Best Beach 2024: NZ’s top 50 finalists revealed. How to vote for the winners

The votes are in. We asked and you guys - as always - delivered. Herald Travel is on its annual hunt for New Zealand’s best beach in five categories. We can now reveal the top 10 finalists for each group and voting is now open for the ultimate winners. Scroll down to find the full list and how to vote at the end of this story.

We hope you’re having a great summer, whether the days are drifting lazily by on the white sands of the east coast or the black of the west, clambering around rock pools to hunt for starfish with a grandchild, dozing in a hammock in a campground or sashaying into the bistros and icecream cafes of St Heliers, Oriental Bay or St Clair.

It would be hard not to bask in the 2024 edition of summer (no, we won’t say, remember last year ...) We’ll just appreciate El Nino still suntanning the nation from north to south, even if you were unfortunate enough to have to pack up and get home at the weekend, ready for another year’s work.

While you’ve been relaxing, you’ve probably read that we’ve launched the Herald’s annual quest to find the best beaches around the motu. Our readers have nominated their primo spots in five categories – Best Hidden Gem, Best Surf Beach, Best Family Beach, Best Camping Beach and Best City Beach.

Back at work but don’t want the holiday to end? Here are 10 campgrounds within an easy hour’s drive of our biggest cities.

Ocean Beach in Whangārei Heads, Northland, has made our top 10 NZ surf beach list. Photo / K Charles

Today, we’re naming the finalists – the 10 most popular nominees in each category - and asking readers to vote for the ultimate winners from the lists below. We’ll announce the winners at the end of the month.

It’s fair to say that Ōhope, named numero uno Family Beach for the past two years, and our other 2023 category winners - Manu Bay (Surf Beach), Ōrewa (City Beach), Ōtarawairere (Hidden Gem), Hahei (Camping Beach) – won’t be able to rest on their laurels. Well, pōhutukawa. Or beach towels.

Beach play at the beautiful Cooks Beach, Coromandel, voted as one of the best beaches for families in NZ. Photo / Madison Clarke

This is because our readers, always on the lookout for different sights and experiences, have come up with a bunch of tātahi that haven’t appeared on our lists over the past four years, and could knock over some of the long-time favourites’ sandcastles.

The Best Family Beaches list served up two more places for the kids to lick an icecream – Waitarere, between the Horowhenua District “capital” of Levin and Foxton, another of the region’s popular beach towns; and also a Coromandel Peninsula fave, the 3km white sands of Cooks Beach.

Ōrewa, on the Hibiscus Coast 40km north of downtown Tāmaki Makaurau, won the Best City Beach title last year and is also contesting the Camping category in 2024, not too much of a surprise given its long-time appeal for the tenting and caravanning fraternities. At the end of Whangārei Heads peninsula is Ocean Beach, looking out to the Pacific and with great surf and dramatic sand dunes; we’re welcoming it to the 10 Best Surf Beaches.

Waitarere also pitches up as one of our Best Hidden Gems, along with two more of the Coromandel Peninsula’s jewels - Lonely Bay and Cathedral Cove. Te Waipounamu South Island has its moment in the sun, too, with our readers nominating Sumner Beach in Ōtautahi Christchurch as one of the country’s top 10 City Beaches.

Ōrewa Beach in Auckland is being hailed as a great beach for summer camping. Photo / Getty Images

These are some of our readers’ favourites, but as Kiwi celebrities reminded us when they ticked off their special seaside places in our recent series, a day at the beach means something different to each of us and our whānau.

For TVNZ Breakfast newsreader Indira Stewart, it’s the yarns, watching the kids play and catching up with friends and family. “There’s always lots of laughs and someone’s bound to bring a guitar which means there’s singing too.”

She likes people-watching and eating … “but like other parents, most of the time you’ve got your mind on the kids and making sure they’re within sight and are safe – that seems to be my main activity!”

Another parent, ZM host Clint Roberts, empathises: “Honestly, it takes a lot of preparation for me to be able to enjoy the beach these days. Having kids means I am towing one of those collapsible beach trollies full of supplies behind me. But once we are there, I love a swim and a salty sunbathe. Our family is in our sandcastle era, and also our ‘dig a really big hole’ era, so those are the main time-passers.”

