4 Beautiful Places for a Cycling Trip in New Zealand

I have been trying to keep my aging body trim year after year. I do this by walking most days and also cycling which my family enjoys as often as we can. We live in New Zealand which is packed full of great locations for cycling. One of the activities that families and friends enjoy here is going on a tour on bicycles which covers a number of places over the course of a week or two.

Here is a list of some of the great locations for one of these cycling tours. Some of them are well known and popular in New Zealand and some not so.

They are not listed in any order but are intended for you to get a feel of what each place has to offer so you can work out a plan where you’ll be riding each day.

 

Credit: Flickr

1. Martinborough

If you want somewhere where you can relax for a day on your bicycles then I recommend Martinborough. It’s a beautiful small town surrounded by a whole host of vineyards. I think staying here two days would be enough.

You can ride from vineyard to vineyard on your bikes, stopping by each one to taste their particular wines. Of course, you need to be careful regarding how much you drink, even when riding a bicycle.

2. Tongariro National Park

This place holds such a massive amount of land with all kinds of amazing volcanic mountainous views. The most common activity here is to either camp or stay in one of the many cabins and do treks which ranges from beginner to advances routes.

I believe this place is perfect to include as part of your cycling tour. The ride to the park is fantastic I think with some awesome views.

Stay at least two days as there are some walks there which are simply stunning and need a day each to complete. Check out the walks in the tourist information there and they’ll find some which can match your skill level.

You can also mountain bike around this area which isn’t usually something I do but it is indeed fun.

3. Lake Fun and Mountain Rides

If you are in any way someone who likes adventure and fun activities then Queenstown is the place for you. It is a large town situated beside lovely lake. It has become extremely popular for holidays and for its lake activities.

But as it is surrounded by amazing mountain and hill roads, I think this location is another great place to include in your tour. Some of the roads are very steep though, so take that into consideration when planning the route.

You could easily stay here for two weeks as there are a huge number of activities to enjoy.

Take a look at queenstownnz.co.nz which is the official website for Queenstown.

4. Tropical Beaches

The Coromandel region has less of the amazing mountain views of the other areas but it is a place which is perfect for those ‘beach lovers’ readers here.

The beaches here are fantastic, plus there are some superb sea kayaking which I recommend.

There are lots of things to do here, so you could stay from a couple of days to even a week.

Using a Company for the Trip

You can also use a company to organize the trip (one example) for you where they also ride along with you with a group of like-minded cyclists.

They’ll usually have a pre-planned route over the course of the tour, ranging from a couple of days to weeks.

 

Jack Harris wrote this article and works with pedaltours.co.nz that is a company doing cycling trips for many years now, since the mid 1980’s.