10 TIPS FOR TRAVELING TO NEW ZEALAND

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This selection of the best tips for traveling to New Zealand It will help you prepare your trip and above all, enjoy one of the most incredible and complete countries in the world.

Considered by many as the trip of your dreams, due in large part to the enormous distance that separates it from Spain and the high prices of flights, vehicles and standard of living in general, we assure you that if in the end you decide to make that trip, you will not regret it. Landscapes of infarction, a culture with a fascinating history, scenarios of The Lord of the rings Y The Hobbit In addition to the possibility of living in a motorhome and some wonderful people, they will make this trip become unforgettable days that will become part of your most endearing memories.

Based on the experience of our trip to New Zealand in 36 days, we have made a list of what we think are some of the 10 essential tips for traveling to New Zealand. We start!

1. What is the best time?

Although we would love to say that any time is good for travel to New ZealandWe have to say that this is not entirely correct and there are some seasons much more suitable for travel than others, due in large part to the country's meteorology.
The first thing to keep in mind is that due to the geographical situation, the seasons do not correspond to those in Spain, the other way around: the coldest months are in our summer (July and August) and the warmest months in our Winter (December and January).
This, in addition to the fact that time in a country like this is something basic, since the vast majority of activities are outdoors, make it very important to consider this aspect before deciding on the best time to travel.

High Season (December to February): They correspond to summer and are the ones with the most benevolent weather forecasts. That said, we must also bear in mind that this factor makes the prices of accommodation, flights and motorhomes much higher and also, that the more tourist places are much more frequented.
Mid season (March-April and September-November): The spring and autumn months would be, according to our experience, the best for traveling to New Zealand, taking into account that the weather is usually quite stable and the landscapes look spectacular.
In relation to prices, although a few years ago they were significantly lower than in high season, currently and because many tourists travel at this time, prices are being matched, so it is worth taking into account and reserving both Flights like the motorhome with enough time to avoid high prices and surprises.
Low season (May to August): This is when winter starts, bad weather and lower prices. Despite this and especially if you want to do some winter sport, this may be the best opportunity to travel to White Cloud Country.

Do not forget that although we have made a division by months and seasons, in New Zealand the weather is unpredictable and as they say there, it is a country where you can live the 4 seasons of the year in a single day. It is for this reason that we recommend traveling by motorhome and thus always having an alternative plan B, which allows you to change the route or adapt it according to the weather.

2. Requirements for entering the country

For travel to New Zealand, if you are Spanish you will only need a valid passport until at least three months after the date of departure without a visa and you can be in the country for tourism for a maximum of 3 months. Despite this and since October 2019, any traveler with a visa exemption, such as Spaniards, must request an electronic travel authorization, also known as ETA, before the trip. Likewise, together with this application, they must pay a fee known as International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL).
Remember that you can perform these procedures from the official website and online without paying any extra for any type of external management.
If you are from another country remember to check if the visa is mandatory on the official website, which we attached above or at the embassy.

In addition to the requirements mentioned above, another of the tips for traveling to New Zealand It is always to have a copy of the important documentation such as passport, ETA, travel insurance ... etc, on paper and another in the cloud, either in an email account, in Google Drive or in Dropbox.

Passport

3. Vaccines and travel insurance

There is no mandatory vaccine for travel to New Zealand According to the World Health Organization, although travelers coming from endemic areas of yellow fever, they can be asked for a vaccination certificate.
Despite this, as we always say and insist, it is essential for these cases to make an appointment at your usual International Vaccination Center to be a professional who advises you and according to your medical history, determine what vaccines are or are not necessary.

In the case of travel insurance, in New Zealand you can find good hospitals and quality care, although you should not forget that any consultation or treatment, if necessary, can be very expensive if you do not have the best travel insurance for New Zealand.
We always travel insured with Mondo, with whom we carry a totally adequate insurance to the needs that we will have on the trip.
Hiring your insurance here with Mondo, just for being a Street Travelers reader, you have a 5% discount.

4. How to start the trip

The most common way to start a trip to New Zealand It is flying to Auckland, on the North Island or Christchurh, on the South Island, being the first option the most logic If you want to make a route through both islands.
Within all flight search engines, we recommend using Skyscanner to check all available flights including options multi-destination, with which you can enter through one city and exit through another, something perfect in New Zealand, as it will allow you not to have to return to the starting point, saving a lot of time.

Once you have the flights, the next step is to rent a motorhome in New Zealand or rent a car, depending on the way you want to know the country. In our case and after the experience, we can only recommend the motorhome, since it is the best way to have total freedom of schedules and movements, in addition to allowing you to sleep in really impressive places, which we are sure, will become part of Your memories of the trip.
Regardless of what we told you, it is perfectly feasible to travel to New Zealand by car and stay in hotels or campsites that have bungalows, although the options will be smaller and in addition, you should try to book them well in advance, especially in high season.