Northland is awash with beautiful beaches, like Matapōuri Bay, voted as a top 10 family beach by Herald readers. Photo / Whangārei District Council

Musician and jewellery designer Boh Runga reckons there’s one place in the Big Smoke that’s hard to top: “A stroll along Mission Bay with a double scoop of ice cream can be very nice, although at times everyone else has the same idea, so that influx of people and their cars can be hectic. But it’s good for a skate/ride/walk along the long and curvaceous Tāmaki Drive promenade.”

Ahikāroa and Celebrity Treasure Island star Turia-Schmidt Peke went deep on her feelings about the seaside. “What I love about beaches is that they remind us how big the world really is. You can be standing on a beach and know that it reaches so far out to different lands, languages, cultures and people. It’s one of the best things about nature.”

But she’s on the same page on the best way to pass a day on the sand: “Eat! I love a beach lunch. Chicken rolls, crunchy chips, hot chips, ice creams etc. I also love to make sand castles with my nieces and nephews. And of course, tan!”

Lonely Bay is considered a hidden gem in The Coromandel. Photo / Tim Roxborogh

Comedian Tom Sainsbury also confessed to deeper – or maybe deeper water – emotions. “The ocean is one of my favourite places. I just love floating in the water, getting refreshed, exfoliating my feet in the sand and diving under the waves. I just love looking out at the horizon as well. It’s grounding.”

And how did their choices line up with the public’s opinions? Well, let’s just say that Sainsbury, who also enjoys swimming, eating chips and doing power walks along the sand after indulgent meals, picked a finalist in three out of five categories.

That would make him the winner, if anyone wanted to get all competitive about it. Which it’s time to do. Here’s how the New Zealand’s Best Beaches 2024 poll works:

HOW TO VOTE

We’ll be profiling all the finalists in more detail in our print and online editions over the next week. Readers, you have until Sunday, January 21 to vote for your favourites at nzherald.co.nz/bestbeach (and yes, this is one election in which you should definitely cast a party vote. In fact, it’s compulsory!). We’ll announce the winners in the Herald on Sunday and at nzherald.co.nz on Sunday, January 28.

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

BEST BEACH 2024 FINALISTS

BEST FAMILY BEACH

Ōhope, Bay of Plenty

Whangamatā, Coromandel

Mount Maunganui, Bay of Plenty

Waitarere, Horowhenua

Matapōuri, Northland

Hahei, Coromandel

Waihī Beach, Bay of Plenty

Kaiteriteri, Nelson Tasman

Cooks Beach, Coromandel

Matarangi, Coromandel

Mount Maunganui's main beach is always a firm favourite with families. Photo / Alex Cairns

BEST CAMPING BEACH

Ōhope, Bay of Plenty

Hahei, Coromandel

Mount Maunganui, Bay of Plenty

Whangamatā, Coromandel

Kaiteriteri, Nelson Tasman

Waipū Cove, Northland

Maitai Bay, Northland

Waihī Beach, Bay of Plenty

Ōrewa Beach, Auckland

Tāwharanui, Auckland

Nelson's Kaiteriteri Beach and campground are a Kiwi favourite during the summertime. Photo / nelsontasman.nz

BEST SURF BEACH

Ōhope, Bay of Plenty

Whangamatā, Coromandel

Manu Bay, Raglan

Mount Maunganui, Bay of Plenty

Piha, Auckland

Wainui, Gisborne

Sandy Bay, Tutukaka, Northland

Ocean Beach, Whangarei Heads, Northland

Waihī Beach, Bay of Plenty

St Clair, Dunedin

Wainui Beach Gisborne is a great spot for surfers. Photo / Supplied

BEST HIDDEN GEM

Ōtarawairere, Bay of Plenty

Wainuiototo Bay / New Chum Beach, Coromandel

Whale Bay, Northland

Waitarere, Horowhenua

Maitai Bay, Northland

Pokohino, Onemana, Coromandel

Lonely Bay, Coromandel

Cathedral Cove, Coromandel

Whiritoa, Coromandel

Kaiteriteri, Nelson

Maitai Bay on the Karikari Peninsula in Northland. Photo / David Kirkland

BEST CITY BEACH

Mission Bay, Auckland

Takapuna, Auckland

Cheltenham, Auckland

Oriental Bay, Wellington

Ōrewa, Auckland

Sumner, Christchurch

Tahunanui, Nelson

Long Bay, Auckland

St Clair, Dunedin

Kohimarama, Auckland

Long Bay in Auckland is just 30 minutes by car from Auckland's CBD. Photo / Getty Images