Frommer's New Zealand

A friend and I had 5 New Zealand travel books between us on our trip. This was the best book by far. We would look at the other books then would always go back to the Frommer's. We ended up using it exclusively by the end of the first week. The information was accurate and easy to follow.

I thought this book had good coverage of the major locations most Americans would visit in New Zealand. More importantly, the author is a native of NZ and as such, she seemed to have some good insights into the local viewpoint. I had no difficulty finding the information I needed about every location we wanted to visit and every major hotel or restaurant that interested us. This book is probably not well suited to those who want to backpack through NZ on the cheap. It's aimed at the middle-class traveler who wants to stay in an actual hotel and eat in restaurants.

Frommer's guides don't get a lot of respect from a certain sector, it would seem. They do not invite you to be an edgy traveler, nor do they indulge the conceit shared by some US guide books that your trip must wholly original (never mind that many others will tread the same off-the-beaten path) in order to be fun and worthwhile. This edition enables you to travel comfortably, adventurously, and happily - without spending a fortune. You will learn a lot and have a great time doing so. It was a dependable resource for my husband and me as we drove (rental car), sailed (ferry) and flew (Dunedin to Wellington) for two weeks through the wonderful country of New Zealand. We wanted inexpensive ($65 a night, tops) motels that were clean, quiet, cheerful, and well-located, with an occasional splurge. We wanted to have fun but we did not want to surf, bungee-jump, hang-glide, or parasail, preferring cultural and historical sites, endless green meadows, the fine small towns, natural wonders (boiling mud, snow-capped mountains, steaming ponds and streams, glowworm caves and more) in addition to the exquisite and distinctive cities of this great country, and visits to friends. New Zealand motels are great. They are mostly family-owned and their owners are on-site and try hard. Ours (all mentioned in this book) were consistently clean, comfortable, have mini-kitchens (microwave, electric kettle, small, quiet refrigerator, dishes and utensils and a work space plus coffee and tea) and you get your own little bottle of milk for your coffee or tea the next morning. Coffee is "plunger coffee," NZ for "French press." You make it with an electric kettle and ground coffee, included in the price. The Pandora's box "mini-bar" has not completely infiltrated New Zealand. This was nice, too. Several motels had unlimited hot water (in geothermal districts) and huge, fabulous, spotlessly clean two-person bathtubs as part of an inexpensive room. We got terrific restaurant and other tips from the owners of these motels. If you are in a hurry, Frommer's supplies you with especially useful "If you have only one day," "two days," etc. ideas. From these compact lists you can get a good idea of what is out there, and pick and choose as you wish. It's inevitable that you'll make your own discoveries along the way. We tried more than a few of the restaurants, neighborhoods, motels, B and Bs, and historical and natural sights that this book recommended. No misses. A curious tourist will find a lot that is helpful in this book. It was a handy and helpful resource, down-to-earth but not pedestrian, and I'd recommend it to any friend traveling to NZ.

As a first time vistor to New Zealand, I found this book to be extremely helpful. It provided an informative overview of the country, and the various recommendations for accommodations and travel services were, for me, very reliable. I used it constantly both before and during the trip.

This guide is an excellent introduction to New Zealand for the first-time traveler. The organization is helpful and the area details are of great value in planning self-guided itineraries.We were able to focus our two weeks in the country on areas of particular interest because of this guidance.