LAST UPDATED: 6/9/25 – Australia and New Zealand Planning
For many travelers, Australia and New Zealand are dream destinations. Filled with endless beauty, culture, and adventure, it is no surprise that Australia and New Zealand are featured so prominently in travel documentaries, magazines, and television shows. They have been destinations on my bucket list for quite some time, and I am beyond thrilled to be able to check them off this year. In this Australia and New Zealand planning article, I will show you how I finished planning my trip.
In the first three articles I wrote about our trip planning process, I outlined how we decided on a general itinerary for our trip and then how I filled in the details for Australia and New Zealand. This included when we would be visiting, for how long, and where we planned to go, as well as what we intended to do. If you haven’t reviewed those articles already, I have included links to them below.
In the final installment of my Australia and New Zealand planning, I am going to walk you through the planning for our hotel accommodations. Apart from our flights, the accommodations will be the biggest expense of our trip. This is why it will be important for us to book the right places at the right prices. Failure to book the right accommodations can put a significant damper on your travels or a significant dent in your bank account. If you would prefer them not to be dampened and dented, then you will want to pay close attention to this phase of the planning process.
Minimize Your Hotel Expenses
Before we get into the specifics of how I am choosing the accommodations for our Australia and New Zealand trip, you will want to be sure to review my guide to saving money on hotels. There are some very good tips in this guide on how to maximize your hotel savings. Many of these tips I have learned from traveling for many years. In addition, I have also included some great tips I picked up from other travelers.
Determining the Best Location to Look for Lodging
The first step I take when determining which accommodations to book for a trip is to determine the best location to look. For instance, if I am looking to book accommodations in a large city, I will want to determine which neighborhood in that city would be the best location to stay in.
If I am looking to book accommodations in a more rural area, I will want to determine which small city is closest to the things that I want to see. That is where I will start my search for accommodations.
The process I use to determine the best location is to map out all of the places I would like to see and then place several circles with different diameters on the map. I use the distance legend for the map to create circles with 10-mile, 5-mile, and 2.5-mile diameters.
| Red Circle: | 10-mile diameter |
| Blue Circle: | 5-mile diameter |
| Purple Circle: | 2.5-mile diameter |
This gives me a search radius of increasingly smaller areas in which to search. The purple circle will be my ideal search area, the blue circle my probable search area, and the red circle is my overall search area. If I can find a hotel in the purple area, that is the best-case scenario. However, I would prefer not to have to look outside the red area for my accommodations.
Finding the Best Hotel Deal
After I have my search area, I will use several of my go-to hotel booking sites to start my hotel and hostel search. I will typically find 10-12 hotels that I like that are in the right location, and then do a price comparison on each of those hotels using each of the hotel booking sites.
Once I have the cost for each hotel or hostel on each of the hotel booking sites, I can start to narrow down my choices and make decisions on my accommodations.
Choosing a Sydney Hotel
The first location I need to book accommodations for is Sydney, Australia. This is where we will be landing and spending the first three days and three nights of our trip.
Choosing the Location
When determining the best location to look for hotels or hostels, I laid out all of the places we wanted to see while in Sydney on a map. This included Bondi Beach, the Sydney Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, and many other attractions. Then, I placed my 10-mile, 5-mile, and 2.5-mile diameter circles on the map to set up my search area.
Finding Hotel Options
Once I got my search area defined, I took a look at the hotels and hostels in that area and started to narrow down my choices to a list of ten properties. I mapped those properties out on a map that I have included below.
Hotels
Choosing a Cairns Hotel
The next location I need to search for accommodations in is the city of Cairns, Australia. This will be the second stop on our trip. We will be spending three days and three nights exploring the nearby Great Barrier Reef and the city.
Choosing the Location
When determining the best location to look for hotels or hostels, I laid out all of the places we want to see while in Cairns on a map. This included the Rainforest cableway, the dock where we will launch for our Great Barrier Reef tour, and the train station. Then, I placed my 10-mile, 5-mile, and 2.5-mile diameter circles on the map to set up my search area.
Finding Hotel Options
Once I got my search area defined, I took a look at the hotels and hostels in that area and started to narrow down my choices to a list of ten properties. I mapped those properties out on a map that I have included below.
Hotels
Choosing a Melbourne Hotel
The last location in Australia that I need to plan accommodations for is Melbourne. This is the last city we will be visiting in Australia, and we will be spending 3 days and 3 nights exploring this amazing city.
Choosing the Location
When determining the best location to look for hotels or hostels, I laid out all of the places we wanted to see while in Melbourne on a map. This included Campbell’s Arcade, Flinders Street Station, Federation Square, and other attractions we want to see. Then, I placed my 10-mile, 5-mile, and 2.5-mile diameter circles on the map to set up my search area.
