New Zealand’s 10 Great Walks, ranked
Which Great Walk is the greatest? Here’s my completely unscientific opinion
I’ve hiked 8 out of 10 of New Zealand’s Great Walks, so I can tell you for certain — the Great Walks are some of the best hiking trails in the country.
The Great Walks are an excellent way to get started on multi day hikes in New Zealand, because they’re designed to be accessible to a wide range of hikers.
There’s plenty of transport to and from the tracks, the trails are well-maintained, and the huts have top-notch facilities.
You don’t need to be a backcountry expert to enjoy some of the most epic wilderness experiences in New Zealand.
But they are all pretty different — one isn’t even a walk, it’s a canoe trip down a river. So which Great Walk is the best? This is my Great Walk Ranking.
I’ve also added a few bits of advice at the bottom of this article to help sketch out how to plan a Great Walk, because they are still a serious undertaking — don’t underestimate the weather or the gear you’ll need.
jump ahead.
The 10 Great Walks of New Zealand
There are currently 10 Great Walks in New Zealand, with an eleventh — the Hump Ridge track — set to be added to the list in 2024.
These are the 10 Great Walks of New Zealand, in order of how beautiful I personally think they are:
One of the hardest parts of planning a Great Walk can be choosing which hiking trail to tackle.
When deciding which Great Walk you should do, the main factors will be availability of bookings and the length of the tracks.
You can’t pick a bad one, though.
I have yet to hike Milford Sound — I had hut bookings for March 2020, and even if the pandemic hadn’t struck, that year the track closed due to storm damage. It wasn’t meant to be.
I also haven’t hiked the Rakiura Track, but I have had friends report back who’ve done it and I’m dead keen to get out there soon.
So, out of all of them, which one is my favourite? Honestly, they are all wonderful!
The Abel Tasman Coast Track has some of the most beautiful beaches I’ve seen in New Zealand. It’s very special to shrug off your pack and jump into the turquoise water to cool off.
The Heaphy Track might be the best one to walk in winter. It’s open all year round and it’s nice and quiet in the colder months, but still not as cold as further south.
I liked the variation in terrain on the Heaphy Track, from the tropical-feeling coastline on the West Coast to the rich beech forest on the Golden Bay end of the trail.
Lake Waikaremoana is set in a well off the beaten track part of the North Island, so it’s worth going to explore the ancient rainforest of the Ureweras.
The Whanganui Journey is a unique experience but I found paddling all day quite difficult.
The Milford Track is the most popular but the accessibility and diversity of the Routeburn Track is hard to beat. If you’re just going to do one Great Walk, choose the Routeburn.
Before I dive into ranking the Great Walks, please allow me to have a quick rant.
I recently overheard a German guy complaining loudly about how expensive the Great Walk huts are, and how they are a ‘scam’ and that DOC is making huge amounts of money from the walks (they’re not).
He was talking to someone at a table behind me, and it took a great deal of effort not to spin around and lecture the hell out of him.
Yes, the Great Walks cost more than an average hike because they are the best multi-day hiking tracks in the country, tapping into some of the most remote areas of New Zealand..
With trails through national parks like Fiordland, Mount Aspiring, and Tongariro, the Great Walks cover incredible scenery.
They have been given a special status by the Department of Conservation (which we just call DOC) to recognise their unique features.
To be classed as a Great Walk, the tracks need to be well formed and easy to follow, with hut accommodation on route.
That costs a lot of money. Hundreds of thousands of tax payer dollars.
The huts on Great Walks are of a higher standard than regular backcountry huts, with features like solar lighting and flushing toilets.
Imagine just for a second how expensive it is to deliver all the materials for the Milford huts into remote Fiordland wilderness by helicopter.
And think also of how many expert engineers contributed to designing trails through impenetrable wilderness, making these exceptional places accessible to hikers of all levels.
To be honest, I think that the price of a Great Walk in New Zealand is still an absolute bargain for a once in a lifetime walk in pristine wilderness. I hope you agree with me.
1. The Milford Track - the most famous Great Walk
4 days
53.5 km
The most famous Great Walk in New Zealand is the Milford Track in Fiordland National Park in the South Island.
It was called the ‘finest walk in the world’ and has been drawing in visitors since the 1800s.
Mountain peaks, rivers, waterfalls, canyons; the Milford Track has it all.