With these two aspects solved, you will only have to organize the route, which we will talk about later and book some of the most tourist activities in the country, such as Hobbiton or Waitomo, which are two of the most demanded by travelers, to ensure that You have a place.
You can book here the Guided Tour of the Hobbiton Filming Set or the Hobbiton Movie Set Guided Tour and Buffet Lunch, departing both from Shire's Rest Café, as we did.
And you can book the entrance to the Glowworm Cave here and the entrance to the Ruakuri Cave here.

Hobbiton in New Zealand

5. Motorhome rental in New Zealand

As we said before, according to our experience, one of the best tips for traveling to New Zealand It is without a doubt, choosing to rent a motorhome to tour the country.
Although initially doubts may arise, we at least came up and many, we assure you that this is the best way to move around the country, both for the freedom of movements and schedules it offers, as the possibility of modifying the route according to the time and also, the opportunity to sleep in unique places, many of them considered as the best places to see in New Zealand.

In our case we opted to rent a Jucy, the famous green motorhome, especially for being the one that best adapted in relation to quality / price to what we were looking for and also for having perfect dimensions to move around the country, without many problems, since That was the first time we made this kind of trip for us.
Remember that if you are interested in making a route through New Zealand by motorhome, it is advisable to look at the Motorhome Republic page, where you can see all the available motorhome options, prices and even make the reservation directly.

New Zealand in motorhome

6. Recommendations for traveling by motorhome

As we know that this is a subject for which many doubts arise and it is very common to have certain fears, we leave you what have been for us the basic recommendations for travel through New Zealand with motorhome.

New Zealand is perfectly adapted to these types of vehicles, so you will not find any problems to move around the country, even in the most isolated places and in the smallest towns.
If you have never driven one, we recommend spending a few minutes in the parking lot taking the measurements and adapting, since you should not forget that in New Zealand you drive on the left.
Before renting, consider what type of trip you want to do, since sometimes, for a little more money, you can have a shower or a slightly wider space, which if the trip is long, we assure you will thank.
Although it may seem silly, we recommend a few days before, review the things that must be done to have a motorhome up to date and tuning. At the time of the rental they will give you some instructions, but if you have never taken one, you may get lost or be too much information, so it is important to have some basic notions. In the post that we will leave at the end of this point, you have all the most important details.
Enjoy and above all, take the opportunity to sleep in unique and exceptional places and adapt your itinerary according to your needs. Do not forget that you will take your piggyback house And that is the greatest freedom you can have when traveling.

If you want to know our experience and an extension of all the recommendations and details, as well as tips to drive it and to enjoy one of the best motorhome trips in the world, do not miss the post to rent a motorhome in New Zealand.

Mata Point Reserve

7. Money exchange

The official currency is the New Zealand Dollar and at present it is the equivalence is 1 euro = 1.68NZD.
As we always comment on our trips and the one we believe is another of the Basic tips for traveling to New Zealand, refers to the currency exchange.
In our experience, to avoid paying commissions and always having the current change, we recommend using the N26 card to pay and the Bnext and Revolut cards to get money at the ATMs. They are the ones we use, They are free and will save you a lot.
You can find more information in this article about the best cards to travel without commissions.

Remember that although in New Zealand you can pay practically everything with a card, it is advisable to carry some cash, to pay small bills or even to pay for laundry at the campsite.

Money in New Zealand

8. How to have internet in New Zealand?

If you want to have internet in New Zealand, something very necessary today, especially considering the amount of applications we use in our trips and the need to be in contact with our family and friends, you can choose several options:

Buy a SIM card at the airport or at a phone shop in the city.
Buy one Holafly SIM card, with which you will have internet from the moment you land, saving you all the time of the negotiations and making the whole process to have internet in New Zealand much more comfortable, fast and easy.
In this case, with the Holafly SIM you will have several Gb to surf the Internet (depending on the option you choose), they will send it to you for free at home, you will keep your WhatsApp number and you will have assistance service in Spanish. You can buy your Holafly prepaid SIM card here with a 5% discount for being our reader.

More information on the Holafly post, the best prepaid SIM card for travel

9. Route through the North Island

Another of the best tips for traveling to New Zealand that we can give you, it is without a doubt and despite the changes of plans that you can make later, take a definite itinerary or at least, have a knowledge of what are the places you want to visit in New Zealand.
Initially we recommend you, whenever you can, make a route through both islands, for a minimum of 21 days, leaving for the North Island an average of 7-10 days. In this regard there are many opinions, among which there are travelers who recommend, if you have little time, focus on the South Island. In our case, we believe that a trip without a visit to the two islands would be incomplete, so we recommend that you try to add a few days to get a more general view of the country and enjoy its most incredible places to the fullest.

