SarahSo you are thinking about doing a New Zealand road trip in a campervan? Great, there is no better way to explore this beautiful country!
I initially wrote this blog post after our first New Zealand road trip during our nine-month honeymoon trip around the world. We spent two weeks in a budget campervan exploring the North Island of New Zealand before we went on to do a road trip in Australia.
It was an amazing experience and certainly made us fall in love with both New Zealand as well as road trips! Learning from our mistakes on the first trip, we decided to book a self-contained campervan for our Australia trip – but more on that later!
And now we have booked air tickets to go on our New Zealand road trip in December this year! We also choose our campervan – and we’ll stay with a self-contained one!
Of course, I am in “full travel planning” mode right now – so I decided this article desperately needed an update! In the end, I ended up writing an almost completely new article with much more information.
Hopefully, it now contains all the tips you need to plan your own New Zealand Road Trip in a campervan!
Table of Contents
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Why you should do a New Zealand Road Trip
Honestly, going on a road trip in New Zealand is simply the best way to explore this beautiful country!
Normally being more a luxury type of travelers, there’s a reason why we still chose to sleep in our car for two weeks and will gladly do it again!
Reason 1: It’s what the Kiwis do!
Going on a New Zealand road trip is not something touristy to do! In fact, it’s what most Kiwis (that’s what New Zealanders call themselves too) do for their holiday as well.
The whole country is crazy about outdoor activities and camping – and once you arrive, you will understand why!
By going on a road trip in New Zealand, you will meet lots of locals and even connect (trust me, a BBQ never fails to connect!) with them. In our opinion, this is always the best way to explore a country!
Reason 2: The public transportation is not that great
Being born and raised in Germany, I am used to a very efficient and incredibly dense public transportation network. You can literally go to ANY village of ANY size in Germany by public transportation, likely even by rail.
That’s not the case in New Zealand. There’s little to no rail connections in New Zealand (except for two rail lines, one in the South and one in the North).
Bigger cities are connected by buses – but a lot of places are simply “off the grid” and can only be reached by driving.
So to put it simply: To see more than the big cities you need to go on a New Zealand road trip!
Reason 3: The nature along the trip is just fantastic
If your first thought about driving through a country is “boring”, you clearly haven’t been to New Zealand yet!
The whole country is so stunningly beautiful that you won’t stop gazing out of your window while being on your New Zealand road trip!
Plus, being in a car always gives you the option to pull over and stop wherever you want. We frequently just stopped because we saw a sign marking a water fall or something else that we deemed interesting!
Reason 4: You won’t have to pack all the time!
The thing we hated the most after months of traveling around the world was packing that damn backpack! And still today we hate packing and unpacking our suitcases every time we travel somewhere.
If you are on a road trip in New Zealand you can stop worrying about that at least for most of the time! No packing your stuff in the morning and no searching for your tooth brush in the evening!
The awesome thing called “Freedom Camping”
Chances are, that you have already heard about Freedom Camping when thinking about doing a road trip in New Zealand. If not, here’s some short information about that!
What is “Freedom Camping”?
One of the (many) awesome things about New Zealand is that the right to stay everywhere on public ground is actually even in their Bill of Rights! That means, you can (theoretically) stay anywhere on public ground while being on your New Zealand road trip!
This right was further detailed in a law from 2011 called the “Freedom Camping Act”. That’s what you call camping outside of Campsites – Freedom Camping! And it is a great way to save money while traveling as well as enjoy nature and meet like-minded people!
In order to preserve nature, the country is scattered with Freedom Camping spots that have free public toilets, garbage bins and sometimes even BBQ facilities for free.
Limitations of Freedom Camping
So, does that mean that you can simply park your car anywhere and pitch down a tent?
Well, that’s where it gets a little bit more complicated: technically you are allowed to just pull over on the roadside everywhere where it is not explicitly forbidden.
BUT the rule is lived in a way that this is only accepted for certified self-contained vehicles. Numerous cities and regions have passed by-laws since the Freedom Camping act, restricting or prohibiting all-together Freedom Camping in their area.
And if you think about it, it makes sense: If there’s no toilet and you are not self-contained, you will destroy that beautiful country.
As fines for violating freedom camping rules can be really high (200NZD and higher), you really don’t want to break them.