This four-day trek runs through Fiordland National Park, leading hikers over high mountain passes and dense forest. The trail ends at Milford Sound, where you have the option of rounding out the trip with a scenic boat cruise.
Milford Sound is the hardest Great Walk to get bookings for, so one excellent option can be going on a guided hike.
Highlights | Climbing over the Mackinnon Pass offers unbeatable views, while finishing up in Milford Sound itself is definitely a highlight.
Best for? | Anyone who is super organised — this track sells out the fastest, so getting hut bookings is almost an olympic sport.
2. The Routeburn Track - the best all round Great Walk
2–4 days
32 km
The Routeburn Track traverses mountain peaks and valleys in both Fiordland National Park and Mount Aspiring National Park.
With alpine lakes, azure blue rivers, and spectacular views from along the trail, the Routeburn is one of the most scenic hikes in the South Island.
I personally found walking the Routeburn Track quite easy, as the track is so well maintained, but I have heard other hiker friends say they found it hard.
Highlights | Crossing the narrow, rocky path over the Harris Saddle (the view in the photo above) and climbing down toward the emerald Lake Mackenzie.
Best for? | Being relatively accessible, short, and possible on a budget, the Routeburn is ideal for everyone!
Routeburn Track day hike: From the Milford Road end of the Routeburn track, you walk up to Key Summit for epic views. It’s only 3 hours return.
3. The Kepler Track
3–4 days
60 kilometres
The Kepler Track is located in Fiordland National Park. It features lakes, beech forest, and alpine tops, adding up to one of the finest multi-day hikes in New Zealand.
Luxumore Hut in particular offers incredible views of the area.
Highlights | The ridge between Luxmore Hut and the Iris Burn is stunning on a clear day.
Best for? | Anyone who wants to spot kea, enjoy alpine scenery, and isn’t worried about a long hike.
4. Abel Tasman Coast track - the best Great Walk for coastal views
3–5 days
60 kilometres
The beautiful thing about the Abel Tasman is that you can kayak parts of it
The Abel Tasman Coast Track takes in some of the best coastal scenery in New Zealand.
Abel Tasman National Park is a string of golden beaches with turquoise water, bordered by lush native bush. The track runs from beach to bay, offering up endless glittering ocean views.
As well as walking the Abel Tasman Track, you have the option of kayaking sections — a great way to get up close to seals and pulling into beaches that aren’t accessible on foot.
Highlights | Being able to strip off your pack and jump straight into pristine water.
Best for? | Anyone who loves beaches — there is no better feeling than stripping off and jumping into the blue water after a day’s hike!
5. The Paparoa Track
3 days
55 kilometres
The Paparoa Track is New Zealand’s newest Great Walk, having only opened in 2020.
A highlight of this track is staying in the Moonlight Tops Hut up on the Paparoa Range.
The final section of the track explores the Porari River Gorge, a beautiful limestone gorge with a clear river running through dense groves of nikau.
You can walk this section as a day walk from Punakaiki — I highly recommend if you get the chance.
Highlights | Moonlight Tops hut offers amazing views, but the whole stretch along the alpine tops between Croesus Hut and Moonlight Tops is incredible.
Best for? | The Paparoa Track can also be mountain biked, so it can be a great option for cyclists.
6. The Tongariro Northern Circuit
3–4 days
43 kilometres
The Emerald Lakes on the Tongariro Crossing are one of the Circuit’s highlights
The Tongariro Northern Circuit is an epic hike through otherworldly landscapes in the centre of North Island.
A lot of people will walk the Tongariro Crossing, a day hike which forms part of the Northern Circuit, but this Great Walk takes you away from the crowds and through active volcanic landscapes, alpine meadows, and glacial valleys.
Highlights | The emerald lakes on the Tongariro Crossing, and the views of Mount Ruapehu.
Best for? | Anyone who loves alpine landscapes and volcanic cones.
7. The Heaphy Track - the longest Great Walk
78.4 km one way
4-6 days
Find the DOC guide to the Heaphy here
The Heaphy Track is seriously underrated in my opinion.
It starts (or ends) on the West Coast of the South Island, with the track running past deserted white sand beaches fringed with nikau palms.
Tracing a path through Kahurangi National Park, you end up in Golden Bay, a gorgeous area only a couple of hours from Nelson.
The Heaphy Track has been designed as both a mountain bike track and a hiking track.
