Our Favorite New Zealand Hikes

New Zealand is an amazing place for hiking, and Kiwis are hard core trampers. We spent six months between the North and South Islands and did a lot of hiking, along beaches, up volcanoes, and to wineries and glaciers. Here are some of our favorite New Zealand hikes.

Hiking Volcanoes in New Zealand

Since New Zealand is known for its volcanoes, we had to walk some of them! It means a lot of vertical walking, but there’s usually a payoff of a good view. The North Island has nine active volcanoes, and much of the land features like in Rotorua, are results of volcanic activity.

Here are some of the volcanoes we hiked in New Zealand’s North Island:

Maungawhau/mount eden, auckland

Mount Eden is a great hike to do when you spend a couple of days in Auckland. It’s conveniently located to downtown, and an easy walk to do without any hiking gear. As a result, it’s popular and can be mobbed with tourists on a nice day. Still, it offers nice views and there’s good restaurants and bars to reward yourself after the volcano hike!

Mauao/Mount manganui, tauranga

We stayed in Tauranga on Go for several weeks, so we got to know the nearby volcano pretty well. We hiked up and around the mountain on different occasions, always enjoying the views over the water and on land. It became one of our favorite New Zealand hikes because of the views and the variety of trails. You can pick different routes up and down and not get bored!

The Mount, as it’s locally called, is a dormant volcano with a lot of Maori history and significance. The peak elevation is 232m, and there are a few routes with different difficulty levels so most people can hike Mount Manganui. As it is culturally significant to Maori, there are panels offering history and stories along the trails.

The first time we hiked The Mount, in January which is the height of summer, we brought our swimsuits thinking we’d want to jump in the ocean after. It was too cold for us, but a lot of people were swimming in the 20C water.

mount taranaki

We didn’t actually climb Mount Taranaki, the North Island’s second tallest mountain, but we hiked around it. We impulsively stopped in Edgmont Park on a beautiful day on our drive to New Plymouth. The hike we did was a fairly easy hike to a waterfall, with the dormant volcano looming over us. The actual hike up Taranaki is long and requires an overnight stay, so we were happy to take some photos.

Below is a map of the North Island volcanoes we hiked in New Zealand.

Our Favorite New Zealand Hikes

Marlborough bays

The entire Queen Charlotte track is 71K and we hiked a tiny bit of it. It was one of the prettiest hikes we did in New Zealand, along the Marlborough Bays near Picton in the South Island.

We took the ferry in the morning, got dropped at a site with some Captain Cook monuments, and then we walked. We walked along cliffs and down onto beaches and up again. It was our last full day on the South Island and a really beautiful way to spend it outside in nature with the birds and other trampers.

Aoraki/mount cook

Mount Cook is one of the top tourist spots in New Zealand, and there were tons of people there the day we hiked. We chose to tackle two different trails in one day so we could leave for somewhere less crowded. The hikes were beautiful though!

Sealy Tarns

Our first hike at Mount Cook was one of our favorite New Zealand hikes, and also one of the toughest. We started the Sealy Tarns Track right after breakfast and it was already busy. Our timing was right, and I’m glad we didn’t go earlier because it was very foggy when we started. It gave the start of our hike an atmospheric aura, and as this was a climb, it felt like we were climbing up above the clouds. Which we were!

About halfway up the 2200 steps, the clouds lifted and the most stunning views emerged. We could see the valleys below, our campground, and the other mountains. Gorgeous! It took a few hours to hike just over 5K out and back, and our hiking poles came in handy for that one.

Hooker Valley Track

After the climb up Sealy Tarns, we ate a quick lunch and hiked the much easier but insanely busy Hooker Track. It’s a pretty hike, with bridges and a view of the glacier at the end, but the crowds of people almost put us off.

I’m glad we did it. The 11K trail was much easier than the stair climb of the morning, and we had the time. It’s no wonder Hooker Valley is one of New Zealand’s most popular tramps. It’s gorgeous and easy!

roys peak

The toughest hike we did the entire time we were in New Zealand, Roys Peak is a long climb. We walked for a couple hours, zigzagging up and up to the viewing platform 1300 meters from the start. The views are the reward for all the exertion. We now compare all our other hikes to Roys Peak, and nothing has yet been as challenging. But it was beautiful.

Need a break from hiking? Visit the best attractions in New Zealand

bay of islands

We loved hiking in the Bay of Islands, and had a lot of opportunities! Highlights were walking amongst sheep at Urupukapuka and the immensely challenging (but not as hard as Roy’s Peak) Cape Brett Lighthouse Walk. We hiked from Deep Bay Cove to the lighthouse and back, which was very strenuous and involved a lot of hiking up and down over and over again.

Our longest Bay of Islands hike was the loop from Pahia to Opua, ferry to Okiato to Russell and then a final ferry back to Pahia. That was 24K and a lot of hills. I would recommend Pahia to Opua as the nicer, prettier and easier walk, but if you’re up for a challenge, do the loop!

New Zealand has so many great hikes, it’s hard to pick favorites, but I tried! If you’re a better planner than us, you could add in some multi-day tramps and camp in the beautiful sites. We were happy with what we did and enjoyed finding our favorite New Zealand hikes. Which would you do? Share in the comments!