Some of my favourite places to stop on an Auckland to Wellington road trip.

Two small figures stand on a rocky mountain at dawn, looking towards Mount Ngauruhoe

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New Zealand’s State Highway 1 unfurls like a ribbon between Auckland and Wellington. But don’t let the name fool you. Despite being the main highway through the country, and connecting two of our largest cities, State Highway 1 at times narrows to the width of a remote rural road. Efficiency be damned; the highway rolls right through small towns, so you’ll have to drop your speed to 50km/h. It curls right along the edge of Lake Taupo in the centre of the North Island, and all of the big trucks travelling the route have to take every bend and curve in the road at a snail’s pace.

Of course, the main artery from north to south doesn’t hit every highlight of the North Island, but you don’t have to stray too far off SH1 to reach incredible sights; draw a line between the cities and you’ll more or less pass through Waitomo Caves, Rotorua, Taupo, and Tongariro National Park. That makes Auckland-Wellington a logical road trip route for seeing some of the best the North Island has to offer.

Highlights of this road trip

I have sketched out a route that takes roughly 10 days, but you could easily add a few more and make this a two week road trip. Or, trim it down to a week (drop Hobbiton, and head straight to Wellington after Tongariro, for example).

I’ve also skipped straight past Auckland, assuming that you’ll only have a brief stay in the city to transit and acclimatise. Add a day for Waiheke, but you probably don’t need much more than that.

Day 1 – Stay at a winery near the coast in Raglan
Day 2 – Visit a glow worm cave or go black water rafting in Waitomo
Day 3 – To the Shire, and Hobbiton
Day 4 – White water rafting in Rotorua
Day 5 – Get to know Maori culture in Rotorua
Day 6 – Visit geothermal wonders
Day 7 – Hike in Tongariro National Park
Day 8 – Choose wildlife, or choose wine
Day 9 – Explore Kapiti Island or Martinborough
Day 10 – Wellington

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Day 1 | Auckland to Raglan

Drive time: 2.5 hours

Famous for world class surf breaks, Raglan has the laid-back air of surf towns everywhere. As well as vans with surfboards strapped to the top, there’s plenty of yoga, art, and bohemian cafes, not to mention the sweeping coastline with sunset views.This is a great place to go barefoot and enjoy the simple things — great coffee, stellar sunsets, and long beach walks.

Driving down from Auckland in the morning, you would have enough time to stop by Raglan town centre for lunch, and Ngarunui Beach for the views and a beach walk. If you don’t mind driving a little further, I loved driving around the coast to Barrelled Wines (stop at Te Toto Gorge Lookout on the way). The Barrique Studio at Barrelled Wines comes with a private sauna overlooking the vineyard and the coast; it’s the perfect sunset spot. You can do wine tasting (and get a bottle or two), but it’s self catering, so bring food supplies from Raglan.

Stay

Barrelled Wines

Itinerary notes

You can very easily drop this stop if you’re short on time, and head straight to Waitomo. It’s even possible to visit Waitomo en route to either Hobbiton or Rotorua, if you really need to pare down your itinerary.

Day 2 | Waitomo glow worm caves

Drive time: 1 hour 45 minutes

On the drive to Waitomo, you can stop at Bridal Veil Falls, which is quickly seen (allow around 30 minutes). Arriving in the Waitomo area around midday, you can aim for an early afternoon tour.

Waitomo is the name of both a tiny village in the Waikato, and the wider district underneath which lies a labyrinth of limestone caves; the name Waitomo comes from the Māori words wai (water) and tomo (hole or shaft). Although glowworms are the star attraction for most visitors to Waitomo, the cave systems with their limestone formations, rivers, and caverns offer caving and adventure opportunities just as enticing as glowing bugs. There are many caves and tours to choose from, ranging from trips where you can keep your feet dry to those where you can jump feet first into pitch black water.

Spellbound visits the cave with the most impressive glow worms. Tours involve a gentle walk into a cave before boarding a raft and floating around beneath a rock ceiling spangled with glow worms. The cave with the most beautiful rock formations is Okohua Cave, visited by The Waitomo Experience. This trip features a bit of everything; walking, swimming, and floating along in rubber tubes. A more adventurous option is the black water rafting trip with Discover Waitomo. The Black Abyss tour includes an abseil and an underground zipline, along with black water rafting.

Activities

Choose The Waitomo Experience for a lovely balance of walking, swimming, and floating through caves in rubber tubes.
Go for The Black Abyss tour for the most adventurous black water rafting experience
Choose Spellbound for stunning glowworms without the thrills.