While this means you might occasionally have to jump aside to let cyclists hoon past, the good news is the track is an easy gradient the whole way.
Highlights | West Coast wilderness and spotting takahe.
Best for | Winter hiking — it’s one of the few Great Walks you can hike year round.
8. The Rakiura Track
3 days
32 kilometres
The Rakiura Track is a loop walk on Stewart Island/Rakiura.
This hike is one of the easier Great Walks, with no major climbs and only 32 kilometres to cover in three days.
The Rakiura Hike is famously muddy, but also has a lot of native bush and bird spotting opportunities, as well as pristine beaches.
Highlights | Beaches that look surprisingly tropical (although the water is still freezing)
Best for? | People who like to get off the beaten track
9. The Whanganui Journey
// 87 or 145 kilometres
// 3 or 5 days
// DOC journey details here
The Whanganui Journey isn’t a walk — it’s a 3-5 day canoe trip down the Whanganui River.
The highlights of this journey are paddling through the tall, vegetation covered walls of gorges, with the Whanganui river a coffee coloured swirl beneath you.
It feels eerily prehistoric at times, with birds swooping out of the canopy and wild goats appearing out of the foliage.
This Great ‘Walk’ had its challenging moments — I was lucky to not capsize, but paddling into strong head winds for seven hours wasn’t so fun. But it’s a unique experience in a wild part of the North Island.
You can choose from three days or five days of paddling. My group opted for three days, which for us was enough. The extra couple of days don’t add a lot to the journey, unless you’re a very keen kayaker.
Highlights | Paddling through canyons.
Best for? | Anyone with good arm strength and a thirst for something a bit different!
10. Lake Waikaremoana
3–4 days
46 kilometres
Walk along the shores of the stunning Lake Waikaremoana, in a little-visited area of New Zealand.
The Lake Waikaremoana track is in the Te Ureweras rainforest, a wild and beautiful part of the North Island. Some of my most vivid memories of Waikaremoana are from the drive to the start of the track, where we passed through tiny communities where horses roamed wild when kids weren’t riding them to school.
This forest has a strong significance to the local iwi (Maori tribe) who live there, and it was granted personhood (along with the Whanganui River and Mount Taranaki).
Highlights: The views from Panekire Bluff and swimming at remote beaches.
Best for? | Hikers who like getting off the beaten track.
Quick tips for booking New Zealand's Great Walks
Booking Great Walks has its challenges.
For the most popular Great Walks — particularly Milford Sound, the Routeburn, the Kepler, and Paparoa, which have limited hiking seasons and hut availability — spots can sell out in minutes.
You have to be online ready and waiting to book your tickets.
In 2023, DOC’s booking system couldn’t cope with the massive demand and they had to reshuffle the booking dates. It’s intense!
If you have your heart set on one of these walks, here’s some advice:
Be flexible with dates if you can. Peak season is around December/January and on weekends, so if you can book earlier or later in the season, or mid week, you have a better shot at scoring a spot.
Get creative with your itinerary. Campsites aren’t as popular as the huts for obvious reasons, so I was able to hike the Routeburn over Easter by staying in a campsite instead of the hut at Lake Mackenzie. This meant a pretty chilly night, but the campsite is actually much quieter than the hut anyway. Milford Sound Track is rigorous with their hut bookings and there’s no real way around that, but on other Great Walks you can look at hiking longer days or camping to still get onto the trails.
Consider alternative hiking trails — New Zealand has an epic network of tracks and huts, so there are many other multi-day hikes to choose from.
1. You can only hike some of the Great Walks during summer
Some of the Great Walk trails weave through alpine mountain tops, which means the hikes are inaccessible over winter.
The Great Walk season for the Milford Track, Kepler, and Routeburn, and Tongariro Northern Circuit is from late October to the end of April.
While you can still hike the trails in winter, doing so requires specialist skills and equipment. The hut and track facilities are reduced and there’s a good chance you’ll need to hike across snow and ice.
The Whanganui River journey is also only possible during the summer and autumn months, as the river becomes dangerous over winter.
The Heaphy Track, Rakiura Track, Paparoa Track, Lake Waikaremoana, and Abel Tasman Coast Track are open all year round.
Hiking these trails in the colder months is actually a great idea — the weather will be cooler, but there will be far fewer crowds so it’s easier to get spots in the huts along the tracks.
