New Zealand, Aotearoa, is back on top of the world. After being knocked off the premier spot of the podium by South Africa in 2023, the Land of the Long White Cloud has once again been voted the best country in the world by our readers.
What has changed over the last few years? Not a great deal, thank goodness. News? The 11th Great Walk, the 39-mile Hump Ridge Track, opened in October last year; the cycle trail network continues to expand and upgrade in accessibility; and visitor numbers increased by 12 per cent.
Yet while other countries have become less welcoming, more violent, too hot, or too polluted, New Zealand has simply continued to offer a safe and friendly welcome to visitors who come for its mountains, forests, geysers, wineries, city harbours, and beaches – to be thrilled, awed, relaxed, and awakened. Which is why we go on holiday, after all.
Here are 10 amazing things about New Zealand that make it the best country on Earth. Take a deep breath of Pacific air and dive in.
16 spectacular regions
The country is made up of sublime regions all offering something different. Rather than driving all day every day in a desperate bid to snap the perfect Insta shots of everywhere from Bluff to Cape Reinga for Insta, immerse yourself in one region for the lion’s share of your trip. It makes for a far more relaxing break.
Take the Ruapehu region, for example. It boasts bike trails for every age and ability, the World’s greatest one day walk (the Tongariro Alpine Crossing), the Tongariro Northern Circuit (a three-day ‘Great Walk’), fly fishing and deer hunting, canoe safaris and white-water rafting, ancient beech forests, and luxury lodge accommodation.
Superb cycling
New Zealand’s cycle network has expanded to 23 Great Rides since the first, the Otago Central Rail Trail, opened in 2000. The rides total more than 1,740 miles of mostly off-road, purpose-built trails, which showcase all aspects of New Zealand’s landscape, heritage, and culture.
Many will take you through less visited regions and can be ridden all year round following old pathways forged by early explorers and travellers – hence the official Māori name, Ngā Haerenga, ‘The Journeys’. Technology is being added alongside mileage with e-bike charging stations making the rides accessible to as wide a range of riders as possible.
Sensational walks
From a stroll along Auckland’s waterfront to sojourns past 1,000-year-old trees, waterfalls, and caves; and day-long crossings to multi-day epic adventures, there are walks to suit everyone.
New Zealand places the 11 official Great Walks in its shop window, with good reason: these walks combine some of the country’s most spectacular natural landscapes and wildlife with terrific hut facilities and, in some cases, the option of guides, cooked meals, and gear transportation. But the Great Walks are just 11 of over 4,800 marked trails throughout the country. Pack a compass and go on a backcountry adventure.
Indigenous culture
It goes without saying that a traditionally oral culture requires and honours great storytellers. The Māori story is woven into the New Zealand experience: it’s there in place names, on information boards, public sculpture and artwork.
It is impossible to miss that Aotearoa is a great Polynesian nation: a karakia, a prayer, led by your kayaking guide is what makes the experience uniquely New Zealand. But a deeper dive into the Māori experience pays dividends: operations such as Footprints Waipoua, the Dark Sky Project, Te Puia and the Waitomo Caves place natural phenomena and art into their historical and mythological contexts. Google is no substitute.
Surprising food
Of course we need calories to sustain us up mountains and down rivers, but eating in New Zealand need never be indifferent. You’ll find gourmet pies at local bakeries, mussel fritters and crayfish at beach shacks, local fruit at roadside “honesty” stalls: the country is stuffed with high-quality produce.
Make a meal an objective in itself: it could be a splurge on the wild fallow venison at Vaughan Mabee’s Amisfield restaurant, beach-gathered tuatua vongole cooked on your camping stove, or a day-long cultural adventure foraging, preparing and cooking a feast with Tom Loughlin’s Kai Waho. Just don’t forget the wine.
Encounter glorious marine life
With almost 9,500 miles of coastline, there is no shortage of ways to see the natives and ocean nomads that make their living under the water. In Kaikoura you can see whales, fur seals, albatross, and swim with dolphins – in the wild.
The Poor Knights Islands are rated as one of the best temperate dive and snorkel sites in the world; there are yellow-eyed penguins, and sea lions on the Otago peninsula; Hector’s dolphins and orca at Akaroa Marine Reserve. What New Zealand might lack in the way of lions and tigers and bears, it makes up for with Flipper and company.
Look to the stars
There are eight certified dark sky sanctuaries and reserves in New Zealand, located across the entire length of the country. See planets, nebulae and star clusters through the powerful telescopes at the Dark Sky Project’s Mt John Observatory, or learn astrophotography at a workshop.
The Aurora Australis is best viewed between March and September and there’s nothing to impede your view of it between Stewart Island and Antarctica. If this all sounds a bit active, book a star-gazing hot tub or hammock. At the very least, drag the kids out of bed and show them the Milky Way.
Stunning stretches of sand
One of New Zealand’s greatest strengths is in the variety of its landscapes: this is as true of its coastline as it is of its mountains and forests. Just as there’s no shortage of pounding surf beaches, there’s uninhabited island beaches, 60-mile long beaches, white sand beaches, black sand beaches, tiny inlet beaches, safe beaches and dangerous beaches.
Go horse trekking at Cape Farewell, catch a wave at Whangamata, do the hot sand hop at Piha, or just build a sandcastle and read a book. The mid-winter water temperature of the winterless north is warmer than mid-summer Cornwall, so there’s no excuse not to get in.
Go off-grid
There’s always the risk of doing too much during a New Zealand holiday, all managed and paid for online. Having travelled all that way, then walked, cycled, swam and driven, you owe it to yourself to go off-grid for a couple of days. PurePods provide luxury catered seclusion.
These all-glass pods, with neither WiFi nor plug sockets, are located at the foot of snow-capped mountains, overlooking a beach, nestled in native bush or looking down a gorge. If you’ve blown your budget, Department of Conservation campsites enjoy million-dollar locations; there’s no electricity but they cost next-to-nothing.
Made for big adventures
Don’t squander the flight on a 10-day holiday. Take that sabbatical, organise a house sitter and do the full two-month camper-van tour of both islands. If you can only take a month, flip a coin for north or south. Driving through New Zealand’s scenery, meeting the friendly locals, choosing where and when to stop, can be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but you have to have the liberty to choose. If you are chasing a carefully time-tabled itinerary you’ll come unstuck.
Distances are misleading: there are winding hill climbs and rural traffic to contend with, as well as seasonal flood damage and repairs; the weather can be challenging. But done right it will be the best road trip you ever take.