Country guide

New Zealand

Fjords, ferns and the kindest light

New Zealand packs an impossible range of landscape into two islands — fjords and glaciers, geysers and beaches, mountains and vineyards — all joined by the easiest road trips on earth. It is safe, uncrowded and made for slow family wandering.

December – March

Abel Tasman

Golden coves and the gentlest coastal trail

Abel Tasman is New Zealand’s smallest national park and its most beloved — a string of golden-sand coves lapped by turquoise water, joined by a coastal trail that dips and rises through native bush and over headlands. There are no roads in; you walk, kayak or take a water taxi, and the pace is set by the tides.

Read the full guide

November – April

Milford Sound

A fjord of waterfalls and sheer cliffs

Milford Sound is the eighth wonder, Rudyard Kipling called it — a fjord of sheer black cliffs plunging into dark water, ringed by peaks and hung with waterfalls that appear and vanish with the rain. The road in, through the Homer Tunnel, is an adventure in itself, and the boat out to the Tasman Sea is unforgettable.

Read the full guide

December – March; July – September for snow

Queenstown

Lakeside adventure under the Southern Alps

Queenstown sits on the shore of Lake Wakatipu beneath the Remarkables, a saw-toothed range that turns rose at sunset. It is the adventure capital of the world — bungy, jet boats, mountain bikes — but it is also a gentle lakeside town, with steamers, gondolas and easy lakeside walks for families who prefer their thrills smaller.

Read the full guide

October – April

Rotorua

Steaming earth and emerald crater lakes

Rotorua is the steaming heart of the North Island — a town built on a geothermal field where geysers roar, mud bubbles, and parks of coloured crater lakes glow among the ferns. It is also the heartland of Māori culture, with living villages, wood-carving and a haka that children watch in wide-eyed silence.

Read the full guide

All countries