Essential Great Walk resources:
The DOC website is the source of all truth for hiking in New Zealand
2. Hiking the Great Walks can be expensive
It can cost a lot to hike a Great Walk. Great Walks have a higher price tag than other New Zealand hikes, due to their popularity and level of facilities that you can expect in the huts.
Fees
The cost of Great Walk huts ranges from NZ$32-$110 per night, with Milford Sound being the most expensive walk.
For the full list of prices, check the DOC website.
Transport
The Kepler Track, Rakiura Track, and Hump Ridge are loop walks.
All of the other Great Walks require track transport to get to or from the trailheads, so you need to factor the transport cost into the overall cost of doing a Great Walk.
This can involve shuttle buses or car relocation, which aren’t always cheap.
How to save money on a Great Walk
Stay in the campgrounds instead of huts. The huts are nice, but they can get very crowded — after all, they are often fully booked. That means sharing a bunkroom with potential snorers, and the living areas with a lot of other people. Campgrounds are a lot more spacious and a fraction of the cost.
Walk the tracks faster than recommended — if you’re fit, you can often shave a day or two off the walks. This means you can skip paying for one night in a hut or campground.
Only walk part of the tracks. For example, you can walk up to Key Summit on the Routeburn Track, which gives you some stunning views of Fiordland. On the Paparoa Track, the Porari River Trail is a great day walk, and the final stretch of the Great Walk trail.
3. There are many other hikes that make awesome alternatives to the Great Walks
If you miss out on booking a Great Walk, don’t worry.
New Zealand is one of the best hiking destinations in the world, so you can find other awesome multi day walks.
These are some excellent alternatives to the Great Walks. These tracks might not have the level of track maintenance or hut facilities that the Great Walks offer, but they are all stunning.
And the plus side is that they are generally a lot cheaper to hike — on the Queen Charlotte Track, you can stay in lodges with actual beds and hot showers, for only a fraction more than you would pay for a Great Walk hut.
Milford Sound alternative: Queen Charlotte Track in Marlborough Sounds, or the Hollyford Track in Fiordland National Park
Abel Tasman Coast Track alternative: Te Paki Coastal Track around Cape Reinga
Tongariro Northern Circuit alternative: Round the Mountain, Taranaki
Routeburn Track alternative: Greenstone and Caples Track
Kepler Track alternative: Travers Sabine Circuit in Nelson Lakes National Park
Rakiura alternative: The Aotea Trail on Great Barrier Island
Paparoa Track alternative: The Inland Pack Track in Paparoa National Park
4. The Great Walks have different levels of difficulty
The Great Walks are all different lengths, and cover quite different terrain.
The longest Great Walk is the Heaphy Track, which is 79 kilometres or 49 miles long. It takes 4-6 days to complete.
The Routeburn Track is the shortest Great Walk — it’s only 32 kilometres (20 miles) and takes 2-4 days, although some people even trail run it in one day.
The Abel Tasman Track is probably the easiest Great Walk, as the coastal trail is mostly flat. You can also send your pack via boat to your camp each day, to make walking easier.
6. You can walk parts of the Great Walks as day hikes
You don’t need to walk the full length of the Great Walks — many of them have sections that make for great day hikes.
This is another good option if you have your heart set on walking one of the iconic trails and miss out on a hut booking.
Paparoa Track day hike: Walk the Porari River Trail from Punakaiki. The trail is the entry/exit for the Paparoa Track, and follows the dark water of the river through a limestone gorge lined with nikau trees. It’s one of my favourite short walks on the West Coast and takes around 2 hours return.
Tongariro Northern Circuit day hike: You can walk the Tongariro Crossing to cover the main highlights of this Great Walk. It’s a solid tramp, but you’ll see the Emerald Lakes and other worldly landscapes of the national park.
The Hump Ridge Track isn’t officially a Great Walk yet (it’s projected to be announced as a Great Walk in late 2023) but it is destined to be the next Great Walk on the list.
Currently, the track is undergoing some upgrades before it can be officially declared a Great Walk.
The Hump Ridge Track covers epic terrain in Fiordland National Park. There’s a grunty climb up to a height of more than 1000 metres, where you have amazing views of the bottom of the South Island.
The track then descends to the coast and follows an undulating and often boggy path along the water’s edge.
If you love hiking, you might find these helpful:
A guide to Mount Taranaki day hike and the national park
A guide to Mount Aspiring National Park
A guide to Nelson Lakes National Park
A guide to Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park
