New Zealand is one of the most stunning travel destinations I’ve ever been to. And what makes it even more attractive to people like ourselves, is the fact that it’s probably the next closest destination for such epic adventure apart from Australia.
Ever since my first trip to this amazing country, I’ve been missing it wholeheartedly and there’s been an invisible force that is making me want to go back again. It is just so beautiful.
And in this country, there’s never lack of scenery and adventure in every corner. In fact, I’m quite confident to say that if you head over there and just hit the road, you will find yourself stopping every once in a while to admire the great scenery. You can almost never go wrong you know.
But perhaps you want to optimise your trip and make the most out of it. Every hour spent in a day is crucial to you and you just want to see the best amongst all the possibilities in New Zealand. And that’s where my review may come in handy for you.
Quite obviously I’ve not covered all of them, and I would only recommend those that I’ve driven before, but here’s 3 of the top scenic drives I would strongly encourage you to give it a try.
Best of all, I have my own stunning images to support my claim. Let’s get right into it, shall we?
1. Cornering up the steep hill at the Crown Range road
If you’re planning to visit Wanaka and/or Queenstown, then this is one of the scenic road you must go. I mean, is the photo above not compelling enough to tell you how beautiful it is?
And believe me that Crown Range is one of the most popular road that is known out there. Take note, I said popular. I didn’t it’s the best. It’s also popular not just for its scenic view from the top of the mountain, but also because of the fun hairpin corners up the steep slopes.
If you love driving a lot and tackling on corners, then this is definitely in your radar.
Danger: Please drive carefully and exercise caution at all times. While it’s always fun to go fast and enjoy the adrenaline of speed, the road is impartial to everyone. Just because you’re very experienced, doesn’t mean accidents won’t happen. And while driving, be mindful of the lives you’re carrying with you in your car and the lives of others who are also using the same road.
2. Driving along the famous Lindis Pass
Next up in my list of recommendations, is most certainly none other than the famous Lindis Pass. Just as popular as Crown Range or Arthur’s Pass, Lindis Pass offers a very long stretch of road that is kept interesting both on road and off road.
Off the road, you’re surrounded by mountains and valleys that winds up and down. On the road, it’s never only straight roads for the driver. You will encounter turns and curves right around the rocky cliffs, and you will come face to face with a few near-90 degrees turning point.
The exhilaration I’ve enjoyed while going on decent speed on straight roads, and quickly decelerating to a near 30-40 km/h speed to turn those corners, had been INSANELY FUN. Well, at least for the people who loved driving like on a race track.
But for me, Lindis Pass is the most amazing driving experience for me because of one particular rare event that occurred during my trip. It was never meant to snow during this period, and obviously we didn’t have any winter gears with us.
But on that one fine day, the weather turns south and decided to have a snow storm that was bad enough for them to close the road. We panicked a little because that was the second last day and we need to depart back to Christchurch for our flight soon.
As it turns out, that event was a blessing in disguise. The road cleared out the next day and it’s opened for travellers to pass through. But what was left as an aftermath, became a surreal scenery for us all – It was one of the most jaw-dropping beautiful scenery of all times.
In my 5 years of travel journey, this would’ve been the only other rare event that occurred during our trips. And I don’t think I would ever come across another event quite like this again, though one I would sincerely pray for.
3. The Devil’s Staircase along Lake Wakatipu
A drive you would surely pass by if you’re heading towards Queenstown from Te Anau. If you’ve driven the Great Ocean road – or perhaps wanting a similar experience – then this route would be perfect for you to relive that experience all over again.
While it’s a relatively straight and long costal route, the incredibly mesmerising view along Lake Wakatipu would certainly made up for it. In a less obvious turning point nearer to the start of the lake, there will be a large parking area for travellers to take a break and enjoy the scenery – that’s the Devil’s Staircase Lookout Point.
I was totally awestruck by the view and how it’s such a picture-perfect scene for us to admire.
Lake Wakatipu is a very popular scenic destination as well due to the fact that it’s the longest lake at over 80km long and the third-largest lake in New Zealand! Not only is it the longest but it’s also very deep measuring up to 380m, making it one of the largest lake in terms of volume.
Did you know? Lake Wakatipu had been featured in multiple movie such as The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep as well as a backdrop for the The Lord of the Rings! Very interesting indeed.
4. Wait! How about one more along the way?
As you might have already know, there are more than a dozen of scenic routes in New Zealand worth driving and exploring. And it all depends on your itinerary to decide the best routes.
If you’re already passing through Devil’s Staircase towards Te Anau, then you must be visiting Milford Sound. At this eastern part of South New Zealand, Milford Sound had been one of the most popular scenic attractions. But did you know that the route up to Milford Sound is also a scenic drive?
Even if you aren’t intending to take the Fjord cruise along Milford Sound, taking just a day out to drive up and enjoy the view is very much worth the effort.
Tip: A big part of the Milford Sound scenic drive doesn’t have any reception, or at the best it would be poor reception. But rest assure that there are frequent traffic passing through and emergency points for you to get help if required. Just don’t be surprised when you can’t get a call out that’s all.
5. A quick tip about driving by experience
So I’ve driven for a little bit and tried out a few range of cars. You know how sometimes we want to cut some costs and decided to go with a simpler choice of car? Yeah I tried that too, and I must say that it was a mixed feeling really.
On one hand you sure save up some costs when you average out per day costs, on the other you definitely sacrifice a lot more on the experience part of it. I mean, that’s the whole point of driving your preferred scenic routes right?
So was it worth it to save costs on your choices of car? In my opinion, no. Because the driving experience is so vastly different than in Singapore and the average distance covered is much more significant, you’re likely better off choosing a much better car by choice, and have fun throughout that journey.
On my other trip where I splurge a little on choosing a vehicle that costs upwards of $140 per day, I must say that it was SO MUCH better. Like, so much more. If you’re a driving enthusiast, I’m sure you know what I mean and more. But if you aren’t, well, you gotta try once to know that it matters.
For example, I was climbing up a steep hill in New Zealand, the poor older Toyota Altis lacked the power to properly climb up at a safer speed. On another trip where at the top of the mountain, it gets a little bit of snow and icing on the road, my 4×4 gave me a more comfortable and assurance ride as you can feel the wheels gripping the cold asphalt steadily.
So there you go, 4 scenic drives by experience that I would strongly recommend you to try. Those of which that doesn’t require you to go out of the way, and quite frankly they are all along the common popular tourist destinations.
Let me know what you think and I hope this article helps you plan it out much better. The images I took should also give you a pretty good visual of the on-location scenery. Well, that’s all for now and I will see you around on the next article soon!
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