Where to fly to in NZ? *updated*

I think that most or all international flights land in Auckland but flying on from there is easy as you just have to change terminal.

I flew from Heathrow to Auckland via Hong Kong and then when I arrived in Auckland caught and internal flight to Christchurch and then another internal flight to Queenstown. It depends whereabouts you are looking to visit really. On the way back, I flew directly from Queenstown to Auckland and then back to Heathrow via LA.

Air New Zealand are fantastic so I can't recommend them highly enough if you have the option to fly with them!

ETA - I honestly wouldn't worry about the amount of driving if you did hire a camper. If you can share it between you that will help and it is the most flexible way to travel. The roads are also a lot quieter than the UK so it is less stressful driving there too!

Wellington? I loved that city.

Also - the amount of driving you'll do in the south island is very do-able, firstly, there is somewhere beautiful to stop and be gob smacked at every 30 minutes (honestly, the place is amazing) and secondly, places aren't that far from each other, I seem to remember the longest journey we did between places was about 4 hours ... totally do-able.

How about Christchurch on the South Island, I flew into there....

Very jealous of your holiday, NZ is one of my favourite countries! Do let me know if you need any tips/recommendations!

You can fly directly into Christchurch if you fly Singapore Air - they do Heathrow-Singapore-Christchurch. The only way to fly into other cities directly is via Australia, which usually ends up being no advantage to flying into Auckland.

I am biased, being born and bred in the South Island, but my advice is to spend most time there. The scenery is spectacular and the roads are fairly easy driving. North Island is also lovely, but in quite a different way. It really depends on what you enjoy! I can recommend a few lovely places to stay if you are interested.

Do bear in mind, if you are driving, that the roads are very different to the UK. Less traffic, but no motorways to speak of. This means most driving is on single carriageways (with the odd passing lane here and there).

What months are you going? I think "a lot of driving" is kind dependent on where you're planning on going and how used you are to driving. No where is NZ is really that far a drive when you compare it to the likes of Australia. I would probably still fly into Auckland and fly home from Christchurch but it depends on specifically what you are trying to cram in to two weeks. Auckland isn't that exciting as a city but if you're there in Summer then there are lots of lovely places to visit North of Auckland.

Personally I would always prefer driving somewhere like NZ as you can visit places en route and it lets you mind change your mind about how many days to stay in a particular place depending on how you like it rather than being stuck to a flight schedule.

Thanks everyone! We are considering flying via Sydney to spend a couple of nights in Sydney to at least see a tiny bit of Oz and then we can decide if we want to go back another year. So that widens up where we can fly into first in NZ rather than only NZ places where we can get direct from UK.

We are going in late Feb/early March which is early Autumn in NZ I understand.

In terms of driving, I don't mind driving but find it really tiring and I'm a bit nervous driving in foreign countries/strange cars. OH doesn't mind driving either but struggles with multi tasking (he admits this himself) which means he can't glance at the scenery or even have music playing while driving somewhere new. So whenever we are in a car with OH driving on holiday its about just getting to where you need to be as fast as possible. There is no relaxing drive ambling through gorgeous scenery. Which normally ends in arguments about his rally style driving (could be a whole different thread!). So if we go to NZ and choose driving I will either be tired from doing all the driving myself or stressed from the white knuckle ride of being in a car with OH. Occasional driving from one city to another could be useful, more than that I am reluctant to factor in as I know exactly how it will end. I did consider a camper van as OH might have difficulty getting something that big and slow to go very fast. lol.

In Cambodia we got round using buses and boats. In Europe we use the trains a lot as outside the UK the rail network is pretty good. Are there any public transport options other than flights to get around NZ?

My sister loves rotorua, she lives on the north island and isn't too far away, her pictures look amazing. The airport near her is Palmerston North, not sure if there is one nearer to rotarua though.

Quite possibly (very) biased but my sister says the north island is the best- there clearly is a north/south rivalry!

Driving through the country is your only real option if you want to see more than just one place as the public transport system here is relatively poor. There are the tour busses but based on my own observations of the tourists I have encountered and the opinions of friends who have used them they are best avoided if you are over 19 years of age.

I would say a camper is the way to go as you have accommodation and transport built in. The 'Top Ten' holiday parks are reasonably priced and excellent quality and buying a season ticket gets you an additional discount.

