29 November 2017

How Much Money You'll Need To Travel New Zealand

Tongariro Alpine Corssing, New Zealand
Tongariro Alpine Crossing

UPDATED OCTOBER 2019

I'm presenting myself with the mammoth task of creating a budget breakdown for each of the countries I visited on my 5-month backpacking trip. When I was planning our budget, one thing I found really helpful was to look at other budget guides to work out how much money we'd need to travel around each country. 

It felt reassuring reading them as I knew those people had actually experienced living on that certain amount of money, and I knew what I was going to expect to be paying for different things. 

I'm starting off this series with the first country we visited - New Zealand

To give you a brief overview - New Zealand is expensive, especially compared to Asia. You're probably looking at the same sort of prices as Australia if a little cheaper. When we visited New Zealand in 2017, the New Zealand dollar was about twice as much as the British pound, to give you a reference. 

It's pretty easy to remember, just half everything and you'll roughly be paying that amount. 

All of the pricing below will be broken down into daily prices, and then summarised for a month's stay.

So if you're thinking about travelling to New Zealand here's how much money you'll need based on my personal experience of what we paid!


 FLIGHTS

When we booked our flight, our one-way ticket from London Heathrow to Auckland cost around £460 including baggage and our layover in Doha. Prices are generally the same all year round, where you'll be paying between £300-£500, but they can go up to £700 on rare occasions. 

We found STA Travel had some great youth flyer rates so if you’re under 31 make sure to take a look at their deals

If you're planning on travelling onwards from New Zealand to Asia, prices start around the £160 mark.

Average one-way ticket: £300-£500

Average return ticket: £500-£700

Airbnb private room in Whangerei, New Zealand
Our wonderful Airbnb private room in Whangarei


ACCOMMODATION


Accommodation can be pretty pricey in the summer (we visited in February which is the end of their summer), but you can save a bit of money if you look in the right places. Hotels (and even hostels) are the most expensive, so after a while, we stopped looking at those and turned our attention to Airbnb

We normally found that even when we were booking last minute, we were able to get some really nice private rooms for £40, but you can get some for as little as £20. As we were a couple, that meant we could split the cost of a room in half, but if you're travelling by yourself, maybe stick to hostel dorms and shared room Airbnb's to cut costs.

There is also the option of camping, but that all comes down to your mode of transport (see below).

Get £25 off your first Airbnb stay here! 

Some hostels to check out: 

Rotorua Planet Backpackers
Global Village Backpackers
Tombstone Backpackers
Haka Lodge Taupo 

Average price per day: £15 (dorm bunk)- £10-£20 (double room) per person 

Average price per month: £450 (dorm bunk)- £300-£600 (double room)


TRANSPORT

New Zealand's roads are very safe, so definitely make the most of this! Hiring cars and vans are very easy to do, and worth the price if you're planning on road tripping.  

Hiring a car was a no-brainer for us, as it gave us the freedom to drive wherever we wanted when we wanted. 

Solo travellers can get around by using bus companies like Kiwi Experience or by using Facebook groups to meet people to share rides with. 

Campervans are also a great way of getting around, and a lot of fun. However, expect to pay quite a bit for a decent size van with a toilet, shower, and kitchenette. 

If you'd like to camp and travel at your own pace without spending a lot, the best thing would be to hire a car and stay in Airbnb's as well as spending a few nights at some of the free campsites around New Zealand. You can easily buy camping gear from other travellers, or fold down the backs seats of the car and put a mattress in the back. 

One thing not to forget about is the price of petrol! This is something we really underestimated, and you can be filling up a full tank for about £40. 

Average price per day: 
£17.50 (1-month unlimited bus pass)
£30 (car)
£110 (campervan with toilet and shower)

Full tank of petrol: £40

Average price per month: 
£530 (1-month unlimited bus pass)
£900 (car)
£3,300 (campervan with toilet and shower)

FOOD AND DRINK

Just like accommodation and transport, being savvy when it comes to food will save you some serious cash. 

If you can guarantee you will have access to a fridge and will be cooking most of the time, then the best way to eat in New Zealand is to buy a cool bag and then bulk buy food at a supermarket. That way you get a better price for the ingredients you buy without wasting food. 

However, if this isn't the case, then places like Pak 'n' Save and Countdown will be your best friend. As well as having a huge selection of food, they also have their own deli stands and even takeaway food! We only ended up cooking a few times due to the fact we sometimes didn't have access to a kitchen, but mainly we found that independent restaurants and takeaways were pretty reasonable too. 

Also, make sure you try marshmallow fish and Whittaker's chocolate bars if you have a sweet tooth! You'll thank me later...

Average price per day: £12 per person (eating out once a day)

Average price per month: £360

Traditional Maori song and dance at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, New Zealand
Traditional Maori song and dance at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds

ACTIVITIES

This category is one you won't use as frequently as the others, but is just as important- the first three allow you to live, while this one allows you to enjoy your stay! 

If you're heading to New Zealand for the extreme sports then you will need to budget quite a bit of money for that, for instance, skydiving starts around £100 and bungee jumping starts around £60. 

You'll also need to consider entrance fees for attractions, so if there are things you really want to try and do, make sure you've got money for those things, and then have a bit extra so you can be spontaneous while you're there and visit some other places too.

Average price per day: £5 per person (not including extreme sports)

Average price per month: £150



TOTAL AVERAGE PRICE

AVERAGE DAILY BUDGET: £50- £70

AVERAGE MONTHLY BUDGET: £1,500- £2,000

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This is a rough guide to how much you'll probably be spending in New Zealand if you're not doing too many expensive activities or eating out at expensive restaurants. 

I hope this has given you some sort of guideline to how much you'd be spending on flights, accommodation, transport, food and drink, and some activities if you're thinking of visiting New Zealand (which I seriously recommend you do)! 

If you have visited and have written any posts about it, I would love to read them. 


Check out what we got up to on our New Zealand trip: 



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10 comments

  1. Great info here. I've never tried Airbnb but have heard great things. Would love to do this trip someday!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks so much! It's really worth it, you get a lot for your money. Can't recommend going to NZ enough!

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  2. As you might have noticed I have been catching up with your posts today, so you'll find quite a few comments I left around the blog, sorry!

    I really like the way you split the categories in this post, this way it's easy to understand and keep track of the money. For some reason I expected New Zealand to be far more expensive, especially in regard of the flights, I am happy to find out I could actually afford to go there for a month if I wanted to, I would just have to review my monthly budget for a while in order to save up for the trip. Unfortunately there are other things stopping me right now, but maybe in a couple of years I will be able to enjoy my holiday in NZ!

    Martina | paperplanepond.co.uk

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    Replies
    1. That's okay! So glad you like it :) It's definitely possible, and you can probably find you can do it even cheaper than we did

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