New Zealand
 

I will be traveling in NZ in March of 2008. My question is: do we need to book every night of our trip ahead? Or can we "wing it". I have booked the first 2 nights and the last 3 nights of our trip.

We will be traveling the top half of the South Island, and from Wellington to the Bay of Islands in the North Island. We will be staying only one night in most places.

Any advice would be most appreciated.

Karen

If you pick up an accomodation guide like Jasons, or the AA (auto club) and call a few days ahead, you should be fine. My experience is that lodging is tightest in the following locations:

Mt. Cook
West Coast glaciers
Christchurch during a special event
Te Anau

It isn't that you wouldn't find anything, it's just that you might not get into the places that are a good value for a reasonable budget.

The other reason to book ahead is that the I-sites (tourism info centers) can get very crowded.

Thank you for responding.

KWM

The only hotels we booked were in Auckland,Wellington and Christchurch.

Karen -

If traveling during the long Easter weekend, I strongly suggest you book ahead. Many Kiwis travel during school holidays and over long weekends, so accommodation in popular spots could very well fill up.

March 21 - 25 - Long Easter weekend

Thank you for the heads-up...we will actually be leaving on March 21st.

Two years ago we went during easter weekend, and had no problem except for the West coast SI. But we tend to make reservations early, as soon as we knew where we wanted to stay, especially since their cancellation policies were very good. ((*))