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Hiking in New Zealand: A Planning Guide | Aspiring Guides
Planning a hiking holiday in New Zealand? Discover how to choose your trip, prepare for the mountains and explore everything from day hikes to multi-day adventures.
Hiking in New Zealand: How to Plan Your Mountain Adventure
From a day on the trail to a week deep in the backcountry, find the right hike for your New Zealand holiday.
A trail winding through native beech forest. Your first glimpse of a glacier between the peaks. Boots off at the end of the day, with an evening in the mountains still ahead.
Hiking in New Zealand can be many things: a day out soaking in the more accessible parts of the mountains, your first night in a backcountry hut or a multi-day hike that really becomes a journey. The key is choosing an experience that fits your time, fitness and appetite for adventure.
Whether you’re coming from Australia, North America or closer to home, this guide covers when to visit, how to choose your hike and what to prepare. We’ll also share some of our favourite ways to explore our backyard: Wānaka and Mount Aspiring National Park.
Hiking in New Zealand: where to start
Start with three questions:
- How much time do you have?
- What fitness/hiking experience do you have?
- What would make the trip memorable for you?
You might want mountain views without an overnight pack. Perhaps you’re curious about hut life, or ready to spend several days travelling through remote valleys and over alpine passes. Let's use those preferences to narrow your options before choosing a particular track.
If you're looking for:
- A holiday with a wider mountain experience · Choose: a guided day walk
- Your first taste of a night in the backcountry · Choose: an overnight hike
- Time to explore deeper into the mountains · Choose: a private guided hike
- A shared adventure with fellow hikers · Choose: a scheduled public group trip
What is “tramping”?
In New Zealand, hiking is often called tramping. Australians might know it as bushwalking, while North American visitors may use hiking or backpacking. You’ll also hear trails called tracks, and see huts mentioned as overnight accommodation.
When choosing a trip, pay more attention to its description than its label. Walking time, elevation gain, track conditions and pack weight will tell you much more than distance alone. A short route over rough terrain can be more demanding than a longer walk on a well-formed track.
Where should you go hiking in New Zealand?
Think about the landscape you want to experience and how hiking fits into your wider travels. New Zealand offers everything from coastal walks and forest tracks to volcanic terrain on the north island and alpine landscapes and glaciers on the south island. You can build a holiday around one substantial hike or include shorter walks as you travel. If mountains are the main attraction, give yourself time to explore a particular region. Staying in one base before and after your hike makes room for preparation, local advice and a more relaxed return.
For us, that base is Wānaka. Aspiring Guides is based here, with guided trips exploring Mount Aspiring National Park and the surrounding backcountry. Our hiking options range from day trips to longer journeys through remote valleys and alpine terrain. Explore our New Zealand hiking trips.
When is the best time to go hiking?
New Zealand’s weather is part of what makes hiking here an adventure. As a small island nation surrounded by ocean, we’re exposed to changing weather systems, while our mountain ranges create sharp differences in conditions over short distances. Timing matters: colder months bring shorter days and greater potential for snow and ice, while spring can still bring winter conditions in the alpine areas.
For the guided summer trips featured here, advertised seasons generally run November to April, with Gillespie Pass trips starting from mid-November. Some guided day hikes are available year-round. Check the individual trip pages for details.
- Travelling from North America? Remember that New Zealand’s seasons are reversed: December to February is summer.
- Travelling from Australia? The seasons align, but mountain conditions may be very different from those on your usual walks.
Even in summer, mountain weather can change quickly. The best time for your hike depends on the route, elevation and your experience. Discuss your preferred dates with us and build some flexibility into your itinerary so there’s room to adjust to conditions and the weather forecast.
Keen on a Great Walk but missed booking or want something off the beaten track?
New Zealand’s Great Walks are a popular starting point for planning a hiking holiday and renowned for good reason. That being said, they’re one part of a much wider range of hiking experiences. If your preferred dates are unavailable, or you’re looking for a different style of adventure, consider a guided trip in another area. A private overnight escape or a longer trek through Mount Aspiring National Park might fit your plans beautifully and has terrain equally an incredible with less people.
Should you choose a private trip or a public group?
