Planning a Latermoon? A Trip to New Zealand Is Worth the Wait
Pro tip: Winter in Philly is New Zealand’s summer, so use the holidays to maximize time off.
Roys Peak Track hike overlooking Lake Wānaka in the Otago region / Photograph courtesy of Tourism New Zealand
Everyone dreams of visiting New Zealand, and there’s no better excuse to take the big leap across the Pacific than your own big leap as newlyweds. But give yourself some grace and reserve a few weeks (or more, honestly) in the months after you get hitched to tackle this epic antipodean latermoon. (Pro tip: Winter in Philly is New Zealand’s summer, so use the holidays to maximize time off.)
Once you’ve committed, decide if you want to tour the country (Roam rents spacious luxury camper vans), visit one island or both (a ferry ride connects North and South), or do day trips from a home base (domestic air travel is convenient).
The South Island’s Milford and Doubtful Sounds offer breathtaking scenery. Stay at the new ROKI Collection overlooking a mountain lake in Queenstown (from $1,075); it’s a great place from which to launch excursions to Otago wine country. Or choose Hapuku Lodge + Tree Houses (from $762) in Kaikōura for fine cuisine, dolphin swims, and seal spotting. For a singular dining experience, score two of the six nightly seats at Giulio Sturla’s Mapu Test Kitchen in Lyttelton near Christchurch. Or visit the stunningly situated Caldera Vineyard Estate on Banks Peninsula and its Cellar Door restaurant.
Wine tasting on Waiheke Island near Auckland / Photograph courtesy of Tourism New Zealand
The North Island features a more cosmopolitan dining scene, gorgeous beaches, geothermal therapy in Rotorua, and, for film lovers, Hobbiton, the intact Shire from Kiwi auteur Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films. Near Auckland, stay at Omana on winery-rich Waiheke Island (from $670). And for cuisine, try newish rave Ahi and old fave Depot. Then take a therapeutic hot mud plunge at Rotorua’s Hell’s Gate and pop over to the National Kiwi Hatchery to peep the elusive national bird.
The important things to remember are that 1) you need to pace yourself, and 2) whatever you don’t see the first time, you’ll hit on the anniversary trip you’ll begin planning on the 19-hour flight home.
>> Click here for more honeymoon vacation ideas.
Published as “The Latermoon: New Zealand” in the summer/fall 2025 issue of Philadelphia Wedding.
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