Benefits of Freedom Camping
We really loved Freedom Camping during our New Zealand road trip and we will try to do it as much as possible on our next one as well!
Freedom Camping sites are much quieter and closer to nature than paid camp sites with all the nooks and crannies and facilities.
Plus, we met a lot of interesting other people there – including a lot of Kiwis that also decided to go for the free campsides.
Types of campervans for your New Zealand road trip
You actually have plenty of different option on HOW to do your New Zealand road trip. And one of the first questions you will have to decide on is the type of campervan you want to rent!
Luckily, it is pretty easy to rent an RV in New Zealand! The most difficult part will be to decide on how much comfort do you want to have during your trip and how much you are willing to pay.
If you are thinking about buying a campervan in New Zealand “The Wandering Mind” wrote an awesome article on “How to buy a backpacker car in New Zealand”!
Car + Tent (and why it’s not really an option)
In theory, you can just rent a car, buy a tent and head on to your New Zealand road trip.
In reality, you will hardly see someone do that. And the reason is simply because of the Freedom Camping rules. You will have a much harder time to find camping areas that allow pitching a tent – even the ones for non self-contained camping often prohibit tents!
Plus, renting cars isn’t much cheaper than renting a campervan as there’s such a fierce competition among campervan rental companies! And not all of them are good – it’s really worth thinking about which campervan rental company is best for your road trip!
The Budget Campervan
A lot of campervan rental companies in New Zealand offer budget campervans. Usually these are converted cars or minibusses that have a basic kitchen and a place to sleep.
Most of the budget campervans are non self-contained – meaning there’s no toilet and they will simply drain the dish water on the floor below your car.
Often, budget campervans do also not have a second battery, they might come with manual transmission and even without AC. They often do not have a fridge but only a passive cooling box.
The main benefit of these budget campervans is (surprise!) that they can get really really cheap to rent – down to 49NZD per day! However, it is often worth spending a few more bucks to get a better campervan. There’s a range within the budget campervan segment: some might even have a second battery for example and window blinds!
Certified Self-Contained Campervans
Having a certified self-contained campervan will greatly influence your itinerary planning. There are many more campsites that you can use when you drive a self-contained campervan across New Zealand – and you are even allowed to pull over at the road side in some areas (e.g. around Christchurch)!
Every certified self-contained campervan does have at least a grey water tank (where you dish washing water goes) and a toilet.
But before you think of a small cabin for that – the toilet often isn’t more than a potty – and you don’t really want to use these ones unless absolutely necessary! (But most campsites have toilets anyway)
Most self-contained campervans are also less budget oriented and will have a spare battery, AC and a real fridge on-board. When we were driving a Jucy Condo across Australia we saw the difference to our budget campervan in New Zealand.
Full sized (luxury) campervans
It’s a bit difficult to say where the “luxury” segment starts with campervans – but there are definitely more versions to choose from for your New Zealand road trip!
The biggest difference will be the models that have an actual toilet (and not only a potty) and a shower onboard. These will really make a difference in convience – but that usually comes at extra cost.
In the end, it’s really up to how much you can and are willing to spend – our upcoming trip will be our first in a campervan with a real shower and a toilet!
Campervan rental companies in New Zealand
There are plenty of different campervan rental companies to choose from for your New Zealand road trip! Most of them have rather similar models though and there isn’t THE ONE COMPANY to recommend.
Here are a few tips on where you could start looking:
- Jucy Rentals (signature colored – we used them in Australia and really love their vibe)
- Wicked Camper (funky, sometimes offending designs – we used them in NZ on our first trip – perfect for budget conscious travelers!)
- Lucky Rentals (that’s the one we rented for our upcoming trip)
- Spaceship Rentals (we saw so many of them and they are really good as well!)
- Britz Rental (more upscale, conservative)
Legal requirements for driving in New Zealand
Good news first: New Zealand is very used to foreigners renting campervans and driving them across the country. Most country’s driver’s licenses are recognized by the transport authority of New Zealand.
If your home country’s driving license is not in English you need a translation. Don’t worry, there’s plenty of online services that will translate most licenses for around 40-50 NZD within 24 hours.
