Auckland Region Travel Forum

Planning to visit Auckland İn January for 4 days.
Need advice for what to see.
Because of lefthand traffic we will not have a car.

Interested to see what we cannot see in Europe or USA.
Have seen some vulcanoes ,so only active are of interest to us.

In case South island is more interesting please advise ,we could change the destination to Christchurch or other.

Some ideas for your Auckland visit:
- Auckland highlights, perhaps by hop-on-hop-off bus, combination with a visit to Devonport
- Waitakere ranges with Piha and the gannet colony at Muriwai (have to be honest, but I really don't know if this is possible with public transport. My recommendatino still would be a rental car)
- Waiheke Island
- day trip to Rotorua for visiting the geo thermal sights

happy travels
Jaap

If you want to see an active Volcano, then there is one at White Island, the website is www.whiteisland.co.nz/ -

Indeed White Island is beautiful (my number ONE spot in New Zealand), but it will take more than a day to visit from Auckland.

Thanks for the answers...

Any suggestions for the south island ?

Queenstown, with a scenic flight over to Milford Sound. Incomparable!!!

- Christchurch, including Lyttelton
- Akaroa and Banks Peninsula
- Kaikoura (whale watching)
- Arthur's Pass NP

I could well spend four days and more in Auckland and have done so - but if I had to choose I would go to Christchurch.

You can only get to Piha Beach by public transport in summer and on certain days, there is no way to travel in the Waitakere Ranges by public transport.

But you could visit a number of islands in the Hauraki Gulf, including my favourite, Tiritiri Matangi, which is pest-free. You find rare NZ birds there, and it is beautiful to walk around.

Auckland itself has quite some attractions - but in total it is just another big city which you might have in the US ;-)

From Christchurch you can reach many beautiful places by public transport, including Banks Peninsula and Akaroa. You could also take a trip on the TranzAlpine, this is the most spectacular train trip in NZ, it crosses the South Island from Christchurch to Greymouth on the West Coast. The return trip can be done in a day. You find lots of photos and info on my South Island page (mainly travelogues).

You can also take the Intercity buses to other destinations, for example Lake Tekapo and Mt. Cook Village. At Lake Tekapo you can go on an unforgettable scenic flight over the mountains, lakes and glaciers of the Southern Alps (Air Safaris). You can take an organised tour to Mt. Sunday where you had the castle of Rohan in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. You can go on a wine tour to Waipara.

If you love hiking you can walk in the Port Hills, take the Gondola for the best view.

Really a lot of things to do without renting a car.

And a lot less traffic jams than in Auckland.