Holidays to New Zealand 2025
For those of you planning your holiday to New Zealand in 2025, you’ll find a great number of events and activities taking place throughout the country.
If you’d like to include any of those we feature or perhaps one’s that are still due to be organised on your holiday, let us know about them early in your planning and we’ll endeavour to integrate them into your trip.
The standout events in 2025 are, as often in New Zealand, of a sporting nature. The big ones in 2025 being the Special Olympic National Games to be held in Christchurch in July and the six white ball cricket matches between England and New Zealand in October (venues TBA).
What’s happening in New Zealand in 2025?
The wonderful thing about New Zealand holidays is that there is always something exceptional to experience, at any time of year.
After all, the breathtaking scenery of the South and North Islands will blow you away any moment you see it, and these natural wonders have existed for centuries, so there’s no time limit on enjoying them.
But if you want to make 2025 an unforgettable year, then visiting New Zealand is a surefire way to sear it into your memory. Here are some just of the events we can weave into your holiday throughout the rest of the year:
8th – 10th August Bay of Islands Jazz and Blues Festival,
26th – 28th September Alexandra Blossom Festival
23rd October – 2nd November Nelson Arts Festival
Autumn days across New Zealand
If you’d rather explore as the climate starts to cool, autumn in New Zealand brings a riot of colours to the already stunning scenery. It makes every moment a perfect picture waiting to be snapped.
Get the full effect of the flaming trees by visiting Arrowtown Autumn Festival. A week of market days, music and street entertainment celebrating the gold-mining era. It makes a great family day out. It usually starts the week after Easter so the tree-lined avenues are at their most attractive.
Alternatively, if you’re more interested in music, The Bay of Islands Country Rock Festival in the second week of May draws musicians from all around New Zealand – and the world.
If you’re on the island in March you can also catch Pasifika Festiva. This 1-day cultural festival celebrates Auckland’s Pacific Island communities and is the largest of its kind in the South Pacific.
Embrace a New Zealand Winter
If you relish days with a bite in the air, there are plenty of reasons to visit New Zealand in the 2025 winter.
Build your holiday around winter sports like skiing or make the most of migration season with a whale-watching tour. The snow-capped peaks of the Southern Alps offer plenty of skiing and snowboarding opportunities for adventurous travellers.
Alternatively, we can book a holiday for you that incorporates the Queenstown Winter Festival, so you can enjoy the quirky mountain events and street entertainment that fill the region through September.
For those who prefer a more musical winter experience, we can make the Bay of Islands Jazz and Blues Festival the heart of your holiday. Featuring more than 50 jazz bands from New Zealand and overseas, the festival features live entertainment at various places around Paihia and Russell for a magical August weekend.
There’s even benefits to planning a self-drive tour during winter. The roads will be quieter and the destinations less crowded, so getting out and about can be more enjoyable.
See in a New Zealand Spring
The perfect point between the brisk winter weather and intense summer heat, spring is a wonderful time to visit New Zealand.
As birds flock back to the wetlands and coastal areas, late spring is a great time to embark on a bird-watching trip, and we can help you find the right times and spots to see the unique wildlife New Zealand offers.
Of course, it’s not just birds that make a return in spring: the flowers begin to bloom too. In Alexandra, this is celebrated with the Blossom Festival. This annual parade of floats and entertainment is a fantastic day out for all ages and a wonderful way to see in the spring on the South Island.
On North Island, the Taranaki Garden Festival showcases some of the most outstanding gardens, parks and open spaces in New Zealand. The Festival includes the highest number of gardens of National and Regional Significance in the country.
Christchurch also hosts a wide variety of events throughout the season to showcase its parks and botanical gardens.
And if you’d like to celebrate the beauty humans are capable of creating too, then the Nelson Arts Festival is a fabulous twelve days of music, dance, theatre and street performances throughout the city.
To be honest, we’ve filled this page with ideas and we’ve barely touched on all the amazing things you could do or see in New Zealand in 2025. We can put together a holiday that stretches from two weeks to over a month and draws together all the key sights that appeal to you personally, or suggest a small group tour that sees the sights that matter most with an expert guide and in great company.
If you’d like to include any of those we’ve featured (or perhaps ones that are still due to be organised) on your holiday, let us know about them early in your planning and we’ll endeavour to integrate them into your trip.