Seven of New Zealand’s most outrageously scenic highlights

Pocket-sized New Zealand packs in so much splendid scenery that it surely ranks as one of the world’s most beautiful countries. Splendidly rumpled coastlines meet snow-capped mountains, neon-blue lakes gleam and giant fjords contrast with gently rolling hills daubed in an Impressionist’s palette of greens.

Add urban energy, friendly people, great food and wine and top-notch hotels and you have a destination whose exhilarating grandeur and wilderness is nicely counterbalanced by quirky culture and creature comforts.

Coast into the Bay of Islands

Lush greenery meets deep, blue bays in the Bay of Islands.

The lush, indented coast and confetti of islands in the far north of New Zealand don’t pack the landscape wallop of some destinations, but everywhere you look, lush, forested hills and fields meet blue bays, seemingly stitched together by rocky outcrops and hem-lined by pretty beaches. This is tranquil scenery, best enjoyed on foot or by taking to the water by catamaran or kayak. The Waitangi Treaty Grounds provide insight into Maori culture and history and the Maori relationship to these gorgeous surroundings.

Heat up in Rotorua

Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland in Rotorua.Credit: Getty Images

New Zealand’s most weirdly wonderful landscape showcases some of the volcanic forces that have shaped this island nation. Fizzing streams hiss with steam, mud pools burp and Pohutu Geyser regularly throws up a 30-metre column of boiling water. Hell’s Gate features the hot-water Kakahi Falls and a boiling whirlpool. Most spectacular are the yellow, green and orange thermal pools at sulphur-smelly Wai-O-Tapu, which have names such as Artist’s Palette and Devil’s Ink Pots. Fumaroles rumble: this fabulous landscape is still being created.

Hop aboard the most scenic rail journey

Experience the TranzAlpine passing New Zealand’s Southern Alps in just five hours.

New Zealand has several highly scenic train rides, and the renowned TranzAlpine train is hands-down the most splendid, taking you across South Island through 223 kilometres of stunning and varied landscapes between Christchurch and Greymouth. It opens with the farmland of the Canterbury Plain before the train is squeezed into the Waimakariri River and its gorge. As you climb into the South Alps and Arthur’s Pass National Park, snow-capped mountains are strung across every horizon. The journey ends with rainforest and meadows. Magnificent.

Chill out at Franz Josef Glacier

An extraordinary spectrum of blue within the Franz Josef Glacier.Credit: Getty Images

It isn’t only volcanic activity that provides nature in the raw in New Zealand. Glaciers create landscapes that change before your eyes too. Franz Josef Glacier features giant pinnacles of ice that groan, shift and split into mighty crevasses. Splintered ice glitters in the sun. The vivid blue colour of parts of the glacier is caused by snow compressed into ice at such pressure that its air bubbles – which allow regular ice to appear clear or white – are squeezed out.

Get high in Queenstown

View from the Skyline Gondola just after sunset.Credit: Getty Images

Queenstown dips its toes in Lake Wakatipu and is surrounded on every side by jagged mountains. These are landscapes you’ll want to admire in a variety of ways. Cruise the lake on vintage steamboat TSS Earnslaw, head up the Dart River on a boat safari or ride the Skyline gondola up Bob’s Peak. And who would complain about a drive into the Otago wine region, where pinot noir at cellar doors is accompanied by outlooks over neatly pegged vines towards blue lakes and snow caps?

Sail into Milford Sound

Sunrise over Mitre Peak and the mountains of Milford Sound.Credit: Getty Images

No surprise that the drive from Queenstown to Fiordland National Park – mountain to coast – will have you entranced as you curl down through the Eglinton and Hollyford valleys. Beneath dramatic Mitre Peak, Milford Sound opens towards the ocean in a drama of huge cliffs and waterfalls, with snowy mountain summits peeping above. True, the scenery can sometimes be misty, but this only adds atmosphere. Get out into the fjord by sightseeing boat to truly appreciate the size and splendour of this great gash in the flank of the Southern Alps.

Admire New Zealand’s highest mountain

The captivating peak of Aoraki/Mount Cook.Credit: Getty Images

At 3724 metres, Aoraki/Mount Cook is a sight to behold, set against other peaks and permanent snowfields above Lake Pukaki. Edmund Hillary trained as a mountaineer here, a story showcased at Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre, where a 3D cinematic experience takes you on a flight over the Southern Alps. Mount Cook aside, another stunning sight is Tasman Glacier, best admired from a boat tour on Terminal Lake, whose milky-blue waters are afloat in chunks of cast-off ice.