Great Winter Walks

Diverse scenery, a temperate climate and free access to hundreds of kilometres of tracks makes New Zealand a walker’s paradise.

But now, with more than five million tourists visiting Aotearoa annually, we’re in danger of becoming the land of the long tight crowd. Many of our best-known tracks are getting progressively busier – and not just over summer. Tourists have also discovered the delights of an antipodean autumn.

During winter, however, local walkers are far more likely to find peace, quiet and other off-season qualities. In the South Island and central North Island, snow often lends the mountains a grandeur and scale they lack in summer, and the denser air means there is just that much more clarity in the ridge-top panorama. But