Stay

Day 3 | Hobbiton and rural Waikato

Drive time: 1.5 hours

Bright blue water is surrounded by native New Zealand trees — *The Blue Spring in rural Waikato*

A hobbit-sized rocking chair sits next to the orange door of a hobbit hole in Hobbiton — *On the* *Hobbiton movie set*

The drive from Waitomo to Hobbiton is mostly through bucolic farmland. If you want to stop for a walk, Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari is an excellent option. The world's largest fenced eco-sanctuary is home to many birds and some lovely walking trails; there’s an entrance fee, but that helps support the important conservation work within the reserve.

Another option for a gentle walk is the Blue Spring. Enter via Leslie Road for a short walk, or Whites Road for a longer walk (around 2.5 hours). Personally, I prefer the longer option as it’s much quieter for most of the way — camera wielding crowds tend to concentrate closer to the Blue Spring, so if you choose Leslie Road you should also prepare for a busy walk.

In the middle of the Waikato’s rolling green hills is a small piece of Middle Earth, perfectly preserved at the Hobbiton Movie Set. The only way to access the movie set is on a guided tour. There is the option of departing from Matamata, 15 minutes away, or you can drive yourself to The Shire’s Rest – a cafe, ticketing office, and gift shop located on the farm, surrounded by sheep paddocks and country idyll in all directions. From there, buses roll through and scoop people up before whisking them off over a hill to the Shire itself.

Hobbiton tours run frequently throughout the day, but you’ll need to book well in advance. If you can, book the evening banquet tour at Hobbiton, or the Second Breakfast tour for the following day.

Activities

Stay

Look for a rural Airbnb near Hobbiton. I enjoyed the Blue Springs Cabin.

Itinerary notes

It’s doable to visit Hobbiton during the day and stay the night in Rotorua (which is only 1 hour south of Hobbiton), so if you can’t find accommodation nearby, you could sleep in Rotorua.

Day 4 | Hobbiton to Rotorua

Drive time: 1 hour

Surrounded by lakes and forest, Rotorua is something of an adventure hub. There is plenty of zip lining and mountain biking to be done around the town, but my top adventure activity in Rotorua is white water rafting. The Kaituna River features the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world; it’s also very beautiful. Choose Rotorua Rafting and you get a free sauna after the experience, plus you can nip next door to Okere Falls Store for a post-rafting burger.

Activities

Go white water rafting off a 7m high waterfall
Go ziplining through native forest
Go glow worm kayaking (this can be a great option if you skip Waitomo caves)
Check out the Redwoods Nightlights

Stay

Day 5 | Experience Māori culture and thermal springs in Rotorua

Rotorua is the most accessible place in New Zealand to get to know Māori culture. There are a range of activities on offer; you could spend a whole day with Whirinaki Forest Footsteps, or divide your time between Wai Ariki Spa or Hell’s Gate (both offering the chance to slather yourself in thermal mud), before enjoying an evening activity – there are several that offer a dinner and a show style experience in the late afternoon.

With Te Pa Tu, this looks like an evening tour of a ‘village’ (it’s more of a set than a living village) followed by a traditional hangi meal and performances, including a haka. Or with Te Puia, the Te Po Combo includes a tour of the geothermal valley before having a buffet meal of hangi food, followed by traditional performances.

Activities

Wai Ariki, a thermal spa with a cultural element
Te Pā Tū Maori village
Enjoy a Māori guided forest tour with Whirinaki Forest Footsteps
Visit Te Puia for the Te Po Combo (the most comprehensive option if you’re short on time)

Day 6 | Rotorua to Taupo

Drive time: 1 hour

From Rotorua, the drive south towards Taupō (pronounced “toe paw”), a fantastically large lake, takes you right past several geothermal areas. Waimangu Volcanic Valley is more or less directly en route, as is the (free) Hot’N Cold stream. Orakei Korako is more of a detour off the Rotorua-Taupo road, but that’s part of its charm; it’s a quiet, peaceful park. If you like to escape crowds, it’s a great option (although if you’re torn between Waimangu and Orakei Korako, they have fairly similar features. Waimangu is a little more impressive because of the bright blue Inferno Crater).

Closer to Taupo, Huka Falls is an impressive but always busy waterfall lookout spot.

Taupo town is right on the edge of the lake, with views across to Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe. With plenty of places to stay and eat, it makes for a logical stopover before visiting Tongariro National Park (around 1 hour 20 minutes further south).

Stay

Itinerary notes

You could also carry on to Turangi, and stay at The Quarters. This means a shorter drive in the morning, before hiking (particularly useful if you’re planning on doing the Tongariro Crossing).

Day 7 | Tongariro National Park

Do: From Taupo, drive down to the national park. For the Tongariro Crossing, you’ll need to be ready for an early start, and to organise a shuttle; I recommend parking at the end point and getting a shuttle to the start, so you can walk on your own time (although this does add an extra 1 kilometre to the walk).