I havent been to the south island and I'm dying to go a I hear it is gorgeous so I cant comment on that, but I will say that 2 weeks isnt really long enough to see both islands. before we moved over oh and I had the most amazing 2 week holiday and saw most of the north island. We flew into Auckland and stayed a couple of nights as we had tickets to a show that was on OHs bucket list. Then we set off and basically drove clockwise round the whole north island. We saw the coromandel peninsular, bay of plenty, rotorua, taupo, hawkes bay/napier, wellington (for us ur least facourite place) new plymouth - lord of the rings sets, waitomo caves, hamilton and the far north. Plus explored some amazing places off the tourist trail too. If I were doing it again I would spend less time in wellington and not bother traveling north of Auckland, but would still highly recommend seeing the country the way we did. It inspired us enough to move here and I love the central and upper north Island.

If you prefer to have a 'base' and do day trips rather than always being on the move, come and stay with us. We are under 2 hours from Auckland, Hamilton, the Coromandel, Rotorua and Tauranga. We are about 3 hours from Taupo and Waitomo. For the Hawkes bay and new plymouth areas you'd need an overnight stop. I love having visitors and helping them to explore our new home abd I may be biased but I think we are perfectly placed for exploring our amazing adopted country.

Google Waihi. We live 400metres from an operational gold mine, 10km from a gorgeous beach and close to the incredible Karangahake Gorge.

Have I sold it to you?

Thanks everyone for your help.

We have booked flights!! Eek. Fly to Christchurch via Sydney, have 14 days in New Zealand and fly back from Auckland via Kuala Lumpur.

Have booked hotels in Sydney and KL so just need to plot itinerary for NZ. So much to think about!! Prob will spend majority of it in the South island with a few days in the north to go to Rotorua. Were there any things people did which they later thought wasn't worth the time? Looking at doing one overnight cruise to either Doubtful Sound or Milfred (sp?) but no idea how to pick.

YK - thank you for your amazing offer. If we are passing through near you we should def meet up!

Good job I don't have a wedding or anything to plan as need to spend hours looking at NZ itineraries and Iceland for my hen party.

Jealous! I can't wait to return to NZ but unfortunately no spends in the pot right now!

The Tripadvisor NZ forum is full of excellent advice and has lots of itineraries so have a look at that, but I'd say with 14 days you'll probably want an internal flight to Rotorua from - not sure where you can actually fly there from, but maybe Queenstown or Christchurch?? Otherwise it'll be a lot of driving and not much time to actually get out the car! There's virtually no motorways in NZ, most roads are single carriageways and in the South Island in particular can be twisty and windy, so even though the distances don't look far it can take a while to drive anywhere - you'll also probably want to stop at viewpoints/short walks along the way! For this reason, I wouldn't take a campervan - it'll slow you down. We found a car and motels more cost effective too, once you add in campsite fees and fuel for the van etc.

If it helps, we went from Auckland to Christchurch so different direction to you, but our SI route was:

Arrive by ferry from Wellington - drive to Kaikoura (2 nights) - Seal swim

Kaikoura - Christchurch (1 night) - Hagley Park/Botanical Gardens/REstart container mall

Christchurch - Lake Tekapo (1 night) - Mt John Observatory night sky tour

Lake Tekapo - Mount Cook (1 night) - Glacier Explorers tour/Hooker Valley walk/Kea Point walk

Mount Cook - Queenstown (2 nights) - Stopped to watch the bungy jumping, Arrowtown, luge/gondola, Fergburger/bakery!

Queenstown - Te Anau (1 night) - Key Summit walk

Te Anau - Doubtful Sound (1 night) - Overnight cruise - it was fab - we saw waterfalls, deep sea fished, went kayaking, saw seals, penguins, dolphins!

Doubtful Sound - Wanaka (2 nights) - Puzzling World, Cinema Paradiso, some more walks

Wanaka - Franz Josef (2 nights) - Lots of short scenic walks off the Haast Pass, helicopter tour with snow landing of the glaciers (fantastic!), walk around Lake Matheson

Franz Josef - Christchurch (1 night) - Stopped at Hokitika Gorge, flew home via Singapore from Christchurch the next day.

So 14 nights total and it was pretty full on, but I wouldn't change any of it! You'll have a fab time!