West Coast

Franz Josef Glacier—Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere—sits where temperate rainforest meets a living river of ice, and that collision makes for one of the most cinematic corners of Aotearoa. In a single hour you can move from fern-fringed tracks and birdsong to a valley of grey moraine and the blue glint of crevasses. The village is tiny, the landscape is huge, and the weather writes its own script. Come ready to pivot, and you’ll be rewarded with days that feel full and a camera roll you’ll scroll for years.

Fox Glacier is where opposites shake hands: soft, dripping rainforest meets a hard, ancient river of ice; surf-lashed beaches sit a short drive from snowfields; a tiny frontier town launches adventures that feel impossibly big. If you’ve ever wanted to step onto a glacier in the morning and finish your day watching the sun drop into the Tasman Sea, this is your spot. Come flexible, dress for every forecast, and let the West Coast set the tempo.

Sitting quietly on the lip of the Tasman Sea, Hokitika is one of those towns that feels handmade—part driftwood and black sand, part jade dust and rainforest green. It’s small, but it’s got layers: a gold-rush backstory, a fiercely creative streak, and scenery that swings from moody beach to luminous gorge in half an hour. Come for a night and you’ll stay for two. Come with loose plans and you’ll leave with sand in your shoes, a jade pendant in your pocket, and a camera you can’t stop scrolling.

Pinned between the Tasman Sea and the limestone cliffs of Paparoa National Park, Punakaiki is where the West Coast turns theatrical. Sea stacks wear wind and salt like armour, nikau palms line jade-green rivers, and a short boardwalk drops you into one of the country’s strangest, most photogenic landscapes. Most people swing through for half an hour and a quick look at the Pancake Rocks. Don’t make that mistake. Give Punakaiki a night or two and you’ll collect glowworms, rainforest hikes, casual cave crawls, and a tide-timed blowhole show you’ll feel in your chest.

Nestled where the Buller River empties into the Tasman Sea, Westport is the West Coast you came for—wild beaches, friendly locals, salty air, and a history that still clings to the hills. It’s a town that balances easy days in the surf with big skies at sunset and detours into stories carved by coal and courage. Most people pass through on their way north or south. Give it two nights and it’ll repay you with seal pups, swing bridges, and a slow, satisfied exhale.

Karamea isn’t just the end of the road—it’s the start of a different pace. Tucked at the northern tip of the West Coast, this laid-back township funnels you into rainforest so green it hums, rivers the colour of strong tea, and limestone country sculpted into arches, caves, and overhangs that feel like nature showing off. You don’t come here to tick boxes; you come to wander, listen, and be pleasantly outnumbered by birds.