Essentials of the North Island of New Zealand

We leave you a selection of those that are for us, the essential places of the North Island, that whenever you can, you should not miss:

In addition to these places, if you have some extra time, it is highly recommended to visit Cabo Reinga, in the north of the island, make a route through the places to see in Northland, among which Te Paki Giant Dunes, the 90 mile beach and the Kauri Coast and Huka Falls and the Craters of the Moon, two of the places to see on Lake Taupo.

Landscapes of Tongariro Alpine Crossing

10. Route through the South Island

As we mentioned earlier, to travel to New Zealand and to have a complete vision of the country, we believe that the minimum stay should be 21 days, dedicating in this case, about 14 days to the South Island, where some of the biggest attractions and also some of its most tourist places are concentrated. In case you have more days, we recommend leaving 4-5 extra days to be able to use them in case of bad weather or if you have to make any change of plans, something that as we said at the beginning, is perfectly feasible if you do this Motorhome trip.
In the same way it is important to remember that in the middle season and especially in the high season, the ferry from Wellington to Pincton, with which you will cross from the north island to the south island, is usually in high demand, so it is highly recommended to have it in account and go looking occasionally the places to try to reserve them as soon as possible.
You can book the ferry from Wellington to Picton here.

Essentials of the South Island of New Zealand

We leave you a selection of those that are for us, the essential places of the South Island, which you should not miss:

Visit Franz Josef Glacier and Matheson Lake and if you have time, pay a visit to Fox Glacier
Trekking Roy's Peak in Wanaka
Route through the places to see in Milford Sound including a cruise through Milford Sound, one of the essentials of the South Island of New Zealand.
Moeraki Boulders in New Zealand
Route through the things to see and do in Lake Pukaki
Route through the things to see and do on Lake Tekapo
Route through the things to see and do on Mount Cook

If you have extra time, other highly recommended places on the South Island would be a route through the places to see on the West Coast, Glenorchy, make a route through Queenstown in one day, enjoy the places to see in Los Catlins and from Cathedral Caves, Purakaunui Falls, Nugget Point, which are some of the places to see in Southland and spend a day discovering the places to see in Christchurch in one day.
In addition to these, if you want to end the trip to New Zealand in a quiet place and enjoy incredible landscapes, we recommend you to make a route through the places to see on the Banks and Akaroa Peninsula or a route through the places to see in Kaikoura

Trekking Roys Peak in Wanaka

More tips for traveling to New Zealand

Other of the best tips for traveling to New Zealand They are:

Although as we have commented several times, New Zealand is incredibly prepared for motorhomes, it is worth looking at the campsites, especially the most famous, free and in high season, since sometimes they are usually full.
For this it is very useful to use the Campermate mobile application, with which in addition to being able to control any type of accommodation in New Zealand, including campsites whether paid or free, you can see on a map the locations of banks, shops, laundries, gas stations , showers ... etc. For us it was the Bible from New Zealand.
It is also very useful the Metservice application to monitor the weather, especially if you want to trek to Tongariro or visit somewhere with sunshine. It does not usually fail and is perfect to keep up with the weather situation. In addition to this if in Google you put "webcam X" you can see the webcams that are scattered throughout the different areas and see the real time of the place you need.
Remember that in some motorhomes the plugs for laptops only work if you are plugged into electricity, so if you need them, you must stay in a campsite with this service.
In relation to this, in New Zealand the common voltage is 230V, the frequency is 50Hz and the plugs are type I. Check it if you have a universal adapter, since many do not include it.
Travel at the time you travel, it is important to remember that the weather is usually quite variable and changing, so it is highly recommended to wear a raincoat, boots and dress in layers.
In New Zealand there are areas where there are not many gas stations so it is quite advisable to look at it before embarking on a long route or always try to take the full tank.
When you make your route on Google Maps keep in mind that many of the roads on which a speed of 100 km / h is allowed, if you go in a motorhome this is unfeasible, so you must adjust the times.
If you are going to travel to New Zealand and want to buy in supermarkets, do not worry as there are practically in all locations, however small. The most important are Pak'n Save, Countdow and Fresh, being for us the first one with the most options and the best quality / price ratio. Also in this usually discount coupons for their gas stations, with which you can also save a few dollars.
If you are going to make a large purchase, it is better to do it in large populations, since prices are even tripled in the same supermarkets, but in small towns.

Do you want to organize this trip to New Zealand for free?
Get it here:
The best offers of Flights to New Zealand here
The best hotels at the best prices in New Zealand: here
Book your travel insurance with a 5% discount here
10 must-see places in New Zealand
The best travel insurance for New Zealand
Book the best tours and excursions in New Zealand in Spanish here
Rent your motorhome in New Zealand at the best price here
Rent your car to travel around New Zealand at the best price here