You don’t need to do the Crossing to enjoy the national park, though. For a shorter walk that still delivers incredible volcano views, try Tama Lakes. This is a relatively gentle half-day walk. You can also walk to Taranaki Falls, for a much shorter loop (you’ll be on the same track as the Tama Lakes walk, so you can always head to the falls and see if you feel like continuing).

Activities

Hike the Tongariro Crossing (you’ll need to get shuttle transport)
Hike to Taranaki Falls or Tama Lakes
Go for a very cold dip in Tawhai Falls

Stay

There are a handful of small villages on the western edge of Tongariro National Park; Waimarino/National Park Village and Raurimu are the closest. You could also head further south to Ohakune, which has several places to stay, and from there you get some great views of Ruapehu.

Day 8 | Choose wildlife, or choose wine

Heading south of Tongariro National Park, the most direct route is to follow State Highway 1 down the coast to the capital. You could reach the city the same day (in around 4.5 hours of driving) but if you have time, there are a couple more great places to stop before you reach Wellington.

The first option is to follow State Highway 1 until Paraparaumu, where you can spend a night in anticipation of catching a morning ferry across to Kapiti Island in the morning. Kapiti Island is possibly the best bird sanctuary I have visited in New Zealand. If you like birds, it’s incredible, and makes for a quieter option to Zealandia, the popular sanctuary close to the centre of Wellington.

The Kapiti Coast is a pretty area, so it’s a nice place to stopover. Escarpment Domes is a scenic, although not necessarily easy to access, place to stay 15 minutes south of where the Kapiti Island ferry departs. From the Domes, you can access the Escarpment Track, one of the Kapiti Coast’s other highlights.

The Kapiti Island ferry leaves at 8.30am and returns to land around 3pm. It’s only another 30 minutes south to Wellington.

*Le Gra Vineyard, with the Tararua Ranges beyond*

The second option is to branch off to State Highway 2, and take a slightly longer route to Wellington. This option takes you through the Wairarapa region, famous for dark skies and red wine. I love taking this route, so if you have the time I highly recommend it. I’m very fond of Martinborough, a quaint village surrounded by vineyards, but other highlights for me are Castlepoint and Cape Palliser.

Le Gra Vineyard is roughly 3.5 hours south of Tongariro National Park. It’s a lovely bed and breakfast set in a vineyard — the room is adjacent to the owners’ and winemakers’ house. Nicky and Brian are very kind hosts and they make impeccable wine. You can opt to have wine tasting and platters packed with Nicky’s homemade preserves in the evening, which is a real treat following a day of solid hiking.

Stay

Itinerary notes

Le Gra is also well situated for visiting Castlepoint, which adds a fair amount of driving but is a truly spectacular place. There is a lighthouse, a coastal walk, and sweeping beach views. If you don’t mind the drive (an hour out, and an hour back) you could fit in a sunset visit on this same day.

Day 9 | Martinborough

It’s only another 40 minutes from Le Gra Winery down to Martinborough, but there are a couple of good stops to make on the way. The Clareville Bakery outside of Carterton is incredible, possibly the best pie I’ve had in the whole of New Zealand. Their pastries and coffees are also excellent, and the people are kind.

A little further south is Greytown, a sweet small town with some good antique shops and bookstores. It’s worth a stopover just to meander the village centre.

Arriving in Martinborough around midday, you’ll be well positioned to head to a winery for lunch. Poppies does an excellent platter, or Moy Hall has a pretty restaurant with garden seating by the vines. On weekends, Colombo has great pizza and wine tasting flights (I loved their Pinot Gris).

There are many other cellar doors offering tastings; I recommend Margrain for its laid-back environment and delicious Chenin Blanc. Another good option is to head to Karahui, a wine bar in the centre of Martinborough, for dinner. Their wine list is impressive and covers the full span of the Wairarapa wine region, along with local gins.

Stay

The Martinborough Hotel

Itinerary notes

If you have another full day up your sleeve, the road trip out to Cape Palliser is beautiful, and there’s a seal colony just before you get to the lighthouse.

Wellington

Drive time: 1.5 hours

From Martinborough, it’s not a long drive to Wellington, but the road does take you over the Rimutaka Ranges. Prepare for a very winding road. The drive does take you past the regional park that was Rivendell in The Lord of the Rings films though, so if you’re a fan that’s an easy place to stop and break up the drive.

Activities

Visit Te Papa
Take the Cable Car to the Botanic Gardens, and from there the free shuttle to Zealandia

Stay

The Intrepid Hotel
The Cobbler
Ohtel

Thank you for reading

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