Cost of 14-Day Self-Drive Tour in New Zealand: Itinerary & Budget Tips
From late November to early December 🌸 Lupin season, the weather is nice in early summer
🌤️🥶 There’s a big temperature difference between day and night, with some places dropping below 10 degrees at night. If you’re cold, you can bring thicker clothes.
🗻 If you plan to hike, it’s recommended to bring a waterproof jacket as it rains easily in the mountains.
⭐️ Stay in the North Island for the 1st and last 2 days (for rest and transit)
Stay in the South Island for 10 days
A self-drive trip for 2 people
Calculated per person
1️⃣ Flight tickets✈️
🐴 4,644
⭐️ Includes seat selection, 🐴 airline front two seats, there’s a quiet zone (behind business class)
✈️ KUL-AKL, AKL-KUL 🐴 4,104 🐴 airline 🧳 35kg, direct flight over 10 hours
✈️ AKL-CHC, CHC-AKL 🐴 540 Jet⭐️🧳 23kg, 7kg carry-on (checked on return, each person’s carry-on was weighed)
2️⃣ 13 nights of accommodation🏠
🐴 3,466
⭐️ Mostly Airbnb/motels
⭐️ Approximately 🐴 350-700 per night (Queenstown is more expensive)
⭐️ Coffee, tea, salt, and pepper are provided
🔆 Even for one-night stays, some hosts prepare a simple breakfast in the fridge (milk, bread, avocado spread) and cornflakes, and give two pieces of Whitaker chocolate
3️⃣ Car rental🚗
⭐️ 10 days in the South Island 🚗 Pegasus 🚙 Toyota Corolla station wagon 🐴 1133
⭐️ 2 days in the North Island, same model car 🐴 249
🛢️ Gas prices vary by region, around 2.5-2.6 NZD per liter, see Figure 17
🔎 Use Gasby to find nearby cheaper gas stations, see Figure 18
4️⃣ Activities
Hiked four mountains in the South Island, which were donation-based and did not require tickets
Te Anau blue glowworm caves 🐴 385 including boat ticket
Queenstown deer park 🐴 148 per car
5️⃣ NZETA & IVL (entry visa, valid for 2 years, can be applied through the NZETA app)
🐴 141 (NZD 52) ⭐️ The app is cheaper than the website
➡️ NZETA – NZD 17
➡️ IVL – NZD 35 (will change to NZD 100 after 1/10/24)
6️⃣ eSIM📱
➡️ Vodafone (30 days 28GB)
🐴 123
Accommodation in New Zealand is cheaper than I expected
I really like the countryside, close to nature, and for a few nights, we stayed next to cows and sheep, and it wasn’t smelly at all. I’ll share more about the accommodations in the next post.
