Best Beach 2024: New Zealand’s top 10 camping beaches - how to vote for the winner

From the seashell to the soundshell, from the fish’n chip shop to the barbie, camping at the beach is a Kiwi summertime tradition. Clearing the smoke from eyes and lungs because Dad burnt the snarlers again, Herald readers have nominated these 10 iconic beachfronts as finalists in our 2024 Best Camping Beach poll.

Almost as Far North as you can go in Aotearoa, the Karikari Peninsula is a remote, beautiful spot jutting into the Pacific Ocean. Maitai Bay campsite is one of DoC’s jewels: a sheltered bay surrounded by pōhutukawa, white-sand beaches with clear waters, safe for children. Accessible by campervan, car and caravan, it offers 100 non-powered/tent sites. This is a conservation site, breeding ground for rare birds, and under rahui to restore kaimoana. Respect both.

Landscape view of Matai Bay coastline in Karikari peninsula of Northland New Zealand. Photo / 123rf

Clan badges and tartan shields along the main road give it away: Scots founded Waipu and it celebrates Highland sports and dancing festivals to this day. But the No 1 reason to visit is the long, sandy beach with safe swimming, surfing and fishing. Camp Waipu Cove has been a holiday home away from home for generations of families. Accommodation includes self-contained and basic cabins, a bunkhouse, 135 powered and 30 non-powered campsites on the beachfront.

Hāhei is regularly voted one of the best beaches in New Zealand and offers a wide range of accommodation options, including glamping. Photo / 123rf

There’s an awful lot of chatter about where Auckland Council falls short so here’s a shout-out for something it’s got stupendously right: regional parks. A shining example is Tāwharanui Open Sanctuary, behind a 2.5km predator fence. A great day out, the truly blessed pitch tents or park vans in the stunning campground, a back-to-basics experience in a gorgeous natural setting of 260 sites. Bookings on the council website fill up months in advance. If you get a berth, that late-night cry in the dark may just be a local kiwi.

Fun fact: In 1968 Alan Horobin opened Ōrewa Marineland, a home for rescue animals including chimpanzees, llamas, seals, dolphins and Sid the sea elephant. It closed in 1978. Aucklanders have been holidaying in and around the town for more than a century. At the beachfront campsite, standard and self-contained deluxe cabins and glamping tents are just a few of the lodging options; there are powered sites for tents, campervans and caravans.

Back on Coromandel Peninsula, let’s repeat our thanks to Waka Kotahi, council and contracting crews for their outstanding efforts since Cyclone Gabrielle, without which ... you know the rest, especially in and around our next two nominees.

Hāhei is regularly voted one of the best beaches in the motu and the vast, well set-up holiday resort is a big part of it. Part of Kiwi life since 1958, it’s got pōhutukawa with rope swings, barbecues on the sand, and 6.5ha of prime beachfront real estate to spread out and let the kids roam wild. Accommodation runs from villas, cabins, to over 100 powered and 100 non-powered campsites. On-site cafe, restaurants, family-friendly bars, outdoor hot tubs - and a glamping tent in the hills.

Whangamatā Motor Camp has been ground zero for holidays for decades. Though land is being sold to build the townhouses and villas that many 21st century holidaymakers prefer, motorhomers, caravanners and tenters can hook into 90 powered sites or step back in time at eight cabins retaining the 1950s beach bach vibe.

South of the border in Bay of Plenty, Waihī Beach also battled back from the floods and tornado to open for pleasure this summer. In a popular seaside town where the tourism bods promise “you won’t find one set of traffic lights”, Aussie-based Tasman Holiday Parks operates two sites - the larger Waihī Beach resort at the northern end of the 9km beach, and Beachside, the merest of tads further back from the water.

Given the way that the seaside strip has mushroomed over the past decade, “camping at the Mount” stretches from Mauao to Papamoa these days. Iconic Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park, tucked under the Mount, stretches across town from the harbour to the ocean, offering powered sites to queen-bed cabins. Cosy Corner Holiday Park, Omana, opens from Christmas to Easter; it’s less crowded and central to the Mount and Papamoa. Papamoa Beach Resort offers the range from campsites to luxury beachfront villas while Pacific Park is an alcohol- and smoke-free campground for a family-friendly environment.

Longtime favourite of our readers, Ōhope is a popular summertime destination for Kiwi families, who return year after year. The holiday park is outstanding; the beachside location with the choice of a grassy campsite surrounded by pōhutukawa trees, camping cabins, or splurging on upmarket accommodation options. If the water’s not warm enough for you, there’s a heated pool, sauna and ocean-view hot tubs. Other options: Ōhope Christian Camp and Whakatāne Holiday Park just over the hill.

Ōhope is a popular summertime destination with outstanding holiday park facilities, including heated pools and ocean-view hot tubs. Photo / Tourism Bay of Plenty

As mentioned in an earlier feature, more than 60,000 people will summer at the 250ha, Crown-owned Kaiteriteri Reserve Camp on the doorstep of Abel Tasman National Park this year. What’s it got going for it? Seventeen cabins, 400 powered campsites catering for campervans, caravans and tents, golden sand, turquoise water, restaurant, MTB park and one of the world’s top five beaches (the Guardian newspaper’s opinion). Nearby Bethany Park has offered safe and action-packed holidays at an affordable rate for 55 summers.

Kaiteriteri Recreation Reserve is home to the Tasman Bay's most popular holiday parks. Photo / Nelson Tasman

HOW TO VOTE

Voting closes at 11.59pm on Sunday, January 21. The 2024 Best Beaches winners will be announced on Sunday, January 28.

Check out the New Zealand Herald from Monday to Friday this week for profiles on each of the finalists.

Go to nzherald.co.nz/bestbeach to vote or fill out the entry form below.