We have decided to take our 2 week 25th anniversary trip to the southern island of New Zealand. We will be driving ourselves and staying in hotels. We have pros and cons on the timing due to life here in upstate New York, but have 3 possible times to take the trip. What are the pros and cons in terms of weather, sightseeing conditions, crowds and cost for taking trip at the following times:

Last 2 weeks of November 2019
2 weeks starting mid to late January 2020 (this one is best time for other reasons)
First 2 weeks of April 2020

Thanks.

My first reaction was to choose April, but...

I see Easter falls on April 12th next year - Easter is a very busy long weekend in NZ (and AUS), lasting from Good Friday through Easter Monday (and sometimes Easter Tuesday).

Local kids will be on school holidays from April 10-27, so more locals (and possibly Australians) on the road, but generally fewer tourists from other countries (unless there's a Chinese conference I'm not aware of).

We've traveled in NZ (and AUS) over Easter and it's certainly not a deal breaker, you'll just want to book your accommodation well in advance and be prepared to pay a 15-20% surcharge at some cafes and businesses open on statutory holidays (Diamantina can confirm whether or not this custom is still in practice, I presume it is).

The weather is generally very settled in April and the summer crowds will have gone back home.

I'd personally avoid January altogether - busy, busy time. So, given your choices and the way the holidays fall, if you can get there before Easter, I'd do that. Otherwise I'd probably opt for November.

Good luck with your decision.

Well, the good news is that NZ school holidays (like summer break in the US) begin mid-December and run for 5-6 weeks, depending on school, so the kids should be back in school by February (same with Australians).

The potential bad news is that NZ has been discovered by the Chinese in a very big way - Chinese New Year - a massive time for Chinese travel - is Jan 25, 2020, so there might still be a lot of overflow. And February is still very much high season (we traveled there once in February and vowed to never do it again).

You need to do what works for you obviously.

Just keep in mind you'll want to secure your accommodation bookings well in advance, particularly if you're visiting Mt Cook, the glaciers, Queenstown and Wanaka.

It's high season for a reason though - warm weather!

After December, February is the busiest month, according to Statistics NZ:
https://www.stats.govt.nz/reports/in...-february-2018
We will get a bump in Chinese New Year/Spring Festival tourists from Jan. 25 through Feb. 8, but there will be plenty of tourists from other countries as well, mainly from Australia, the U.S., the UK, and Germany.

As for the weather, it's unpredictable and can go from gloriously dry, sunny and warm to wickedly wet, windy and rainy. On the South Island, you can swelter one day, shiver the next. You can encounter poor weather any time of year. The warmest days are generally in summer, but we can be affected by ex-cyclones from the South Pacific and sudden "cold snaps", which can last for up to a week. The wind can be also be horrendous, as you can see from this:
https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/queens...voc-queenstown
And the main highway along the West Coast was closed for a couple of days in late Feb. due to heavy rain
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-z...highway-6.html
And this happened last summer, 2018
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/...-in-golden-bay

If you are looking to come when there are fewer tourists, don't choose Feb. Late March is nice. Outside of school holidays, April is also nice, but the days are shorter, and the weather starts to chill, we can even get an early snowstorm down south, but it's a nice time for autumn leaves, especially in Otago and Canterbury.

I find it confusing that you have two different threads.

Thank you both for the information. I think our circumstances are going to force a February trip. As with any month it seems, we just have to hope for the best with weather and expect anything can happen with that. Luckily we are starting early and things are not booked up yet for next Feb.

Pardon my use of 2 threads. I thought threads were supposed to have specific topics so once we got the answer on not trying to do too much and focusing on south island I thought I was supposed to start a new one to talk about timing.... If I have further specific questions I would like opinions on should I continue here or start another?

I'd prefer a new thread - the title of this one might prevent folks from looking at it, whereas a new one asking for itinerary suggestions for a two week trip to the South Island might get more responses.

This forum is so slow it hardly matter though.

I think I'd fly the sister out and go later.