Lonely Planet New Zealand's Best Trips 1

by Brett Atkinson, Sarah Bennett, Lee Slater

Lonely Planet: The world's leading travel guide publisher

Discover the freedom of open roads with Lonely Planet New Zealand's Best Trips, your passport to uniquely encountering New Zealand by car. Featuring more than 30 amazing road trips, plus up-to-date advice on the destinations you'll visit along the way, seek out alfresco dining and seductive wineries, follow New Zealand's premier wilderness highway to Milford Sound and discover spectacular natural landscapes, all with your trusted travel companion. Get to New Zealand, rent a car, and hit the road!

Inside Lonely Planet New Zealand's Best Trips :

Lavish colour and gorgeous photography throughout

Itineraries and planning advice to pick the right tailored routes for your needs and interests

Get around easily - easy-to-read, full-colour route maps, detailed directions

Insider tips to get around like a local, avoid trouble spots and be safe on the road - local driving rules, parking, toll roads

Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, prices

Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sleeping, sight-seeing, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss

Useful features - including Detours, Walking Tours and Link Your Trip

Covers Marlborough, Bay of Islands, Akaroa, West Coast, Central Plateau, Milford Sound, Waiheke Island, Kaikoura, Mackenzie Country, Waitomo Caves, Canterbury, Rotorua, Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch, Queenstown and more


The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet New Zealand's Best Trips is perfect for exploring New Zealand via the road and discovering sights that are more accessible by car.

Planning a New Zealand trip sans a car? Lonely Planet New Zealand, our most comprehensive guide to New Zealand, is perfect for exploring both top sights and lesser-known gems.
Looking for a guide for New Zealand's South Island or North Island? Check out Lonely Planet's New Zealand's South Island guide or New Zealand's North Island guide for a comprehensive look at what each island has to offer.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Reference

360 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2016

About the author

New Zealand Travel Writer.

Reviews

[Carol, She's so Novel ꧁꧂ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5★

What a gorgeous, evocative cover this book has! All three are typical New Zealand shots.

The problem with using a book designed for overseas readers is that in your own country you aren't trying to cover a vast amount of the country at breakneck speed.* I was looking for a bit more detail than this slim book can supply. What I really liked were the small detail maps breaking up how much you can do in a day. But I needed more information on what to do when I'm at my destination.

If driving in New Zealand don't skip the olive green section at the back.

Our planned route is Wellington for the Cubadupa Festival, I want to go to the Weka Studios & I want to visit the Garage Project (craft beers) & family stuff. Then one night in the Martinborough region (or maybe 2 if the wines are good enough!) Napier & then (yay!) Gisborne & its environs. I've never been to Gisborne & I'm quite excited. For me, this summer is the first time that NZ has felt over touristed, but Gisborne is still very get away from it all. We are allowing nearly four weeks which is more than some of our visitors (I'm an Airbnb host) allow for our whole country. *I made a cup of tea for one of our guests, turned around & he was literally asleep on his feet. He was doing all the driving & they only had 9 days for all of the North Island.

My husband had a good chat with one of the workers at our local I-site (tourist information bureau) the other day. Visitors look at a map & see a little country & don't allow for little windy roads (North Island off the beaten track) very few roads (South Island) & lousy drivers. (New Zealanders & visitors) & road works just about everywhere. Slow down, see less, but enjoy it more.

Carol over & out!

https://wordpress.com/view/carolshess...

[Robyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book for planning your road trip through New Zealand, which, it is said, is the only way to see the country. We are ambitiously attempting to see both islands in two weeks. With so much to do I'm dying, but this book is really helpful in narrowing things down and offering the most scenic routes to the different areas. Highly recommended!

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't normally include these kind of books on my goodreads, but I read this one cover to cover as research for my trip to New Zealand at the end of the year.

It's not structured like a normal lonely planet reference book, instead it's broken into 6 geographic regions and includes 26 suggested road trips throughout the two islands. It's super easy to read and has tons of great ideas for stuff to do. We're planning to drive the whole country from south to north, so I think it'll be really helpful in breaking up some of the drives with roadside attractions along the way!

Now I'm super excited for the trip, even though it's still ages away!

[Taylor Rodger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great options for road trips. I will likely combine a couple of them. Wish there was a little bit more as to how long was an appropriate time to spend in each place. Let me know if a location is just a stop along the way or if it's a place a may want to stop and spend a couple of days. Which city is the best to stay in each night? But overall it has been very helpful.

[Ietrio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing special. Some routes. And the usual index of references. Useful in a place without internet.

[Cay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat helpful for planning road trips in NZ.

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is one problem with this book. I have so many "I want to go there" tabs that I'm going to struggle to choose which ones to do! Great ideas. Wide choices.

[Mojca · Rating 3 out of 5]

2½ - 3 stars

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great resource for anyone planning to drive around New Zealand. The trips in the book cover pretty much any itinerary imaginable, and you can mix and match them to fit your own driving plans. I found the book most helpful when trying to find interesting sites, activities and restaurants to stop at between Point A and Point B. There are a ton of different ideas that I wouldn't have otherwise known about, with plenty of information on opening hours and timing (e.g. a 20 minute hike here, or a 2 hour hike there) so you can make the most of your pit stop. The only thing I found frustrating was that some towns and cities appear in a few trips in the book, with different recommendations each time, so you have to flip around to find all the info on one place. An index of all the recs for each place mentioned would have been nice!

[Kalei · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good idea of what road trips you can take around New Zealand and what could be seen or done on those routes. I still think I'll mash up a couple routes to hit what most I want to see, rather than doing one route in full