Introducing New Zealand Attractions & Culture

A Short New Zealand Travel Guide: What is New Zealand Like?

New Zealand attractions and culture come in many forms. You'll be amazed at the range of attractions you can see and activities you can do within small travel distances. And you'll marvel at the diversity of New Zealand culture... The one constant: a friendly welcome.

Whether it's indoors or outdoors, on the beach or at the theatre, on the playing fields or in the garden, here in New Zealand we enjoy an inexhaustible range of things to do, see and enjoy.

View a New Zealand Map (PDF format) and distances for North Island and South Island.

• New zealand Culture & Heritage:

Drawing on the richness of a thousand years of South Pacific heritage, New Zealand culture is youthful and diverse. Maori and Pacific cultural festivals and performing arts happily coexist with the more formal institutions like The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Royal New Zealand Ballet. And if your passion is for shopping or museums, libraries, art galleries or the theatre you can truly indulge yourself here.

• Lifestyle in New Zealand:

New Zealanders enjoy easy access to world renouned attractions and a wide range of activities.

Most of us live within half an hour's drive of the coast, so swimming, boating, diving and fishing are almost national pastimes. We also have 14 National Parks where you can enjoy some of the worlds most breathtaking bush walks. In winter, our 10 commercial ski fields and numerous club fields provide inexpensive yet challenging skiing, heli-skiing and snowboarding.

We have more golf courses per capita than anywhere else in the world, and the average green fees are around NZ$30 per person. Our city and regional councils provide extensive, well-kept playgrounds, swimming pools and other recreational facilities. On Saturdays, parks throughout the country host organised team sports like, rugby, netball, soccer, cricket, hockey and tennis. Our obsession with Rugby Union borders on the religious! The feats of past and current All Blacks have become folklore.

• New Zealand Cuisine:

And we know how to eat well - New Zealand's 'Pacific Rim' cuisine style takes its inspiration from Europe, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Polynesia, Japan and Vietnam. This unique blend of influences has created a mouth-watering range of flavours and food available from cafes and restaurants nationwide.

For dishes that have a distinctly New Zealand style look out for lamb, pork and venison; salmon, crayfish, Bluff oysters, paua (abalone), mussels and scallops; kumara (sweet potato); kiwifruit and tamarillo; and pavlova, our national dessert, made from meringue and lashings of fresh whipped cream topped with fresh fruit or berries.

• New Zealand Wines:

Our Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc wines have achieved an international reputation for excellence, with the Pinot Noirs now also gaining international acclaim.

Come and see why we think this really is the best little country in the world!