little towns to stay in overnight along the way. Truly memorable and something that I hope we’ll do again in the future.
Click here for our blog that goes into much more detail on our Otago Central Rail Trail experience.
As I write this, I realise I’m only skimming the very surface of what our country has to offer, and there’s so much I’ve missed out here, and so much that we haven’t done yet, but hopefully it gives you a bit of an insight into some of our favourite spots and things to do. Kia ora and happy travels!
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