Hobbit hole door at Hobbiton Movie Set New Zealand

New Zealand: What We Actually Did and What It Cost

ByJenna Fattah

Updated September 2026 | 6 min read

My twin and I went to New Zealand in 2023. We had been talking about it for years, the way you talk about trips that feel too big to actually book. Then we booked it, and suddenly we were checking in for a red-eye and trying to figure out how the international date line was going to eat one of our travel days.

This post is the cost breakdown. For the day-by-day story, we already wrote it up in more detail in New Zealand in Spring: Wellington, Auckland, and the Northern Explorer Train — this is the numbers version, plus a few things that post didn’t have room for.

How We Structured the Trip

We spent about a week on the ground: two nights in Wellington, then five in Auckland, connected by the Northern Explorer train. We did not make it to the South Island on this trip — that stayed on the list, which is a good excuse to go back. Everything below is Wellington and Auckland.

We flew into Wellington first rather than Auckland, spent a couple of days there, then took the train north. Doing it in that order meant we hit the scenic rail journey with fresh legs instead of tacking it onto the end of the trip when we were ready to just get to the airport.

Getting Around: Train, Tours, and Uber

We didn’t rent a car on this trip. Wellington and Auckland are both compact enough on the parts you actually want to see that Uber covered day-to-day movement, and everything outside the city center — Hobbiton, the caves, Waiheke Island — was easier as a booked tour than it would have been to drive ourselves, especially on a week-long trip where we didn’t want to spend a day getting comfortable driving on the left.

The one non-negotiable booking was the Northern Explorer train from Wellington to Auckland. It only runs a few times a week, so it has to be built around, not fit in at the last minute. Check-in was at Counter 6 in the Wellington Station ticket office — early enough that we had an early night before.

Where We Went

Wellington

We spent two nights in Wellington. It’s compact and walkable, and the food scene punches well above its size. We did the cable car up to the Kelburn lookout and walked back down through the Botanic Garden, which took about 45 minutes and is one of the better free things to do in the city.

The Zealandia night tour was the highlight of the whole trip, not just Wellington. Zealandia is a predator-free sanctuary in the middle of the city, and the night tour is the realistic way to actually see a kiwi in the wild — our guide used a red flashlight to spot them foraging. We also did a half-day Lord of the Rings tour covering filming locations around the region, and a Wellington Zoo visit where the meerkats were the unexpected favorite.

Auckland

Five nights in Auckland, split between the city and day trips. We did a dolphin and whale watching cruise out of the harbor, which ran a few hours and finished at the aquarium. The Sky Tower was fine — we did it because we were there, not because it was essential.

Hobbiton was the day we’d been looking forward to since we booked the trip. We did it combined with the Waitomo Glowworm Caves on one Viator day tour, which meant a long day but no backtracking. Hobbiton is a genuinely well-preserved film set on a working sheep farm, and the tour ends with a drink at the Green Dragon Inn. Waitomo, in the same day, is a boat ride through an underground cave lit by thousands of bioluminescent glowworms — an entirely different kind of impressive, and a good pairing with Hobbiton rather than a separate trip.

We also spent a day on Waiheke Island — a 40-minute ferry from downtown Auckland — and a day walking the North Shore beaches: Milford to Takapuna, Browns Bay to Mairangi, and out to Piha and Kitekite Falls on the west coast. Piha in particular felt like a different country from central Auckland.

What It Cost

New Zealand is not a budget destination, and I don’t think it pretends to be. It’s good value in the sense that the experiences are worth what they cost, but “affordable for what you get” undersells how much a week actually runs.

Here’s roughly what we spent, for two people over the week:

  • International flights (round trip, via a US connection): roughly $1,400 per person
  • Northern Explorer train + the short domestic connection into Wellington: roughly $350 total
  • Accommodation (Wellington + Auckland combined): roughly $1,600 total, a mix of points and paid nights
  • Tours (Zealandia, the LOTR half-day tour, Hobbiton + Waitomo combined, the dolphin cruise, Waiheke): roughly $580 total
  • Food and day-to-day incidentals: roughly $1,200 for the week
  • Total for two: roughly $5,130

We didn’t rent a car, which kept costs down relative to what a self-drive South Island leg would add. If you’re planning both islands, budget separately for a rental and expect the total to climb well past this.

Does the Hype Hold Up?

Yes, for what we actually did. Zealandia and Hobbiton were both better than we expected going in, and the Northern Explorer is worth building a day around rather than treating as a transfer. Auckland is more spread out than Wellington, which is worth knowing before you plan how many day trips to stack.

We haven’t done the South Island at all on this trip, which is the honest asterisk on this whole trip and the reason we’re already talking about going back — it’s on the list for next time. Everything below is what we’d do differently on the Wellington-and-Auckland leg itself, not South Island planning we’re not qualified to give.

More on the day trips specifically in the Auckland day trips post. And for the full lessons-learned breakdown, that’s in the what I’d do differently post.

What to Pack for New Zealand

Read the full day-by-day trip report, the Auckland day trips deep dive, and the NZ lessons post. Part of the What I’d Do Differently series.

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Affiliate disclosure: This post contains affiliate links at no extra cost to you. SafetyWing, Skyscanner, Airalo, Booking.com, Viator, Klook.

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Jenna Fattah

Written by Jenna Fattah

I have visited 25+ countries across 6 continents, attended 7 Formula 1 races, and spent 4 years writing about what actually works and what I would do differently. Every recommendation on this site comes from trips I planned and paid for myself. Read more about me

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