If you’re anything like Tyler and I, one of the biggest questions to answer for our New Zealand itinerary was: should we rent and sleep in a camper van, or should we rent a small sedan and stay at hostels/hotels? There are pros and cons to both options. Some of the pros of renting a car versus a campervan are a much cheaper vehicle cost and significantly better gas mileage – gas ain’t cheap in New Zealand! Other pros include being able to enjoy the luxuries of indoor plumbing and a real bed if you stay in a hotel/hostel each night (I know, what a dream). However, in the end, Tyler and I couldn’t resist the allure of the classic image you picture when you think of a New Zealand trip – we went with a campervan, and we didn’t regret our decision! We had a great experience with Escape Campervans New Zealand, and would totally recommend them. Here’s the top 5 reasons why you should rent a campervan in New Zealand on your trip:
Reason #1: The flexibility
The number of times that we strayed from our skeleton itinerary on our 2 week New Zealand trip is too high to count! We made various pivots based on a variety of factors like the weather, our need to do laundry at a paid campground site, and destinations that we discovered and were interested in along the way. Traveling in a campervan made this flexibility possible. If we were stuck with hotel reservations that were pre-booked, we wouldn’t have been able to adjust our plans totally on the fly like we did. We wouldn’t have been able to modify our itinerary to see the Little Blue Penguins if we had a hotel booked – we discovered these little guys during our trip, and it was one of our favorite things! Theoretically, you could try to not reserve hotel rooms ahead of time, but unless you’re visiting during New Zealand’s winter, this is a very bad idea. Big towns are few and far between in New Zealand, and you don’t want to risk showing up to a small town’s B&B without a reservation, only to get rejected. Trust me, you’re going to want to make changes to the itinerary that you plan as you discover awesome things along your journey – the campervan is the way to go for ultimate flexibility!
Reason #2: The privacy
This one might surprise you a bit, but everything’s relative. Tyler and I are no strangers to dormitory-style hostel rooms, where’s you’re sleeping in a bunk (usually only the top bunk is left) with 4 to 10 complete strangers. While this can be fun and a great way to meet new people, there is also a total and complete lack of privacy. We really enjoyed how our New Zealand campervan had excellent black out curtains for every single window that snapped down into place. When the windows are all covered, you’re free to do whatever you please inside your safe space without any prying eyes! It’s great! It was the perfect way to get away from the New Zealand crowds that we encountered during the day.
Reason #3: No packing/re-packing
One of the main advantages to traveling in New Zealand via camper van versus renting a standard car and going from hotel to the next hotel is skipping the re-packing phase. If you stay at different hotels each night, you need to constantly haul in your luggage, re pack in the morning, and haul it back to your car in the morning. With a camper van, your bag stays in the van the whole time for easy access. No need to make everything perfect and zip-up-able each day – mine was a semi chaotic explosion the whole two weeks and it was so nice to not have to worry about cramming everything in perfectly until the end of the trip.
Reason #4: Cost savings
This point will really depend on the kind of person you are, but assuming you’re an average traveler who enjoys a 3 star or 4 star hotel, you’re definitely going to save money by renting a campervan in New Zealand. New Zealand is not a budget-friendly country, and a hotel during high season (December to February) is going to cost you easily over $100 USD per night. A campervan that is self contained (aka has a toilet, opening up your access to loads of camping spots) runs about $175/night during high season. So, the cost of your hotel is likely going to equal the cost of the campervan for 1 night, plus you’re going to need to tack on the cost of a rental car. Now, if you’re comfortable staying in bunk rooms in a hostel each night, this cost analysis gets trickier. If you’re willing to compromise on privacy and you’re fine sharing a room with a bunch of strangers, you might be better of hopping from hostel to hostel with a rental car. You would have to plan ahead a lot further in advance than we did, as a lot of places book up quickly during New Zealand’s summer, and because hostels don’t exist in many of the cities we ended up staying in. So, this point is really dependent upon your own personal travel style.
Reason #5: Because it’s fun!
When else is it the norm to cruise around a country, safely, sleeping in campgrounds all over for free in a campervan?! It’s truly a blast to have so much freedom in what sights you drive to see and where you stay each night. We found the experience to be super fun and exciting, and definitely worth the minor inconveniences that come from living in a campervan for two weeks (hint hint baby wipe showers). We felt safe each night, and New Zealand’s infrastructure is really set up to accommodate this type of travel. We definitely recommend renting a camper van while in New Zealand instead of booking hotels and a rental car!
