Great Walks of New Zealand

New Zealand is home to thousands of miles of hiking trails. They weave through ancient forests, scale snow-dusted mountains, and skirt pristine coastlines, tracing memories across its islands for those who follow them. 

There are short walks you can make in a matter of hours, day hikes that touch dawn and dusk, or multi-day hikes for those seeking a longer challenge. Then there are the Great Walks of New Zealand. Carefully selected and meticulously maintained, these eleven long-distance routes showcase some of the country's most beautiful scenery, and are one of the best ways to experience New Zealand luxury travel. 

You'll find them across the North Island (3), South Island (7), and Stewart Island (1), taking in iconic landscapes such as Fiordland National Park, the Abel Tasman Coast, Lake Waikaremoana, and the Southern Alps.

In general, the walks take between two and five days. However, you don't need to tackle an entire trail — these multi-day hikes can be split into sections, and we work with a number of operators who can tailor a private New Zealand trip around your fitness levels, schedule, and accommodation preferences. 

The sensory experience 

Nothing beats the feeling of a good hike. Putting one foot in front of the other, moving yourself through a landscape with a fixed point on the horizon, brings you closer to your destination in more ways than one. Whether it's mindfulness or physical exercise, the experience feels earned, and greater for it. 

The relaxed pace 

We're big fans of slow travel. New Zealand's luxury walking tours offer up some of the most spectacular natural scenery anywhere on the planet, and we've made sure that each New Zealand hiking tour moves through the landscape at a pace that suits you. 

The unbeatable access 

Often, two feet can take you places no other mode of transport can. That could be a unique vantage point at the top of a fiord, or a remote lodge accessible only on foot. Some of these walks feature lodgings just like this, where a big part of staying there is the journey itself. 

The care and comforts of a luxury experience 

Logging miles out in the elements is one thing, but we'd hardly describe New Zealand's luxury walks as "roughing it." In fact, you can expect gourmet meals, well-appointed accommodations, and even the odd spa treatment along the way. After a day on the trail, the place you come to relax is an important part of the whole package, and the luxury properties we partner with reflect that — the kind of detail that turns a trek into a genuine private New Zealand itinerary rather than a stock tour. 

Distance: 33 miles, one-directional thru-hike
Duration: 4 days/3 nights
Difficulty: Intermediate; ~2,600 feet elevation gain  
Seasonality: October 25 – April 30  
Island: South Island 

Dubbed "the finest walk in the world" by poet Blanche Baughan in 1908, the Milford Track has never had much trouble living up to its own reputation. Accessible only by boat, it has kept a rare remoteness ever since Scottish settler Quintin MacKinnon carved out the route in 1888, and it's since become one of the country's most famous and popular walks. The journey runs through deep valleys and ancient virgin rainforest, alongside the soaring peaks of Fiordland National Park. The walking may leave you breathless in the moment, but the scenery will leave you speechless. 

Distance: 27 miles, loop
Duration: 3-4 days/2-3 nights
Difficulty: Intermediate-advanced; ~6,200 ft cumulative gain 
Seasonality: Late October – April 30 
Island: North Island 

The Tongariro Northern Circuit is a spectacular loop around Mount Ngāuruhoe, one of New Zealand's most active volcanoes (don't worry, it's currently dormant). Starting from Whakapapa Village, the route also takes in the ashy peaks and bubbling sulphur pools of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, the surreal centerpieces of the park's volcanic terrain. Walk the entire 27-mile loop and you'll earn 360-degree views of Ngāuruhoe's near-perfect cone, an ever-present marker of ash and snow against the sky. The final stretch leads back to Whakapapa Village after a gentle climb up to the Tama Saddle. 

Distance: 20 miles, one-directional thru-hike 
Duration: 2-4 days/1-3 nights 
Difficulty: Intermediate; ~2,500 feet elevation gain 
Seasonality: November 1 – April 30 
Island: South Island 

Hike through ice-carved valleys, across rolling meadows, and past pristine alpine lakes on a route Māori used for centuries to reach the West Coast's pounamu, or greenstone. Since then, the Routeburn Track has become one of New Zealand's most popular Great Walks, tracing a path alongside the Southern Alps. One of the shorter Great Walks, it's no less impressive for it, climbing high into the alpine realm of the South Island. Along the way you'll pass the Routeburn River, Lake Harris, and the trail's high point, Harris Saddle, before descending toward the sapphire waters of Lake Mackenzie. 

Distance: 29 miles, one-directional thru-hike
Duration: 3-4 days/2-3 nights
Difficulty: Intermediate; ~2,300 ft gain on the steepest day
Seasonality: Late October – April 30
Island: North Island 

Tucked deep into Te Urewera, ancestral home of the Ngāi Tūhoe people, this is one of the least-visited Great Walks despite scenery that rivals any of its more famous siblings.  

A steep first-day climb to Panekire Bluff rewards you with sweeping views over the lake before the trail settles into an easier rhythm, tracing the shoreline through native forest thick with rimu, tawa, and towering rātā trees. Kererū crash through the canopy overhead, tūī provide the soundtrack, and if you're near a hut at dusk, there's a fair chance you'll hear a kiwi call somewhere in the dark. Few Great Walks feel as remote as the Lake Waikaremoana Track.

Distance: 37 miles, one-directional thru-hike
Duration: 3-5 days/2-4 nights
Difficulty: Easy; ~6,600 feet cumulative elevation gain
Seasonality: Year-round; peak season November – April
Island: South Island 

Named for Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, the first European to lay eyes on New Zealand in 1642, this coastal track is a far gentler introduction to the country than his own arrival turned out to be. The trail hugs golden granite beaches and weaves through coastal forest, crossing tidal estuaries that only open their sandy floor twice a day. Along the way, side trips lead to Cleopatra's Pool, a natural rockslide worth the detour, and Awaroa Inlet, where timing your crossing to the tide is half the adventure. Whether you walk the full length of the Abel Tasman Coastal Track or break it up with a kayak, this is New Zealand's most flexible Great Walk, and one of its warmest. If you only want to walk certain sections, water taxis are also available to break up the hike. 

 Distance: 90 miles, one-way
Duration: 5 days/4 nights
Difficulty: Canoe journey (Grade II, gentle current); good fitness and swimming ability required
Seasonality: Late October – April 30 (paddle-able year-round; winter months require advanced skills)
Island: North Island 

We know what you're thinking: this one isn't a walk. But hear us out. So sacred is the Whanganui River that New Zealand granted it the same rights as a person in 2017, formalizing what local iwi have always believed: that the river is an ancestor rather than a resource.  

Because the Whanganui Journey is best traversed by canoe or kayak, it's been classed a "Great Walk" all the same, albeit one you undertake sitting down. Over five days, you'll paddle through steep, forest-clad gorges along this living waterway, stopping to hike inland to the Bridge to Nowhere, an overgrown relic of a 1930s settlement scheme abandoned almost as soon as it began — and arrive at Pipiriki with a very different sense of time than the one you started with.