New Zealand travel cost and prices
Information about the cost of travel, prices of goods and activities, how to save money, travel insurance, changing NZD (dollar), travel budget, New Zealand banks, ATMs, credit and debit cards, coins and banknotes, tax (GST), etc.!
How to save money
The costs of travelling around New Zealand really depend on your home country, for Kiwis it is quite expensive but for overseas travellers even New Zealand luxury may seem affordable, especially if you stay away from the major tourist centres.
If you want to limit your spending while you travel, consider the following cost-saving options:
- Take or share a double room in a backpacker’s or a cabin at campsites
- Buy a tent for those good weather days in scenic locations, often the experience to be so close to nature outweighs the lack of comfort and turns out to be unforgettable
- Cook as often as you can, this is possible in self-contained accommodation, backpacker’s or at campsites
- Eat in cafes and takeaways rather than restaurants, buy snacks from supermarkets
Choose places with a good breakfast included and skip a big lunch- Buy items on special at the cheaper chain stores (like Pak n Save, The Warehouse or Bunnings)
- Always ask for discounts when you buy something expensive or stay longer in one place
- Concentrate on the amazing range of free attractions New Zealand has to offer instead of organised ones
- Refill your water bottles with tap water
- When you dine out drink beer or soft drinks instead of wine or look for Bring Your Own (BYO) restaurants
- Good insurance will cover you against unexpected losses
A few typical New Zealand prices
| A bunkbed in a backpacker’s | $15-35 | A la carte restaurant main course | from $32 |
| A motel room | from $70 | 1kg rump steak in supermarket | from $23 |
| A B&B with ensuite | from $120 | 330ml beer in supermarket | from $3 |
| Luxury accommodation | from $180 | Pint of beer in a bar | from $5 |
| A tent site at the campground | from $12 | Bottle of wine in a supermarket | from $7 |
| A 2 person tent | from $50 | Bottle of wine in a restaurant | from $20 |
| Backpacker bus round trip | from $1000 | Espresso / Short black | from $4.00 |
| Long-term rental car per day | $20-150 | 1l of milk in supermarket | from $2.50 |
| Litre of unleaded petrol | see here | Single (= double) scoop of ice cream in a dairy |
from $3.50 |
| Big 4x4 rental car per day | from $100 | Packet of cigarettes | from $29 |
| Fish n’ Chips takeaway | from $4 | Bus ticket Auckland – Rotorua 1 way | from $30 |
| Indian takeaway | from $8 | Flight ticket Auckland – Rotorua 1 way | from $79 |
| Cafe lunch | from $10 | Second hand car | from $2000 |
| Bistro style restaurant main course | from $18 | Taxis/Uber are relatively inexpensive |
| These activities can be expensive: | Budget options are: | ||
| • Adventure and adrenaline activities | • Boogieboarding and bush walking | ||
| • Luxury accommodation | • Camping at DOC sites | ||
| • Dining out every day | • Fish n’ chips or other takeaways | ||
| • Night life | • Eating ice cream at the dairy | ||
| • Drinking good New Zealand wine | • Tipping – you don’t have to! | ||
| • Shopping only New Zealand made | • Shopping at the $2 shop |
Calculate your holiday budget
Use our New Zealand Travel Expense Planner in PDF format to help you plan your trip!
| International visitors spend an average of 20 days in New Zealand. They also spend an average 3,000 NZD while they are here (= 150 NZD/day). It must be worth it: half of all arriving travellers have visited New Zealand at least once before and came back. (Source: www.tourismresearch.govt.nz) |
Travel insurance for New Zealand
- Before you take out travel insurance you should consider whether you're not already covered by other insurances or your credit card.
- Annual travel insurance can be cheaper than single trip travel insurance.
- What insurance do you need? Accident/health, baggage, cancellations, legal protection, breakdown services, sports equipment, liability, car rental excess cover, additional travel insurance for stop-over destinations, etc.
- Before or at least after signing up for travel insurance you should take time to find out the exact conditions for an insurance claim (which forms, reporting deadlines, overseas assistance, necessary evidence of damage, phone numbers, etc.).
- As an alternative to a domestic travel insurance company you can also find inexpensive online travel insurance in New Zealand after arrival.
Changing New Zealand Dollars
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Some banks ask for a NZD 5 flat fee or a commission, others offer bad exchange rates for cash.
- When you pay with a credit card the exchange rate is usually ok, but when you withdraw money from an ATM machine (pin code necessary) be conscious of the additional fees involved.
- Traveler’s Cheques are a safe way to carry cash and often receive better exchange rates, however to buy them often incurs a commission fee and you are depending on opening hours and banks.
- Some countries and banks offer a dedicated ‘travel cash card’ or ‘cash passport’ that allows worldwide withdrawals from ATMs, even after your arrival it’s not too late to buy one here.
- Or find out if your existing debit cards will work with New Zealand ATMs (eg. through Cirrus, Maestro and Plus networks).
More money tips:
- If you plan to visit New Zealand and the exchange rate is good then think about changing early for your holidays.
- Exchanging money may be more favourable at your home bank where you hold an account than on the counter in New Zealand banks.
- You can recognise a bad rate when there is a big difference between the buying and selling price, this difference between ‘bid’ and ‘ask’ prices is called ‘spread’, the trading profit of the bank.
| The NZD is not an extremely strong and hard currency, generally travellers find New Zealand prices lower than where they come from. However the fluctuations of the exchange rates are quite big, even within months a major shift is possible. New Zealand has also some of the highest interest rate levels of the OECD countries, so sometimes the currency gets an unwanted boost from ‘Carry-Trade’ activities, whereby people invest in the NZD because of its high interest rate (they think the interest difference outweighs the currency risks). This is of course bad for New Zealand’s export industries – and tourism. |
Banknotes and coins
The New Zealand currency is easy to tell apart because of their colours and clear numbers, and the bigger and heavier the coins the more value they usually have.
1 NZD (or NZ$) is divided into 100 cents, notes come as 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 dollars, coins come as 10, 20 and 50 cents, as well as 1 and 2 dollars. You can use NZD in the Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau, and the Pitcairn Islands. The notes are made of plastic polymer, so money laundering is really no problem...
Bank opening times
On weekdays from 9:30 to 16:30, except public holidays. The New Zealand Post Shops with Kiwibank services have longer opening hours.
Tax payable in New Zealand
A 15% Goods and Services Tax (GST) is included in most prices, only very small businesses don’t have to charge GST. If you have goods directly sent abroad then most suppliers can drop the GST, but you might have to pay a tax in the receiving country. There is no cash refund for GST when you leave from New Zealand airports.
