Which Great Walk is New Zealand’s greatest? Pick your ideal trail, with The Herald’s interactive guide to the country’s favourite multi-day walks
Milford-bound? New Zealand’s most sought-after Great Walk, the Milford Track goes on sale on Tuesday morning, May 28. Just under 8000 lucky trampers each summer get a place in the 120 bunks between Te Anau and Piopiotahi.
If you miss out, or are simply keen to explore the back country, there are nine - soon to be 10 - other Great Walks which will welcome trampers this summer.
Begun in 1992, the Great Walks network was planned as a way to ease pressure on popular trails like the Milford Track.
A victim of its own success, the Department of Conservation identified seven other classic Kiwi hikes to form a network of comparable walks. These were bookable multi-day outings, to control visitor numbers and reroute some of the interest from trampers.
Over the past 25 years these have been added to and occasionally taken out of action by floods and seasonal marangai.
It’s no easy feat keeping more than 600km of hiking trails against all elements.
Some walks are seasonal, with strict weather windows. Others, you could complete barefoot … or by kayak. There are even a couple of trails open to mountain bikes.
It was put on the map by the purple prose of a letter printed in the September 1908 edition of the Spectator which claimed “this track anyone possessing eyes to see with, feet to walk with, and a love of Nature at her loneliest and loftiest could scarcely do better than essay”.
The anonymous letter could easily have been advertising copy from guide Quintin McKinnon, who set up the track as an attraction for European tourists.
Like most trails, the Milford has a long pre-history following the greenstone pounamu pathways and trading routes through the Southern Alps. Another classic Southern alpine mountain crossing is the nearby Routeburn, following the same formula.
Since the creation of a Great Walk network in the 1990s, it has expanded to encompass a huge variety and cross section of New Zealand’s varied landscape. From Waikaremoana and the North Island forest in Te Urewera to the remote reaches of Rakiura Stewart Island.
The most recent addition, the Paparoa Track, is arguably the greatest feat of engineering on the network.
Crossing east to west through the Paparoa Range, this three-day tramp was built from scratch and runs almost exactly the same distance as the Milford. Open to cyclists year round, there are plenty of people who do it in one day with mountain bikers taking a shuttle from Punakaiki.
If you define this slightly subjective measure by the “greatest number of walkers”, the Abel Tasman sees the most footfall every year. With an impressive 626 spaces spread across four huts and 18 campsites and open all year round, you’re likely to find a space on the Abel Tasman. Even if you missed out on Milford Track.
God rays and goblin forest on the Paparoa Track. Photo / Thomas Bywater
How many Great Walks are there?
Having originally begun with seven “original” walks - the Tongariro Northern Circuit, Lake Waikaremoana, Abel Tasman, Heaphy, Routeburn, Milford and Kepler - the Rakiura was added as an eighth Great Walk with the launch of the network.
The Whanganui River Journey was added before the Paparoa became Great Walk number 10 in 2019.
This year New Zealand sees the addition of an 11th Great Walk - the Hump Ridge Track in Southland.
While Great Walk-status has been delayed since 2019 and the Covid pandemic, and there is still some work to do on the trail, it nominally becomes a Great Walk this year in the 2024/25 summer season.
Bookings will be managed by the Tuatapere Hump Ridge Trust.
The views from the top: overlooking Lake Poteriteri on the Hump Ridge Track.
What is the cheapest Great Walk?
When the Great Walks were first dreamed up in the 1990s, they would cost you a $3 koha - roughly $6.28 in today’s money. Since then the cost of maintenance has driven up prices to well over $100 a night for international guests. The Department of Conservation first introduced local and international tourist rates, to help subsidise Kiwi walkers.
However, rising costs have seen DoC introduce children’s rates for the first time this year. Kids aged under 17 will be charged half the adult hut rate, from July 1 when trails see adjustment for inflation.
Milford takes the title of most expensive bunks at $92 a night, or $130 for an international guest, during peak season. That’s $276 per adult tramper for the three nights.
However, the most expensive walk on the network is the Hump Ridge Track with the Tuatapere Hump Ridge Trust charging $395 per self-guided guest for the two-night trail.
The best value Great Walk is the most southerly. Rakiura across two nights in the Port William and North Arm huts costs just $88 per tramper.
The Lake Waikaremoana trail has the cheapest hut rates, at $32 per night for domestic or international trampers. However, at four days, three nights, the track managed by Ngāi Tūhoe comes in at $93 per tramper.
For an even more budget option, you could always pack a tent. Although not all trails have spaces for camping, at $21 to $14 a night the Great Walk campsites are a less glamorous way to tick off the trails. Although, it’s easy to underestimate how much harder going the tented route can be, carrying canvas and cooking equipment on your back.
Hut facilities are not for use by camp guests - as hut wardens will likely remind you.
Abel Tasman Coastal Track is one of NZ's Great Walks, and takes hikers to Awaroa beach. Photo / Oliver Weber
What is New Zealand’s shortest Great Walk?
Following in the footsteps of the Milford, the average trail is 55-60km long and three nights.
The Routeburn is the shortest trail on the network. At just 32km end-to-end, and in easy distance of Queenstown, it is also one of the most popular for day walkers.
The longest trail on the network is the enormous Whanganui Journey. Snaking 145km along the river, the full version takes five days to complete. Although many would say it doesn’t count as a “tramp” as it relies on canoes or kayaks to traverse.
The longest walking track is the Heaphy Track which is 78.4km one-way, from one side of the Kahurangi National Park to the other. As a traverse from Tasman to the West Coast, the return journey is either a six-and-a half-hour shuttle bus or a flight from Kohaihai and the Karamea Aerodrome.
If you don’t quite have the full five days to invest, there are plenty of shortcuts and variations, even if you’re only looking for a day walk. The Abel Tasman is easily accessed by ferry or water taxi, allowing day trippers to pick and choose parts of the trail.
Similarly, the path to Routeburn Falls is a popular day walk and the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, one of New Zealand’s busiest day walks by international tourists, cuts across a large section of the Tongariro Northern Circuit Great Walk.
Whether you’re a day tripper or in for the full slog, make sure you check trail conditions and plan ahead.