Private trips are worth considering if you’re travelling with a partner, friends or family and want to discuss an experience around your group’s interests and abilities. This is also the best option if you are after a bespoke trip that we tailor to your desires for the journey.
Public group trips give you the opportunity to join a scheduled departure and meet fellow hikers. They can be an appealing choice for solo travellers or anyone who enjoys sharing the journey as well as the cost.
All scheduled group trips are directly bookable from our website. Please enquire directly to info@aspiringguides.com for private trip options.
Why should I book a hiking guide?
A local guide brings more than knowledge of the track and an added level of safety. . They help you choose a trip that suits your abilities, interpret changing weather and make informed decisions along the way. In New Zealand’s mountain terrain, that experience is especially valuable when you’re unfamiliar with the area and changeable weather.
Aspiring Guides also offers the unique opportunity to store much of our food and overnight supplies at the huts, so this reduces overall pack weight in increases comforts once at the huts with delicious cooked meals at every stop for hut-based hiking trips.
Choosing Your Trip Type
Day hikes: a day to get away
A day hike is a great choice if you want to experience the mountains while leaving room for the rest of your New Zealand holiday.
You can spend the day exploring, enjoy a picnic with a view and return to town that evening. There’s no overnight commitment, but plenty of opportunity to make the day a highlight of your travels. Our guided day hikes around Wānaka are tailored to your abilities, interests and conditions. Your guide can help choose between some of the region’s iconic destinations and more remote hiking locations. If you want to go deeper into the mountains, we also have the opportunity to incorporate other memorable modes of transportation into your day hike which might include helicopter, jet-boat or pack-raft depanding on your appetite for adventure.
Choose a day hike if: You’re short on time, prefer to return to your accommodation each night or want the experience the most you can within a day.
Explore guided day hikes around Wānaka.
Overnight hikes: stay a little longer
An overnight hike gives you something a day trip can’t: the chance to stay. There’s time to settle into your surroundings, share the evening and wake up ready for another day outdoors. It’s a rewarding way to make hiking a bigger part of your holiday without committing to a longer trek.
Our overnight trips explore the spectacular corners of Mount Aspiring National Park while offering you two full days to adventure in the mountains. These trips often combine helicopter access, hiking an overnight stay and potentially a jet boat, though all trips and locations can be tailored to suit your peferences.
Choose an overnight hike if: You want a short backcountry escape and the experience of spending a night in the mountains.
Explore Overnight Trip Options
Multi-day hikes: go all in
With more days to explore, you can venture further into the mountains, reach remote places and experience landscapes beyond the high-traffic trails. Take time to soak it all in and really challenge yourself. Plan a private trip with your own crew or join a public group trip and share the adventure with fellow hikers.
Here are our top picks for multi-day hikes.
Upper Wilkin Experience: three days in remote mountain country
The Upper Wilkin Experience explores a landscape of river valleys, rainforest and glaciated peaks, using Top Forks Hut as a base.
It’s an appealing option if you’re drawn to remote valleys and alpine lakes. Graded intermediate, the trip requires fitness for sustained walking, comfort on rough tracks and previous multi-day hiking experience.
A good fit for: Hikers who want a three-day backcountry experience with opportunities to explore from a mountain base.
Explore the Upper Wilkin Experience.
Gillespie Pass: four days with an alpine challenge
The four-day Gillespie Pass trip links the Young and Siberia valleys, with a crossing of the 1,600-metre pass, approximately 5,250 feet, as a highlight.
This intermediate-to-advanced trip calls for strong hiking fitness and confidence on uneven ground. Expect sustained climbing and descending, with the satisfaction of travelling through the landscape under your own steam.
A good fit for: Experienced hikers who enjoy a physical challenge and want an alpine pass at the heart of their trip.
Upper Wilkin + Gillespie Pass Traverse: six days to immerse yourself
If hiking is a main reason for your visit, give the mountains a larger share of your itinerary. This six-day traverse combines the Upper Wilkin with Siberia Valley and Gillespie Pass. Graded advanced, it suits experienced hikers who are comfortable on uneven terrain and prepared for consecutive days carrying a pack.
A good fit for: Fit, experienced hikers looking for a proper challenge and an extended journey through the New Zealand backcountry.
Explore the Upper Wilkin + Gillespie Pass Traverse.
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