Best stops on New Zealand's main driving routes

The drives between towns are half the reason people come here. These are the routes visitors take most, and the stops that are actually worth pulling over for.

North Island routes

Auckland to the Bay of Islands

Three hours direct, five if you do it properly. Break it with a kauri forest walk, the mangrove boardwalks near Whangarei, a waterfall on the edge of town, and fish and chips in a harbour village further north.

Auckland to Rotorua

Three hours direct. Detour via the Waikato for a themed film-set farm, a startlingly blue spring, and a small town covered in corrugated-iron sculptures. Arrive in time for a geothermal park before it closes.

Auckland to Wellington

Eight hours of driving, and a poor idea in one day. Split it at Taupo or the national park. Along the way: a thundering waterfall, a dam release worth timing, the desert-like volcanic plateau, and an army museum in the middle of nowhere that is far better than it sounds.

Rotorua to Taupo and on to Napier

An hour to Taupo past geothermal valleys and prawn farms; then two and a half hours over forested ranges to art deco Napier, with a mountain-bike park and lookouts on the way.

South Island routes

Picton to Christchurch

Five hours on the coastal road, and one of the great drives. Stop for wineries around Blenheim, then the seal colony and waterfall walk just north of Kaikoura, lunch from a seafood caravan, and the wild coastline south of town where the railway hugs the sea.

Christchurch to Queenstown

Six hours via the inland route, and it should take you a day. Stop at a salmon farm on a canal, the turquoise lake and stone church at Tekapo, the lookout above Lake Pukaki with the mountain behind it, the Lindis Pass tussock country, and fruit stalls near Cromwell.

Christchurch to the West Coast

Four hours over the higher, more dramatic of the two main passes, past limestone boulder fields, a braided river gorge, a short waterfall walk and alpine parrots in the car parks. The alternative northern pass is gentler, greener and pairs well with thermal pools.

Glacier country to Wanaka

Four hours of rainforest, then a coastline of driftwood and seals, then a river gorge climbing into the mountains. Blue pools, a short waterfall walk and a lakeside picnic spot break it up neatly.

Queenstown to Milford Sound

Four hours each way, and the road is the attraction: mirror lakes, a beech forest valley, a chasm walk, and a tunnel cut through solid rock. Leave very early, or let someone else drive it.

Dunedin to Invercargill via the Catlins

Two and a half hours direct, a full day the scenic way. Waterfalls, a petrified forest visible at low tide, a lighthouse at the southern tip, sea lions on empty beaches and a blowhole a kilometre inland.

We run every one of these routes as a private intercity transfer, with as many stops along the way as your timing allows. The price is agreed before you set off, so a longer lunch does not change the bill.