New Zealand’s borders are now open to fully vaccinated international travellers from all visa waiver countries. So why not grab your hiking gear and take a trip to one of the most picturesque places in the world.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of New Zealand’s Great Walks, a series of amazing walking tracks that traverse the country and provide unparalleled access to its most incredible landscapes, diverse wildlife and rich cultural heritage.
Travellers can discover some of the best hikes in New Zealand put together by our friends from Tourism New Zealand. There are the great outdoors and you can get up close to untamed wilderness, majestic mountains, lush forests and flowing rivers. From day walks to multi-day hikes, there are walks for every interest and fitness level – a truly immersive experience with nature.
READ MORE: Here are some of the unseen photos that New Zealand so unique
Best hikes in New Zealand – Day walks
Cable Bay Walkway
At three and a half hours, Cable Bay Walkway is a great warm-up for hikers looking to tackle the Abel Tasman Coastal Track or Heaphy Track. The route offers sweeping coastal views of Boulder Bank, Nelson City and Kahurangi and Abel Tasman National Parks.
The complete walk takes about 3½ hours one way and requires transport arrangements to be made. From the Rotokura/Cable Bay end, a shorter return trip is to the top of the first hill (1 hr return) or to the forest edge (2 hr return). From the Glen end, a round trip to the airstrip and back takes about 2 hours.
Roberts Point Track
Winding up over the Waiho Valley, the Roberts Point Track takes hikers from the Douglas Bridge to Hende’s Hut while passing sheer rock walls, side streams and waterfalls. Find reward at the top with unrivalled views of the Franz Josef glacier.
It is an 11 KM return trip (about 5 hr return) from Alex Knob/Lake Wombat car park, or 5 hr 20 min return from the glacier car park.
Ulva Island
The jewel of Rakiura National Park, Ulva Island offers a series of short treks suitable for hikers of all ages and fitness levels. Discover beaches and coves, while connected paths allow you to explore different routes. Avid bird watchers will want to keep an eye out for birdlife along the way.
It takes around 3 hours to walk all of the marked tracks. There are multiple tracks that take around 20 minutes to about 2 hrs.
Lake Marian Track
Situated off Milford Sound Highway, the Lake Marian Track is a great introduction to Fiordland. Enjoy a taste of real wilderness as you traverse the waterfalls and a glacial-carved hanging valley before arriving at Lake Marian. A perfect adventure on a lovely summer day.
From the falls, the track becomes steep and sometimes muddy during the ascent to Lake Marian. The ascent to Lake Marian takes around 1 hr 30 min.
Best hikes in New Zealand – Multi-Day Hikes
Abel Tasman Coast Track
A coastal trek that takes hikers from sun-soaked golden beaches up to a remarkable coastal forest canopy within the Abel Tasman National Park. With its relatively flat terrain, the Abel Tasman Coast Track is ideal for amateur hikers and families with young children.
Due to the mild climate of Nelson Tasman, the track is accessible all year round. For adventure and ocean lovers, opt for a guided kayak tour and complete this Great Walk from the ocean.
There are so many tracks and routes that you can, such as Marahau to Anchorage, which takes about 4 hrs for 12.4 km or Whariwharangi Bay to Tōtaranui, which takes 3 hrs where you cover about 9 km.
Heaphy Track
Once walked by Māori pounamu (jade) hunters, this ancient Māori trail crosses over tussocks and lush forests, through nīkau palms to the roaring seas of the wild West Coast. Located within the Kahurangi National Park, hikers will encounter native plants, New Zealand’s oldest rocks and wildlife including the great spotted kiwi and the world’s largest carnivorous snail, Poweilliphanta.
Take shorter hikes or longer ones that last about 6 hrs, when you visit the Heaphy track.
Routeburn Track
With its soaring mountain peaks, huge valleys, towering waterfalls and jewel-like lakes, this track links Mount Aspiring National Park with Fiordland National Park, offering hikers the best of both worlds. Avid bird watchers and photographers will enjoy this hike with its native birdlife and sweeping sceneries including Earland Falls, one of Fiordland’s most impressive waterfalls at 174m.
During the Great Walks season (1 November 2022 – 30 April 2023), there are a series of amazing shorter hikes of about 1 to 2 hrs that make a great way for those looking for a slightly easier route.
Milford Track
Known as the ‘finest walk in the world’, New Zealand’s most famous walk has been thrilling hikers for more than 105 years. Its alpine scenes and fiords remain as mesmerising as ever. The trek takes you right into the heart of New Zealand’s wilderness – a historic route that spans untouched nature and steep mountainsides including the Mackinnon Pass and Sutherland Falls, it’s also home to rare and endangered species.
In the Great Walks season (25 October 2022 – 30 April 2023, last departure 28 April 2023), you can have a very short hike under an hour or up to 7 hrs traversing one of the most beautiful walking trails in the world.
Rakiura Track
New Zealand’s most southern Great Walk, this track takes hikers through Stewart Island – offering a peace, birdsong and scenery that has barely changed in thousands of years. The island is home to a huge bird population including the country’s national bird, the kiwi. Steeped in history, the track passes through Māori land and early Māori settlement sites. As the world’s fifth International Dark Sky Sanctuary, Stewart Island is great for catching the Aurora Australis or Southern Lights.
Hikers can visit the Lee Bay to Port William Hut trail or the North Arm Hut to Fern Gully car park, which provides a different terrain and experience for hikers.
