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A Few Ways To Save Money Traveling In New Zealand
Heather Markel, Writer, Speaker, Photographer, Traveler, Business Strategist
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New Zealand is one of the most expensive places you can travel. If you’re traveling full time, this is definitely a country in which you’ll need to learn ways to cut down costs, or you’ll go over budget very fast. So, here are a few tips to do it!
A view of Auckland CBD.
Copyright, 2021. Heather Markel.
1. How To Save On Accommodation
Out of all my travels in the past four years, New Zealand is the most expensive. As an example, I stayed a night in a youth hostel in Paihia. I booked a shared room for 4 people. I paid $30 USD/night. I’m used to spending $5 – $15 for a similar setup in other countries.
Pet sitting. The number one way to save, if you want to have a place to yourself, and cut out accommodation costs, is to do pet sitting. It can be a little competitive, but it’s well worth signing up with Kiwi Housesitters, and possibly Trusted HouseSitters as well. With Kiwi Housesitters, I’ve actually received messages from people asking me to sit for them! Every one of my experiences with them, so far, has been wonderful.
Work exchange. If you don’t mind sharing a space, and you’re up for some labor, you could apply to be a WWOFer, or to Workaway and get free room and board in exchange for your labor. You do have to pay an annual membership fee, just like with the pet sitting services, but you could also try finding them on Facebook. At least in New Zealand, this is a great group to join to submit work exchange requests free of charge.
Compare costs. Youth hostels, especially if you want your own room, are often NOT the cheapest option. Make sure to compare rates on booking sites (booking.com, tripadvisor, etc.), contact the establishment directly, and look at AirBnB. Staying in the suburbs or lesser known cities will also allow you to find cheaper rates.
2. How To Save On Excursions
From skiing to whale watching, to bungee jumping to helicopter rides, New Zealand is full of some amazing things to do. And, the cost of a day trip will knock your socks off!
The best way to save money is using an app called Bookme which offers discounts throughout the year. Once tourism comes back, youth hostels may be back to offering discounts on trips booked through them as well.
3. How To Save On Food
Food in New Zealand is bloody expensive! This is no doubt one of the reasons that most people grow their own vegetables and herbs if they have garden space. A standard meal will cost over $25 NZD and often much higher. So, what do you do?
Grocery shop the right way. There are 3 main supermarket chains in New Zealand; Pak ‘n Save, New World, and Countdown. Pak ‘n Save is the least expensive. Unfortunately, it’s also in fewer locations than the other two. If you have a car, and you have the choice, do your food shopping at Pak ‘n Save. Get a loyalty card at New World and Countdown so you can save money on weekly specially priced items. New World often has promos where you can get free shopping bags and other goodies when you shop with your loyalty card.
Eat out for less. As most places in the world, if you’re willing to eat slightly less healthy food, you can save money. Cafes have sausage rolls and sandwiches for anywhere from $4 – $12 NZD, on average. National chains like Pita Pit offer less expensive food. My favorite option though, to both save money, and eat a little healthier, is to eat sushi. It’s not quite the same as in Japan or the US, but you grab a plate, and grab the rolls you want, and are charged per roll. If you carefully watch the prices, and can feel moderately full on 5 – 6 rolls, you can eat for around $10 NZD.
4. A Few General Savings Tips
There are plenty of free and inexpensive activities and museums. Make sure to always Google those in whatever town you find yourself. Tramping (hiking) is always free, and everyone does it year-round.
The Inspired Nomads podcast
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![Could taking time away from work be one of the smartest decisions you make for your career and your life?
In this episode of How to Travel Full-Time, I explore why intentional time away, including a career break, sabbatical, or travel reset, may become an important part of the future of work.
Inspired by the Harvard Business School Managing the Future of Work episode, "Why Time Away May Be the Future of Work," this conversation looks at how longer careers, workplace burnout, artificial intelligence, and rapid professional change are challenging the traditional idea that we should work continuously until retirement.
But taking time away is not only about recovering from burnout.
A well-planned travel reset can give you the space to reconnect with yourself, reconsider what you want from your career, and decide what your next chapter should look like.
In this episode, you'll learn:
• Why the traditional 40-year career model is beginning to crack • How burnout can be information, not personal failure • Why vacations often do not solve deeper dissatisfaction • How travel creates distance, perspective, and clarity • Why taking time away does not have to damage your career • How a travel reset differs from a vacation or permanent full-time travel • What keeps accomplished professionals from taking extended time off • Why time away could become part of a long-term career strategy
If your life looks successful from the outside but no longer feels aligned with the person you have become, this episode is for you.
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I remember New Zealand being quite expensive and blowing a lot more of my travel budget than I thought, so these are great tips if I ever return. I’ve always wondered about pet sitting. We have a pet sitter when we travel so might be interesting to look at being the pet sitter for once
I LOVE pet sitting! Especially here in New Zealand. Lovely pets. Laid back owners. Highly recommend it!
Helpful tips! However, if one is traveling only for a few days, opting for less healthy food joints wouldn’t be advisable.
Yes, I don’t love eating less healthy food if I can help it, but sometimes, it is a help for the budget.
We had our honeymoon in New Zealand, 18 years ago, so this might not apply now. But we reduced the costs by buying a package of car hire plus a number of nights at youth hostels. We had a great time – the whole month of December. And Christmas Day was as wet as it would probably have been in Wales, so we felt right at home!
How wonderful! December is a great time to be here. Did you have a Christmas rainbow then?
These are all great tips. NZ can be really expensive, but its totally worth it, and especially worth it to do the research and find the bargains.
So true!
Here’s what I tell people about NZ – in Vancouver tea/coffee and a treat for 2 costs about $15, in Oz it’s about $20, and in NZ it’s $25. Yeah it’s expensive. We mostly stayed in private rooms in hostels because overall they were cheaper than hotels. And more fun. Good post for people who are planning on going. It’s such an amazing country.
I sometimes cannot believe the prices here! Grateful to all the people that have let me stay with them!
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I really did not know that New Zealand was an expensive place to visit. So good to get some tips on how to save some money. So we can then splurge on experiences. We will definitely check out Bookme for discounts. Always great to check out the free things to do in a new spot.
Yup it’s very expensive even for groceries. But so worth the visit!
I haven’t travelled to New Zealand before, so I really appreciate these money saving tips! I try to travel on a minimum budget so they’ll definitely come in handy.
Happy to help! These will save you a ton!
Takes me back to my first trip there with my friends, when we had just started working life. Ah the days of rationing powdered soup and splitting kebabs…. lol The supermarkets were great though!
Oh kebabs!!! Those are great too!
We visited New Zealand a couple of years ago. We did the South Island from Christchurch down to Queenstown. It was a wonderful experience. Lovely scenery, food and people.
Yes it is a beautiful place people and food for sure!!
These are some great tips, not just for NZ either! And I love the last point. The best way to see NZ is on foot, tramping, however, if you choose the more famous routes this can still be quite expensive! On my first trip there I was on a tight budget but luckily my friend’s brother lent us his old car & tent which was fantastic (although the tent once blew away & the car broke down a lot ;). I remember we seemed to live on super noodles. Very happy memories though!
OMG the tent blew away? What did you even do? lol. I didn’t buy a car here because I was afraid it would break down and I’m traveling solo.