Choose 3 places in NZ
 

I need to choose 3 places to visit from the following list and I need to act quickly. Which would you choose? BTW: I prefer outdoor activities and natural beauty.
Auckland
Queenstown
Napier
Wellington
Nelson
Christchurch
Dunedin

That's easy. Queenstown, Dunedin, Nelson (Abel Tasman). Or if you want to do a North Island Location, somewhere along the coast, Coromandel, or Bay of Islands are not far from Auckland.

Nelson
Queenstown
Dunedin

They are all cities (towns) - do you mean you have to choose based on what you can access from those "fly into" points.

Suggest you look at it a different way. Choose one - say Christchurch - from there you can make a loop up to Nelson, down to Queenstown, over to Dundedin and back again.

The beauty of NZ is what you see in between. On balance, I would choose the South island.

1. Auckland for Rotorua
2. Queenstown for Milford Sound
3. Christchurch for Mt. Cook

Hi,

I never could color in the lines....

my 3 would be:

Coromandel
Fox Glacier
Queenstown

Regards,

Melodie
Certified Kiwi Specialist

We actually flew into Auckland and drove to Rotorua for two nights. We stopped at Glowworm caves along the way. We went hiking the same day in Rotorua and the next day we went to the thermal reserves and saw a sheepshearing demonstration. That evening we went to a Marae Hangi concert and learned about the culture of the Maori people We also went to Christchurch for two nights and three nights in Queenstown. We took a day trip from Christchurch to Alkoa. In Queenstown, there are many day trips for outdoor activities. We took a bus to Milford Sound and a helicopter back which stopped on a glacier. I would recommend taking something for motion sickness if you are prone to it. Also, the roads in and out of Queenstown are very winding. We took a Dart River Tour and saw where Lord of the Rings was filmed in some areas. We definitely need to go back and see other areas that we missed.