With 15,000km (9320 miles) of shoreline, New Zealand is heaven for seashore lovers. Its various shores dish up the whole lot from lazy days and blazing sunsets to lively adventures equivalent to swimming, kayaking and browsing.
Discovering an amazing strip of sand in New Zealand is simple, however you possibly can slim down your coastal hit record with our decide of the nation’s absolute best seashores.
1. Piha
Whereas Piha is notorious for unruly surf and robust undertows, it properly deserves its mantle as Auckland’s hottest strand. Sizzle your self on its scorching black sand, frolic amid foamy white rollers (at all times swim between the flags), and wander the seashore and surrounding strolling tracks to higher admire the shapely headlands of Lion Rock and Taitomo Island.
2. Anchorage
Choosing the perfect seashore in Abel Tasman Nationwide Park isn’t straightforward, for its shoreline boasts one stunner after one other. Anchorage stakes a powerful declare not just for its sheer pure magnificence – a gently sloping arc of golden sand, fringed with lush forest – but in addition for its entry to a fantastic stretch of the coastal Nice Stroll.
Planning tip: It’s doable to in a single day within the conservation campsite or hut, which ought to permit time to take the brief side-trip to magical Cleopatra’s Pool.
3. Ninety Mile Seaside
It’s a poorly stored secret, however North Island’s well-known Ninety Mile Seaside is in truth solely 88km (54.6 miles), however you will not really feel short-changed right here. Beginning close to Kaitaia and ending near Cape Reinga (Te Rerenga Wairua) – New Zealand’s religious northern level – is an epic expanse of sand and infinite ocean, backed by large dunes.
Planning tip: A fantastic spot to go to this seemingly infinite seashore simply shy of the Cape is Te Paki Stream automotive park. A walkway from right here results in the seashore and northwards to Scott Level.
4. Scott’s Seaside
The coastal crescendo of Kahurangi Nationwide Park’s multiday Heaphy Observe, this distant seashore may also be reached from the northern extremity of the West Coast Street. And what a journey it’s: the intensely scenic drive by Karamea to Kōhaihai, the end-of-the-line tenting reserve in a powerful estuary setting. From there you possibly can enterprise into the nationwide park, over a low hill to Scott’s Seaside. Prone to be shrouded in a salt mist, the beguiling scene options jagged rocks, nikau palm forest, and highly effective waves clawing on the driftwood-strewn seashore.
5. New Pals Seaside
Lovely seashores are in all places on the Coromandel Peninsula, however New Pals is our decide for the perfect one due to its isolation. It’s truly solely half an hour’s stroll from Whangapoua automotive park, however such is the rock-hopping and scampering required that many don’t even try it. The reward is a seashore so golden, a sea so glittering, pōhutukawa bushes so gnarled (and resplendent in purple blooms round Christmas), that its magnificence might convey a tear to your eye. What’s extra, you might need all of it to your self.
6. Ngarunui
Close by Raglan is waxhead central, with critical surfers heading to Manu Bay, rumoured to have the world’s longest left-hand break. Mere mortals are higher off at close by Ngarunui, the place friendlier surf permits for safer swimming, much more so from October to April when the seashore is patrolled by lifeguards. It’s a busy and entertaining place on advantageous, summer season days, particularly when guests to Raglan Surf Faculty are giving this browsing lark a go.
7. Wainui, Eastland
That means “large water” in Māori, it’s no shock that New Zealand has extra locations named Wainui than you possibly can poke an oar at. Simply up the coast from Gisborne, this Wainui is a cracker: it gives nice swimming and a high quality surf break, backed by a collection of dune and bush reserves. Wainui sustains a close-knit group of ocean-lovers together with stalwarts of the surf-lifesaving membership.
Planning tip: For a chunk to eat, cease by Zephyr Wainui, which serves up plant-based smoothies and bowls.
8. Pūrākaunui Bay
Sixteen kilometers (10 miles) from the closest city (Owaka, inhabitants 300), this can be a real hidden gem in a super-sleepy nook of the Catlins, Southland. It has few claims to fame, save a small (and CGI) position in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005). And hooray for that as a result of Pūrākaunui is all about peace and quiet. It’s a picturesque seashore, framed by excessive cliffs, with pockets of native bush and a big grassy reserve.
Planning tip: There’s blissfully little to do right here, besides swimming when the surf’s off, and browsing when it’s on. It is the right seashore for an incredible leisure.
9. Wharariki Seaside
Brace your self for an eye-popping shock after the 20-minute farm stroll in western Golden Bay. Growth! Mighty dunes lead right down to a wild, West Coast sea. Jagged rock islands stand agency within the shallows, smashed by the waves. Seals could also be seen scampering. Gentle shimmers throughout moist, rippled sands.
Planning tip: Wharariki Seaside is just too harmful for swimming so don’t trouble with the seashore towel. However do attempt to time your go to for early morning or late afternoon, and positively convey your digital camera.
10. Cathedral Cove
Lovely Cathedral Cove, with its well-known gigantic stone arch and pure waterfall bathe, is an iconic New Zealand seashore that has been identified to attract large crowds. Nonetheless, storm injury in 2023 has made the realm weak to landslides, and the Division of Conservation (DOC) has closed the strolling path to the seashore. It is nonetheless doable to achieve the cove by boat or kayak, however be suggested that going below the well-known arch is just not thought of secure presently as a result of threat of rockfall. Test DOC’s newest on-line recommendation earlier than heading out to Cathedral Cove.
Planning tip: Ought to the DOC reopen the strolling route and the seashore be deemed secure to go to once more, convey your masks, snorkel and fins: the rocky Gemstone Bay has a snorkeling path the place you’re prone to see large snapper, crayfish and stingrays. Should you want to keep away from crowds, Cathedral Cove is greatest loved early or late within the day.
