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New Zealand
The sun shows up here first for a reason. Come for bracing light or caverns underground, glacial valleys or black volcanic sand. Tour every landscape on earth, all rolled into one country. Dig for pipis on the beach, or sample oysters on a platter. Savour solitude with a view, or city culture. Things are never just black and white in New Zealand.
Stick Out Your Tongue taste the freshest seafood, world-class wines, or the best lamb roast there is.
Roll Your Eyes yet another magnificent view of mystical mountains, braided river plains or calming coastlines.
Slap Your Thighs a good time’s easy to find, from happening Auckland to waterfront Wellington.
Stand Up Proud and experience Maori culture firsthand: take part in a powhiri, or fill your puku at a hangi.
Run At It Shouting bungy jump, sea kayak, surf, trek and hit the white water with the best of them.
748 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
877 people are currently reading
521 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
August 18, 2011
Excellent book which can be extremely useful as a trip planner specially when is the first trip to this fabulous country.
January 6, 2015
This guide helped me out a lot while planning my trip to New Zealand and it managed to amuse me while doing so. It had most little towns I visited figured out pretty well, recommended restaurants were truly excellent. There were however a few inaccuracies, missing information, such things didn't cause major problems while there but they were quite a nuisance so one star off.
All in all I would still recommend this guide. It is great value for money and quite easy to carry around.
All in all I would still recommend this guide. It is great value for money and quite easy to carry around.
June 11, 2016
Roll on September!
May 28, 2009
A good guide especially in terms of what to see. Lots of detail and the general info is very well-done as well as interesting to read. It could have had more info on hotels and restaurants though. It's ideal for backpackers or people traveling on a small budget.
August 9, 2017
Very good book with a lot of minor details. Helped me plan my solo backpacking trip in New Zealand. Loved it a lot. Thank you :-)
July 31, 2018
Going to China instead:)
April 27, 2010
I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend Lonely Planet guides when traveling. I have only ever bought this one for when I went to New Zealand (and there may even be a newer version of it out now), but I found it extremely helpful. When I went to New Zealand, I bought two guidebooks. This one, and the Eyewitness guide. I could see that this one had a lot of information, but the Eyewitness guide had a ton of pretty pictures... haha. At first I only used the Eyewitness, but then when I picked up Lonely Planet, I realized how much more useful it was and hardly ever used the Eyewitness guide again. I kicked myself for not consulting the Lonely Planet from the very beginning.
It turns out you don't really need pictures in a guidebook because you will see everything when you get there and this one has great descriptions that make up for the lack of pictures. It listed all the things there were to do in a town, where to stay, what to eat, and contact information for coordinating all of it. It was truly a godsend when I was booking and figuring out what there was a to do in a town and where to stay and it helped us find the best places. It even comes with maps of each town that show you where the bus stops are and where all of the listed eating and sleeping places are so you can figure out how far your accommodation will be from the bus stop. And they list many things in price order so that you can easily find the activities and such that will fit your budget. It's also helpful that in the beginning of the book, they have a few summary pages of the main attractions so that you can plan where you want to go and where not to.
The pictures in the Eyewitness guide were pretty, no doubt, but it didn't give me any of the information I needed. There was a section on accommodations and such in the back, but I never used it because it was in the back of the book (not organized well) and the list was not as extensive as lonely planet.
So anyway, whenever I travel again, Lonely Planet will be the only guide I use. =)
It turns out you don't really need pictures in a guidebook because you will see everything when you get there and this one has great descriptions that make up for the lack of pictures. It listed all the things there were to do in a town, where to stay, what to eat, and contact information for coordinating all of it. It was truly a godsend when I was booking and figuring out what there was a to do in a town and where to stay and it helped us find the best places. It even comes with maps of each town that show you where the bus stops are and where all of the listed eating and sleeping places are so you can figure out how far your accommodation will be from the bus stop. And they list many things in price order so that you can easily find the activities and such that will fit your budget. It's also helpful that in the beginning of the book, they have a few summary pages of the main attractions so that you can plan where you want to go and where not to.
The pictures in the Eyewitness guide were pretty, no doubt, but it didn't give me any of the information I needed. There was a section on accommodations and such in the back, but I never used it because it was in the back of the book (not organized well) and the list was not as extensive as lonely planet.
So anyway, whenever I travel again, Lonely Planet will be the only guide I use. =)
June 22, 2010
Guys, I'm sorry, but I'm over LP. Too complex, too much info, too many Americans in one place. Plus, I'm not hip enough/don't wear enough black to be a part of their eating and drinking guides. Use something different. Highly suggest the Footprints guides!
November 29, 2014
Lonely Planet is great, lots of great ideas for places to explore this summer!
December 31, 2017
the most comprehensive review of New Zealand I've seen while I've been looking. There are more suggestions for walks, out of the way places, and advise about when not to go somewhere, etc.
March 1, 2018
It’s quite good as guidebooks go, however it totally fails to mention that the weather in New Zealand is pretty much just like the UK; shit, cold and wet the majority of the time. Especially in the South Island, North is warmer but still rains a lot. I wouldn’t recommend camping out here either, the rain is one problem but there’s also hardly any free campsites and you get fined for camping practically everywhere. All in all not that impressed with New Zealand as a country.
November 17, 2024
I find some of the older LP guides aren’t as user friendly as some of the newer 24/25 editions. I think they work if you already have an idea of where you want to go and to find more information about that specific activity. I don’t think this edition worked as well to broad plan a trip. The New Zealand Insights Guide book was much better for getting history and figuring out what I would be interested in discovering.
May 5, 2019
The information about the traffic rules should be a lot more extensive. They say that most of the traffic accidents in New Zealand happen with tourists, but they don't talk about why... At least explain some of the peculiarities of the traffic.
