Customer Reviews

The Rough Guide To New Zealand 4 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I traveled to New Zealand in late 2004 and carried 4 guide books. I found Rough Guide New Zealand the best for its in-depth coverage of places that were barely mentioned in the Lonely Planet book. During our 1500-mile road trip I was constantly referring to RG & LP as my wife drove, so in effect I compared the two books' descriptions for the southern half of South Island. There was absolutely no question which guidebook did a better job....Rough Guide. Towards the end I barely used Lonely Planet because RG was more informative 90% of the time, and more interesting in its style of writing. It has 300 more pages than Lonely Planet, too.

The maps are better than those in previous Rough Guides, and even the photos are quite nice now. This edition has a great listing of highlights for each region (very handy). I highly recommend Rough Guide New Zealand.

The Rough Guide to NZ is the most complete, accurate guidebook I've found during my 6 trips to NZ. As anyone familiar with the Rough Guide series knows, it's not a simple, "hightlights only" style guidebook. The RG offers in-depth coverage of the Kiwi countryside, villages, parks, and cities, as well as introductory material on it's people, culture and history. And I find it markedly superior to other guidebooks when discussing activities in the great outdoors: hiking options, treks, climbs, beaches, and the many extreme outdoor adventures found only in NZ. Plus, to the consternation of some, the RG seems to find almost all the hidden, off the beaten path, gems you want to visit.

If you visit the cities only, then other guidebooks might suffice. But if you want to know details about the entirety of beautiful Aotearoa, carry (and consult!) the current edition of the Rough Guide.

I've got Rough Guide to NZ, Lonely Planet NZ & Lonely Planet's Tramping NZ and Rough Guide is the best. LP is smaller if you are backpacking, but lacks some of the information in RG. The list of highlights for each area is a good addition to the latest edition of RG.

For such a small country (just a bit bigger than the UK), New Zealand has so much to see, it's hard to get everything in one book.

It is the one place you must visit in your lifetime. But, I warn you, once you've been you'll want to go back and back like us. I found helpful, friendly people there, a great budget campervan & car rental company, and we now we always rent a campervan, allowing us to stay off the beaten track.

As well as the guide books, visit some of the websites, such as NZ Department of Conservation Website www.doc.gov.nz and the hiking/trekking (known as tramping in NZ) website http://www.enzed.com/tramp.html.

We would recommend Bay of Islands, taking a cruise around Waitemata (Auckland) Harbour, signing up for a day's free sailing as crew at one of the sailing/yacht clubs around Auckland - great fun on the Rum races. Must see is Rotorua, Huka Falls, Waitomo Caves, Milford Track and West Coast of South Island. Actually just about everywhere is breathtakingly beautiful and the people very friendly. There are also good tourist information centres in NZ, but study the rough guide, highlight the places you want to visit, before you go because there is so much to see.

Pieces of Advice:
Don't take any food other than sweets (candy) into NZ. Meat, vegetable/fruit or diary products will get you a huge fine. Sniffer dogs check out all luggage including hand luggage and your pockets!

If you have been hiking/walking in other countries before NZ, make sure your boots/shoes and all equipment is thoroughly cleaned. NZ is an agricultural country,and relatively clear of pests and they want to keep it that way.

If you are on a budget in money and time, you can rent Campervans and cars at a low cost from a number of companies. We use www.rentalcarvillage.com. You can start in Auckland and leave the van/car in Christchurch.

I'd agree with much of what Terry Holmes says (see review below). This book is bigger than Lonely Planet and the layout is different but for me, it was the better book.

My big recommendation about any NZ guide book is that you should get it well ahead of your trip and read it through, highlighting the places you want to see. You can then get further information or make bookings on the Internet. Be prepared to go with the flow in NZ, sometimes a local will recommend a place and you have the best of times in a place that would warrant a mention in the guide book.

If you can, buy both the Rough Guide and Lonely Planet. If you are trekking, get Lonely Planet Tramping. Even if you only take one book with you, the other books offer really useful advice and information and you find you are more comfortable with one layout than another. I prefer RG, my husband likes LP.

We also rented a budget campervan to get around NZ as it worked out really cheap, especially when the weather is changeable and too wet or cold for a tent or if time is an issue. We got a recommendation from friends to use the same company they used and caught the shuttle from Auckland International Airport to a drop off point near the Rental Car Village/Thomlinson rentals and picked up our pre-booked van. For Americans, you have to get ready for driving on the other side of the road, and some different road rules. There is a brief guide in the campervan but you can buy the NZ Road Code from any decent bookseller, e.g. Whitcoulls, and maybe even via Amazon before you go allowing you time to study it. I'd also suggest getting a decent road map if you are driving. Some of the motorway (freeway) exits are just Maori placenames and are not numbered and the Maori names can look very similar, starting with the same four letters. Write down the name of the exit/junction before you set off as sometimes when you get off the motorway it is hard to get back on. I know it probably sounds pedantic, but believe me it is cheaper and easier than a divorce. If you below to AAA in the US, or equivalent in other parts of the world, you can get maps from the AA in NZ by showing your home country membership details. Many maps are free to members.