Some companies like Auckland Translations Ltd. will even offer an express service to get that document within less than one hour for around 60 NZD.
Alternatively, you can apply for an international driver’s license while you are still in your home country – these are accepted by rental companies as well!
And don’t forget – New Zealand drives on the left side of the road! It was a bit weird for us at the beginning – but it’s really not something to worry about too much!
Packing for your New Zealand road trip
Packing for a road trip is completely different from packing for a backpacking trip or a holiday resort vacation!
There’s plenty of stuff that can make your live much easier on the road (e.g., a large power bank). And then there’s stuff that you DONT have to pack because every campervan is already equipped with it (e.g. cutlery)
But don’t worry, I got you covered! I wrote a complete article about “Freedom camping in a budget campervan unlocked”! that has all the tips we developed after our first road trips in New Zealand and Australia!
How much does a New Zealand road trip cost?
Well, a road trip in New Zealand is likely not gonna be the cheapest holiday that you will ever do. It’s actually more expensive than you would think. But then again, it is definitely possible to do it on a limited budget – it really depends on your needs.
These are the factors you should consider when budgeting your New Zealand road trip:
- Flight costs
- Campervan Rental
- Campervan Insurance + Fees (e.g. one-way fee)
- Fuel (+ Road user tax for diesel)
- Ferry between North and South Island
- Campsite Fees
- Food and Drinks
- Visa cost / Translation of Driver’s License
Depending on where you live, flight costs can be one of the biggest factors. Otherwise, the campervan rental costs will probably be your biggest expense for your New Zealand Road trip! Plan to pay around 50-150€ rental costs per day, depending on the season and the campervan type.
Fuel is rather cheap in New Zealand (at least compared to Europe) – but you will drive quite a lot. A two weeks trip across both islands can easily rack up 3,500-5,000 kilometres. Given the fuel consumption of most campervans (10-15 l/100km) you are looking at fuel costs of 500-1,000€. Diesel isn’t really much cheaper due to the road user tax they have to pay (Petrol users do NOT have to pay it)
Campsites fees can range from free (Freedom Camping!) to 50€/day for luxury holiday parks. There’s also a DOC campsite pass for rental campervans that allows you to use DOC campsites for 30NZD for 7 days – which can be a huge discount!
As a very rough estimate I would recommend to plan at least 2000€ for a two-week New Zealand road trip for two people – without the flight and any extra activities! New Zealand in a campervan is a lot of fun – but there’s definitely cheaper holidays that you can take!
Campermate - An app with all the campsites
A really good app that you should download for your New Zealand road trip anyway is Campermate.
It is for free and contains information, prices and ratings/comments on all camp sites in New Zealand (free/paid, Self-contained/non-self-contained) as well as on public toilets, free WiFi, water supply, supermarkets, gas stations etc.
You can download the map and then everything works offline (big plus, there is no reception at a fairly large number of places!).
We found it to be incredibly resourceful for our New Zealand road trip (don’t trust it in Australia though!)
New Zealand road trip FAQs
There’s a few questions about a New Zealand road trip that we did not cover anywhere else. Just click on the toggle below to read the answers on these questions!
As you might want to have a shower once in a while (I highly recommend it – really improves your social communication with locals 😆) you will probably stay at paid campsites every few nights if you choose to mainly do freedom camping.
You can also use public swimming pools for showering – there are some really cool ones in New Zealand!
We went to a public swimming pool once during our trip and stayed on paid campsites three nights for the other showers. And this time, we will splurge on a campervan WITH a shower!
If you rented a more expensive campervan, these might come with a plug. It allows you to connect your car to a power source and operate the fridge, the lights and the music system without draining your batteries. Generally, all certified self-contained campervans also come with such a system.
They also typically have a dual battery system so that you can do that even on unpowered sites. The second battery will also be charged by driving during the day.
And should I have missed something: just send me an email to [email protected] or comment below so that I can add your questions!
Looking for the perfect route in New Zealand?
There is a million things you could do both on the North and the South Island!
A really great start to finding your perfect itinerary for your New Zealand road trip was written by a blogger friend of mine – check out her two weeks itinerary for a roadtrip in New Zealand!
And if you want to stay longer in New Zealand, you might want to consider getting a New Zealand working holiday visa!
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