Insight Guides: New Zealand

How To Use This E-Book

Getting around the e-book

This Insight Guide e-book is designed to give you inspiration for your visit to New Zealand, as well as comprehensive planning advice to make sure you have the best travel experience. The guide begins with our selection of Top Attractions, as well as our Editors Choice categories of activities and experiences. Detailed features on history, people and culture paint a vivid portrait of contemporary life in New Zealand. The extensive Places chapters give a complete guide to all the sights and areas worth visiting. The Travel Tips provide full information on getting around, activities from culture to shopping to sport, plus a wealth of practical information to help you plan your trip.

In the Table of Contents and throughout this e-book you will see hyperlinked references. Just tap a hyperlink once to skip to the section you would like to read. Practical information and listings are also hyperlinked, so as long as you have an external connection to the internet, you can tap a link to go directly to the website for more information.

Maps

All key attractions and sights in New Zealand are numbered and cross-referenced to high-quality maps. Wherever you see the reference [map] just tap this to go straight to the related map. You can also double-tap any map for a zoom view.

Images

Youll find hundreds of beautiful high-resolution images that capture the essence of New Zealand. Simply double-tap on an image to see it full-screen.

About Insight Guides

Insight Guides have more than 40 years experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides. We produce 400 full-colour titles, in both print and digital form, covering more than 200 destinations across the globe, in a variety of formats to meet your different needs.

Insight Guides are written by local authors, whose expertise is evident in the extensive historical and cultural background features. Each destination is carefully researched by regional experts to ensure our guides provide the very latest information. All the reviews in Insight Guides are independent; we strive to maintain an impartial view. Our reviews are carefully selected to guide you to the best places to eat, go out and shop, so you can be confident that when we say a place is special, we really mean it.

2015 Apa Publications (UK) Ltd

New Zealands Top 10 Attractions

Discover New Zealands unique attractions breathtaking landscapes, exciting adventure activities, absorbing museums, indigenous culture here, at a glance, are our recommendations.

Top Attraction 1

Glacier Walking, Franz Josef or Fox Glacier . Explore stunning blue glacier ice and crevasses on a half- or full-day glacier walk, led by knowledgeable and safety-conscious guides. All the gear, including crampons, is provided. For more information, .

Andy Belcher/Apa Publications

Top Attraction 2

White Island, Bay of Plenty . See the pure, raw energy of nature at work on the worlds most accessible marine volcano. Hike across this unique lunar landscape pockmarked with fumaroles to view its colourful and ever-changing crater lake. For more information, .

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Top Attraction 3

Maori culture . New Zealands indigenous culture can be experienced by attending a traditional kapa haka (song-and-dance show) performed at venues nationwide; at a hangi feast; and on guided walking tours of local marae (open courtyards) and meeting houses. For more information, .

Peter James Quinn/Apa Publications

Top Attraction 4

Waipoua Forest, Northland . Stroll through the vertiginous canopy of tangled foliage in this mighty Northland kauri forest, where sights such as New Zealands oldest living kauri tree the mammoth Tane Mahuta are, quite simply, unforgettable. For more information,

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Top Attraction 5

River adventures, Queenstown . The South Islands adventure-sport capital makes a fabulous base for getting out on the water. Speed along the Shotover River in a jet boat or experience some thrilling whitewater rafting. For more information, .

Andy Belcher/Apa Publications

Top Attraction 6

Thermal Wonderland, Rotorua . Visit Rotorua to see New Zealands most vibrant and colourful thermal parks such as Whakarewarewa, Hells Gate and Waimangu. Wai-O-Tapu has several highlights, including the Lady Knox Geyser, the bubbly Champagne Pool, and brilliantly hued silica terraces. For more information, .

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Top Attraction 7

New Zealand food and wine, Hawkes Bay and Marlborough . Tempt your taste buds with cuisine inspired by the freshest of locally gathered produce, perfectly matched to a selection of fine regional wines. For more information.

Peter James Quinn/Apa Publications

Top Attraction 8

Waitomo Glow-Worm Caves, the Waikato . Venture underground on a guided tour to see limestone stalactites and stalagmites. The highlight is an awe-inspiring boat ride through enormous caverns, radiantly lit by millions of tiny glow-worms. For more information, .

Robert Harding

Top Attraction 9

Adventure sports . Whether you like your adrenaline via bungee, surfboard, zorb, or with an ice pick, New Zealand has a variety of outdoor adventures sure to get your blood pumping. For more information, .