It is really easy to travel in NZ, either backpacking, which I did the first time, or by campervan, once you get the motorways sorted out, as joining one from another can be a bit tricky for non-natives.

NZ is addictive, but your money goes a long way there and everyone is so nice and helpful. We ended staying on people's farms, front yards, etc as well as some great camping sites. Stay at the camping ground at Haihei and enjoy the most fabulous beach. Don't miss Hot Water Beach which is also on the Coromandel cost. You can dig a big hole in the sand at low tide and thermal hot water comes up, so you can sit in your own thermal pool and soak in it. Incredible.

Whatever you do, try and walk the Milford Track. It is, without doubt, the best trek in the world, and you don't need to be an athlete to do it. Visit the Dept of Conservation website and go to Explore and then Tracks and Walks. www.doc.gov.nz

If you get down as far as Queenstown, detour to Arrowtown as well. It is an old gold mining town and really interesting. NZ is almost too much of a good thing. Everywhere is special.

I bought this book out of a recommendation from a friend for my long trip to New Zealand. I lived there for six months and harly used the book at all. The pictures are great, and where it lists the highlights is good too. I simply found the book unaproachable and it's format difficult. One road trip with another traveller who had a lonely planet New Zealand guide had me leafing through the LP one more in one weekend than I had this Rough Guide in six months. I'm not saying the info is innacurate, but the book just took up room in my bag. New Zealand is pretty user-friendly as it is, you don't need a Guide book that isn't.

When purchasing a NZ guide book, I wanted the best one so that I only had to buy one book. I reviewed other buyers' comments which all seemed to point to the Rough Guide as being the best one out there. They were right. This is book is extremly helpful and has all the topics covered that I was looking for. The authors' account of places/things in NZ does not seem biased, like many travel books are. The book tells me which destinations are worth going to, how to get there, how to get around, where to sleep/eat, what activities are worth doing, etc. All advice is catered to both people traveling on a budget and to those willing to spend more money. I am very happy with my purchase.

We bought many NZ guide books (we took a 3 week trip with our three young children in December 2005) and the Rough Guide was the one that we ended up using the most. We carried it everywhere we went (we mainly drove around the South Island and stayed in over 10 towns). Yes the print is a little small but the content is totally accurate and we got used to using the book as we drove from town to town. Where other books merely "list" restaurants and give price ranges, the Rough Guide goes a step further and often gives a brief description and/or opinion on the ambience and the food. (we found the descriptions of the accomodations and and eateries to be right on). I would definitely purchase a Rough Guide book again next time we plan to travel to another country.

Granted, it's a large book to carry around, but with this and a few local brochures, my New Zealand trip was painless (and I was driving, not hiking). Even though I found an amazing amount of information at the information centers that are everywhere, I'm still glad I bought this guide.

It is very informative, and for a first time visitor, I think it can be very useful.The info in the beginning of the book is good, and the historical and cultural references in the back are invaluable. Only a few bits of info were incorrect- like certain businesses that had changed owners and business names, or were no longer in business-...or at least I only noticed a few(three, actually)...but these are things that might be updated in the next edition...I hope.

For the next trip down, however, I'm going to rely on the information centers and many of the very friendly Kiwis.

Not only does this guide provide extensive recommendations for places to say, places to eat, and activities, it's also very well written. This book includes clear, detailed descriptions that really help you decide where to go, what to see, and what to skip. An indispensible travel guide for anyone headed to New Zealand, whatever your budget.

We brought 3 guides for 6 weeks in New Zealand - Rough Guide, Lonely Planet and Eye Witness. Soon we were only consulting Rough Guide - for lodging, meals and places to visit. The others stayed in the trunk of the car. Particularly good were the author's distillations of what was most important to see. While at Orakei Korako to see an example of geothermal activity, we encountered a group of U.S. geologists who had chosen to tour only O.K. after a mining conference in Australia. It was great to have contact numbers for rafting companies or wildlife spots such as Royal Albatross Center or Penguin Place so we could easily schedule tours to those places well in advance of arriving in the vicinty. Staying in Arrowtown rather than Queenstown or spending several days in Wanaka would not have occurred to us except for the Rough Guide's Advice. Even 6 weeks in New Zealand isn't enough for that country - we hope to use a future Rough Guide for our next trip.