In general we were satisfied about this lonely planet.
In general we were satisfied about this lonely planet.
July 20, 2019
Interesting set of highlights for New Zealand, and has given me plenty to think about in terms of planning a trip out there! Based on what other people have said I'm a bit worried about the lack of anything other than suggestions in the vein of 'oh it's easy to find mid-range stuff here' for accommodation, but other than that it looks to be a good guide!
December 11, 2019
No, I did not read it cover to cover. But used and read a good portion of this book on our recent trip and I would definitely recommend it—we took probably 60% of our activity and restaurant recommendations from this book and we had an amazing time. Maybe the most accurate travel guide I have ever used in terms of expectations matching reality!
May 7, 2020
Did not read the book but used it for reference. It has good information but I don't recommend it in electronic form unless you are adept at it. I find it easier with travel guides to peruse a hard copy. That way I can scan and use maps easily in my perusal of things to do. So 4 stars for content, three stars for format
April 22, 2023
This one got us through a month-long road trip in New Zealand. We did find plenty of inaccuracies, closures, items in need of updating (especially prices - yikes), etc., but we chalked that mostly up to covid weirdness (and covid was **ruhl** weird in New Zealand). Once we figured out what the book could do for us and what it couldn't, we found it to be a useful guide.
April 8, 2018
Very informative
I really got a lot of information on places to see and things to do and food & wineries to try on my trip next year. I had to take notes not to forget any of the information you gave. Thank you so very much I can't wait
E
I really got a lot of information on places to see and things to do and food & wineries to try on my trip next year. I had to take notes not to forget any of the information you gave. Thank you so very much I can't wait
E
December 30, 2022
Just finished planning my 2023 trip with the help of this guide. For now it seems like a great source of information but I'll update this review after the holiday. Hopefully everything will be up to date.
December 26, 2018
Good travel guide
Good travel guide and directory. I was hoping to get more of a cultural insight. But, turned out be a directory of places to visit and things yto do.
Good travel guide and directory. I was hoping to get more of a cultural insight. But, turned out be a directory of places to visit and things yto do.
April 29, 2019
Useful
Found it very convenient to reference this book on our recent trip to NZ. Used it to plan events in between the big stuff we planned on our own.
Found it very convenient to reference this book on our recent trip to NZ. Used it to plan events in between the big stuff we planned on our own.
July 30, 2019
Without having actually been there this has a lot of information to help plan a future trip. It seems like you would need to supplement this with other sources though.
November 25, 2019
Informative in summary with useful sections of itineraries.
December 7, 2019
Great option for planning travel to New Zealand.
May 29, 2023
This was a great reference book for people heading off to New Zealand. It gives one great ideas of places to go.
July 14, 2023
Tudo o que precisa para uma viagem independente à Nova Zelândia.
August 20, 2025
As a Māori and kiwi this was accurate af. Took pride in reading this with my partner as we plan his first trip back to my home. He wondered why New Zealanders would ever leave.
November 2, 2025
Good, but focused way too much on food. Not many activities outside of general outdoorsy and tourist stuff, nothing niche. Also not great if you have a small budget. Good for basic info.
May 15, 2019
4 - 4½ stars
August 19, 2023
Admittedly, I only read the section on the North Island, and skimmed a lot of the bits I knew I wasn't going to visit (we only had a week, and time was mostly spent with family, including three children under 6!). The history was fascinating and the information on indigenous Maori was really intriguing, and I think shared a bit more respectfully than some other travel books have done on indigenous (see Lonely Planet's book on Samoa).
There is A LOT of information here, so I'd recommend that even after you read it, you make a list of the things you want to see and investigate some more into it. For me, that almost counts against it.
Furthermore, I recommend getting the most updated version of the book. I bought my copy at the end of 2018, when I thought there was a chance to visit in 2019 (I came to my senses and realised I wouldn't do the Pacific any justice is my first visit was only a few days on each island). Needless to say, 4-5 years and a global pandemic later, a lot changes - hours of operation and things shutting down altogether. We contemplated a trip to Raglan for horseback riding, but they weren't doing the riding on the day we would be there. I was then keen to drive out to Zealong Tea plantation mentioned in the book; thankfully we looked it up before we went, as they're not open every day of the week. Maybe I got it wrong, but I'm certain the book said otherwise. We needed to kill a lot of time before getting to Auckland for our flight though. In the end, my sister in law saved the day and recommended a beautiful beach to visit, and my husband did some quick googling on what to do near the airport to kill some time (the answer: escape rooms!).
Next book, it would be great to have a few more inspiring things to do on the road back up to Auckland, though all local accounts, there really is very little to do near places like Hamilton!
There is A LOT of information here, so I'd recommend that even after you read it, you make a list of the things you want to see and investigate some more into it. For me, that almost counts against it.
Furthermore, I recommend getting the most updated version of the book. I bought my copy at the end of 2018, when I thought there was a chance to visit in 2019 (I came to my senses and realised I wouldn't do the Pacific any justice is my first visit was only a few days on each island). Needless to say, 4-5 years and a global pandemic later, a lot changes - hours of operation and things shutting down altogether. We contemplated a trip to Raglan for horseback riding, but they weren't doing the riding on the day we would be there. I was then keen to drive out to Zealong Tea plantation mentioned in the book; thankfully we looked it up before we went, as they're not open every day of the week. Maybe I got it wrong, but I'm certain the book said otherwise. We needed to kill a lot of time before getting to Auckland for our flight though. In the end, my sister in law saved the day and recommended a beautiful beach to visit, and my husband did some quick googling on what to do near the airport to kill some time (the answer: escape rooms!).
Next book, it would be great to have a few more inspiring things to do on the road back up to Auckland, though all local accounts, there really is very little to do near places like Hamilton!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews