3 Months In New Zealand Cost – Is New Zealand Expensive?

Last Updated on 19th July 2023

This post about the cost of spending 3 months in New Zealand contains affiliate links.

3 months in New Zealand certainly isn’t cheap, but you might be wondering exactly how expensive is New Zealand. In my ultimate guide below about spending 3 months in New Zealand, I’ve covered everything you need to know about why New Zealand is expensive to visit, how expensive it is compared to the UK and how to visit New Zealand for 3 months on a budget.

When Matt and I were planning our trip around the world, we always talked about how New Zealand would be our first destination. It’s a place that’s held a very special place in my heart ever since I lived there in 2011 and it’s a place that Matt wanted to visit for many years so it only made sense that we made a plan to ensure we could spend as much time as possible there.

This detailed guide shows how much money we spent in New Zealand, to the very last penny, and while it might seem like an awful lot of money to some people, when you consider that the amount we spent was over the course of 3 months, I think it’s not too bad. The amount of money shown throughout this post was also split directly in the middle between the two of us.

It’s also important to bear in mind that you could spend an awful lot more than we did, but you could also do it cheaper than us too. Hopefully, this post will give you a brief insight into the cost of travelling around New Zealand for 3 months so you can know what to expect!

If you want to know how much money you need to travel for 3 months in New Zealand, you’ve come to the right place! I’ve broken it down so you can gauge the cost of travelling New Zealand for a month at a time, plus how much a trip to New Zealand costs in its entirety so you’re fully prepared for the most epic adventure of your life!

Don’t forget to take out travel insurance before your trip to NZ!

Is New Zealand expensive? Total cost for 3 months in New Zealand for 2 people: £3,365.75 (£1,682.88 each – £20.50 a day).

Accommodation prices for 3 months in New Zealand

North Island

We were incredibly lucky that we got the first half of the accommodation during our 3 months in New Zealand pretty much for free.

How did we do this?

We housesat for a family that I used to live next door to when I lived in New Zealand back in 2011 with my family.

It just so happened that as we were planning to fly out to New Zealand, the family were planning on making a trip back home to the UK; pretty much at the exact same time so it really couldn’t have worked out better!

We were so, so lucky to be able to do this. But so could you! There are numerous ways to go about housesitting in New Zealand in order to save money on your accommodation.

TrustedHousesitters and KiwiHousesitters are two of the most popular and reputable sites for finding housesitting opportunities in New Zealand. I’m a big advocate for doing this in order to save money while travelling so please email me, Tweet me, Instagram DM me or leave me a comment if you want to know more – I’d love to help!

While we were in the North Island, we also stayed in a hostel in Taupo for one night and a hostel in Wellington for three nights as well.

Hostels in Taupo and Wellington: £118.52

South Island – 3 months in New Zealand

Of course, as we were living in a campervan throughout our entire South Island adventure, we had our ‘accommodation’ pretty much covered. However, we did have to pay for numerous paid campsites as not everywhere in New Zealand is free (and most importantly, free campsites have very limited facilities so we had to stay at a paid campsite whenever we needed showers and to do laundry etc).

Paid campsites: £434.69 over the course of 5 weeks for two people.

Food costs on our 3-month trip around New Zealand

When you first look at the amount of money we spent on food and drink over the course of three months, you might be quite shocked. It’s certainly not the £13 each a week we were spending on food when we lived in the UK.

However, when you consider the fact that the amounts for groceries are for both of us, that means we spent £211.27 each over three months, which is around £17 a week. See? Not too expensive at all!

Of course, we spent much more on restaurant meals than we would have done back at home, but eating out and trying new restaurants is one of our absolute favourites things to do, wherever we are in the world.

Eating out in New Zealand isn’t crazy cheap either so another £17ish a week on meals out and nights out, really isn’t that bad. You could absolutely cut out at least half of these expenses if you’re not too bothered about eating out at restaurants, but it’s still important to remember to treat yourself every now and again. Just because you’re travelling on a budget, doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a treat or two!

Groceries/alcohol/snacks: £422.53 for two people over 3 months.

Restaurant/cafe meals: £422.89 for two people over 3 months.

Is New Zealand expensive to visit? Transport costs for our trip around New Zealand

I’ve written numerous blog posts about our New Zealand road trip around the South Island, including details about hiring a campervan, top tips for driving in New Zealand and my favourite road trip essentials.

However, I haven’t really talked about the exact costs and how much we spent on transport throughout our nearly-3 month trip in New Zealand.

North Island transport costs

As I mentioned above, we spent the first 6 weeks housesitting for a family in the North Island and as part of our agreement, we had access to their car with fully comped insurance while we were there. We’re so immensely grateful for that opportunity, otherwise we’d have spent a small fortune on hiring a car in the North Island, as well as a campervan in the South Island.

Of course, we did have to pay for petrol for the car, but I’ve included the cost of petrol for the entire North and South Island below.

South Island transport costs – 3 months in New Zealand

In terms of full disclosure, the prices we paid to hire both our campervans in the South Island were discounted as we worked in collaboration with both Escape Rentals and Mad Campers. However, these two companies are two of the most affordable campervan rental companies in New Zealand and I’d highly recommend booking through either of them for your NZ road trip!

Please also bear in mind that these are winter prices and campervan hire in New Zealand in the summer is much more expensive!

Total campervan hire cost for 5 weeks and 2 days: £169.60 ($320NZD) We received our Escape Rentals van for free for 3 weeks and received a 60% discount from Mad Campers for the van for 2 weeks).

Total insurance cost for 5 weeks and 2 days: £604.20 ($1140NZD)

Travel tip: Use code ‘imjustagirl5’ for a 5% discount off your Mad Campers rental.

Petrol costs for a trip around New Zealand

Petrol prices in New Zealand are ~relatively~ similarly priced to the UK. However, in the short time we were there, they rose from about $2.05 when we first arrived in April to around $2.25 by the time we left in July.

Of course, depending on where you are in the country and how well the prices are doing, you can expect to pay drastically different prices for petrol. I’ve mentioned using the Gaspy app in my post about making the most out of your New Zealand road trip which will tell you where to find the cheapest petrol stations within a 20km radius of where you are. It’s definitely worth downloading if you’re going to be driving a lot in New Zealand!

When I first calculated that we’d spent almost £750 on petrol in 3 months, it’s safe to say I was a little shocked. However, when you consider the fact that we drove 6,700km across both islands, it really isn’t too bad. Driving those three different vehicles allowed us to see so much of New Zealand and I’d like to think that it was money well spent!

Petrol for North and South Island New Zealand: £747.75

Activities for 3 months in New Zealand

Of course, we couldn’t spend three months in New Zealand and not experience some of the fantastic activities it has to offer!

Some of my absolute favourite travel memories were created during our trip to New Zealand and I’m so glad we managed to tick so many things off our bucket list!

Hobbiton

We were incredibly lucky that my 21st birthday fell just two weeks before we started travelling so instead of asking for physical ‘gifts’, I asked family and friends for more experience-based gifts instead that we could enjoy when we were in New Zealand.

Matt’s mum paid for us to visit Hobbiton which actually turned out to be one of my favourite travel experiences in New Zealand! I’ve written a whole guide to visiting Hobbiton and while it’s not the cheapest place to visit in NZ, it is well worth the money!

Hobbiton tickets: £46 each (kindly gifted to us by Matt’s mum).

Travel tip: book your tickets to Hobbiton here!

Waimangu Volcanic Valley – New Zealand trip costs

Waimangu Volcanic Valley is one of the most fascinating and photogenic places in New Zealand and one of the best things to do in the North Island!

It’s also pretty affordable and at just over £14 each, it’s definitely worth the money in my eyes and I’m so glad we paid a visit!

Waimangu tickets: £28.15 for two people

Travel tip: book your Waimangu Volcanic Valley tickets here!

Tattoos in Queenstown – 3 months in New Zealand

I’m very aware that most people won’t be splashing out hundreds of pounds for a new tattoo when they’re in New Zealand.

However, the way we saw it was that Queenstown is the place to be in New Zealand for thrill-seekers and adrenaline junkies. Since we’d already done bungy jumping, and we’d ticked off a few other things on our New Zealand bucket list, we decided not to partake in any expensive activities in Queenstown and put that money towards a new tattoo instead.

For the likes of bungy jumping, skydiving and paragliding in Queenstown, you’re looking at between £100 and £250 (each!), so we figured that £250 between us for tattoos that we both really wanted was actually money well spent!

Cost of my and Matt’s tattoo: £240.11 for both

Velocity Valley – activities for 3 months in New Zealand

For my birthday present from my parents, they booked us to go to Velocity Valley while we were in the North Island where we did five different adventure and adrenaline-based activities, including a bungy jump!

As I mentioned with regards to activities in Queenstown, had we not already done a bungy jump at Velocity Valley, we probably wouldn’t have had our tattoos done and instead we’d have done one there.

Velocity Valley tickets: £102 each for the VIP ride package (gifted by my mum and dad).

Travel tip: book your bungy jump tickets to Velocity Valley here!

Skyline Rotorua

While we were in Rotorua one day, we enjoyed a visit to the Skyline Rotorua adventure park where you can partake in various fun activities such as Luge rides, zip lining, mountain biking, plus much more.

We paid for a Gondola ride to the top each and 3 Luge rides each which was just over £50. Again, not the absolute cheapest but still definitely worth the money and it was SO much fun while we were in the North Island!

Skyline Rotorua tickets: £54.83 for two people for a Gondola ride and 3 Luge rides.

Wellington Cable Car – 3 month trip around New Zealand

The Wellington Cable Car is often cited as one of the best things to do in Wellington and while it was pretty fun, it’s not completely necessary and I think if you’re really looking to penny pinch while travelling New Zealand, you could probably skip this one!

Tickets for Wellington Cable car: £9.48 for two people for a return ride.

Ferry to Devonport, Auckland

Auckland is without a doubt one of the most popular cities in New Zealand and while I do like it, I don’t necessarily love it.

However, I did thoroughly enjoy getting the ferry from Auckland Harbour to Devonport which is a gorgeous little suburb full of lush, expensive houses and adorable eateries. If you’re in the city, I’d definitely suggest hopping over to Devonport on the ferry.

Ferry tickets to Devonport: £15.58 for two people for a return ticket.

Sky Tower – activity costs on a trip around New Zealand

Speaking of things to do in Auckland, my absolute favourite thing is to go up the Sky Tower and eat at the Orbit 360° restaurant while you’re up there.

It’s a pretty expensive lunch, but the fact that you also get access to the two other observation decks as well is well worth the price.

Tickets for Sky Tower and Orbit 360° dining experience: £55.66 for two people.

Milford Sound Cruise – how much does it cost to travel New Zealand?

I’ve spoken numerous times on my blog just how much I love Milford Sound and how much it means to me, so I think it’s safe to say that it’s an experience that’s 100% worth your time and money.

Tickets for Milford Sound Cruise: £41.76 for two people.

Travel tip: buy your tickets for a Milford Sound Cruise here!

Phew! I’ve been contemplating writing this post for weeks now and I’m so glad it’s finally live! I really hope you’ve enjoyed it and that you’ve gained some valuable information about how much money a trip around New Zealand might cost you! As ever, if you do have any more questions, please feel to send them my way – I’d love to help you plan your trip of a lifetime to New Zealand!

Related posts:

• The Ultimate South Island New Zealand Road Trip Itinerary
• Everything You Need To Know About Visiting Milford Sound, New Zealand
• The Ultimate List Of The Best Things To Do In North Island New Zealand
• Top Things To See and Do in South Island New Zealand
• How To Make The Most Out Of Your New Zealand Road Trip
• How Much Does Interrailing Cost? Interrail Budget For 6 Weeks
• One Month In New York – Cost Of Living In NYC For A Month

Pin for later – how much money we spent in 3 months in New Zealand

*Prices are accurate as of the New Zealand to GBP currency exchange rate between June and July 2019.

Is New Zealand still as expensive as you expected after reading this post? Would you consider a trip around New Zealand? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter @imjustagirl_16.

This post contains mentions of previous collaborative work. It also features affiliate links throughout. Please see my disclaimer for more.