North Island: Highlights & Regions.

North Island or South Island: the honest answer

We are asked this more than anything else, and the answer depends less on taste than on how long you have. Under three weeks, pick one island. Doing both in a fortnight is possible but means you mostly drive.

The South Island has the postcard scenery: fjords, glaciers, alpine lakes, empty roads. It is more dramatic, and anyone with those images in mind will not be entirely satisfied up north. The North Island has the warmer climate, shorter legs between stops, living Māori culture, and in its geothermal fields and volcanoes something the South Island simply does not have.

Practically, the North Island is where nearly every long-haul flight lands. With ten days, a North Island loop saves you either the domestic flight or the ferry, and gives you more time in places rather than between them.

How much time you need

Seven days covers a short loop: Auckland, the Coromandel, Rotorua, Taupō and back. That is around 900 kilometres of comfortable driving and gets you beach, geothermal country and lake.

Ten to twelve days is the sensible size. The same loop plus Tongariro National Park and either the Bay of Islands to the north or Wellington to the south. That covers all four landscape types on the island without rushing a single day.

Two weeks allow the full circuit with Northland, the east coast and Hawke's Bay. With three weeks, rather than more North Island, take the ferry and add the South.

• 7 days: Auckland, Coromandel, Rotorua, Taupō, around 900 km
• 10 to 12 days: add Tongariro and either the Bay of Islands or Wellington
• 14 days: full circuit including Northland and the east coast
• 21 days or more: North Island plus the ferry and the South

The classic loop from Auckland

From Auckland the road runs east onto the Coromandel Peninsula, about 2.5 hours, for Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach, where at low tide you dig your own thermal bath in the sand. From there another 2.5 hours to Rotorua.

Rotorua and Taupō sit 80 kilometres apart and form the centre of the trip: geothermal parks, Māori cultural evenings, the country's largest lake and the Huka Falls. Two to three days here are well spent. Further south comes Tongariro National Park with the Alpine Crossing, for many the high point of the island.

From Tongariro it is 4.5 hours to Wellington, where the ferry leaves for the South Island, or around 5 hours back to Auckland. The return can run via Waitomo and its glowworm caves at no extra time cost.

When to go

The North Island is subtropical in character and works year-round. December to February brings 22 to 28 degrees, swimmable sea and full campsites, along with the highest rental prices of the year. If you come then, book your sites ahead.

March and April are our recommendation: still warm enough to swim, considerably emptier, and prices drop noticeably. In winter, June to August, it stays mild at 10 to 16 degrees with more rain, but geothermal parks and hot pools are arguably better then than at the height of summer.

One difference from the South Island that people miss: it rarely gets properly cold up here. Outside the mountain areas there is effectively no overnight frost, which makes winter campervan travel more comfortable than in the south.

Taking the campervan to the South Island

The Wellington to Picton ferry takes 3.5 hours and is the only vehicle link. Campervans are charged by length and must be booked ahead, several weeks out in peak season. You cannot reach the vehicle during the crossing.

The final hour through the Marlborough Sounds is one of the finest boat trips in the country, which is why a daytime sailing beats the overnight one. In wind the Cook Strait can be genuinely rough, so take something beforehand if your stomach is sensitive.

If you would rather avoid the ferry, collect from us in Auckland and return in Christchurch, with a domestic flight in between and the campervan waiting on the other side. Whether that works out cheaper depends on your trip length, and we are happy to run the numbers with you.