Finding Hotel Options
Once I got my search area defined, I took a look at the hotels and hostels in that area and started to narrow down my choices to a list of ten properties. I mapped those properties out on a map that I have included below.
Hotels
Choosing a Lake Tekapo Hotel
Once we arrive in New Zealand, we will be making our way to Lake Tekapo, which will be our first stop in the country. We will spend one day and one night in Lake Tekapo before moving on to the nearby Mount Cook. We will be spending one day and one night in the Lake Tekapo area.
Choosing the Location
Since Lake Tekapo is the main attraction we are looking to see in the area, my search radius focused on the lake itself. I put 10-mile, 5-mile, and 2.5-mile perimeters around the Lake Tekapo resort region on the map below.
Finding Hotel Options
Once I got my search area defined, I took a look at the hotels and hostels in that area and started to narrow down my choices to a list of properties. In the case of Lake Tekapo, there were only seven properties that I found in my search area that I liked, so I mapped those properties out on a map that I have included below.
Hotels
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Peppers Bluewater Resort |
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Scott Street Apartments |
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Mantra Lake Tekapo |
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Quiraing Lake View Lodge |
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Lake Tekapo Village Motel |
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Nomads Rest Lake View Lodge |
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No.4 |
Choosing a Mount Cook Hotel
Our next stop in New Zealand will be in the Mount Cook area, where we will explore Mount Cook National Park. We plan on spending the night near the national park because we plan on doing some hiking and exploring within the park and do not want to have to drive far at the end of the day. We will only be spending one day and one night in the Mount Cook area.
Choosing the Location
The best location to stay is the South side of the park at Mount Cook Village. I placed 10-mile, 5-mile-and 2.5-mile diameter circles around the village so that we would have a target area to search for accommodations within.
Finding Hotel Options
Once I got my search area defined, I took a look at the hotels and hostels in that area and started to narrow down my choices to a list of properties. In the case of Mount Cook Village, there were only three properties that still had availability, so I mapped those properties out on a map that I have included below.
Hotels
Choosing a Queenstown Hotel
From Mount Cook National Park, we will be continuing our trip South to Queenstown. This is a stop that we are very much looking forward to because of all of the amazing sites and activities in the area. We plan on spending two days and two nights in the Queenstown area.
Choosing the Location
In order to determine the best place to stay in Queenstown, I laid out all of the things we would like to see and do in the Queenstown area on the map below. I then placed 10-mile, 5-mile, and 2.5-mile perimeter circles on the map to give myself search radii to look for accommodations within.
Finding Hotel Options
Once I got my search area defined, I took a look at the hotels and hostels in that area and started to narrow down my choices to a list of ten properties. I mapped those properties out on a map that I have included below.
Hotels
Choosing a Te Anau Hotel
After Queenstown, we will be heading further South to the town of Te Anau to explore Fiordland National Park. This is one of the most beautiful areas on New Zealand’s South Island, and we cannot wait to start exploring the area. We will be spending two days and two nights in the Te Anau area before moving on.
Choosing the Location
To determine the best place to stay when exploring Fiordland National Park, I laid out all of the things that we would like to see and do in the area on the map below. This included several fantastic viewpoints on the way up to Milford Sound, which is the number one item on our list to see in the area. Even though a majority of the things we want to see and do are to the North towards Milford Sound, there aren’t many places to stay in that area.
I thought about staying in Queenstown extra nights and using that city as a base area to explore Fiordland National Park, but that would require two-plus hour commutes from the park each day, which wasn’t appealing to us. So instead, we are focusing our search for accommodations in the Te Anau area, which would put us much closer to what we want to see and do.
Finding Hotel Options
Once I got my search area defined, I took a look at the hotels and hostels in that area and started to narrow down my choices to a list of ten properties. I mapped those properties out on a map that I have included below.
Hotels
Choosing a Wanaka Hotel
After spending a few wonderful days exploring Fiordland National Park, we will start heading back North on the home stretch of our trip. Our first stop after turning back North will be the Wanaka area. Here we will get to explore the beauty of Lake Wanaka and Mount Aspiring National Park. We will spend two days and two nights in the area before moving on.
Choosing the Location
We want to explore Lake Wanaka and Mount Aspiring National Park, and I thought the best place to use as a base camp to do so is the city of Wanaka. I have had a lot of people recommend that we stay in Wanaka as it is a beautiful and peaceful city. In order to confirm that this would be the best place for us to stay, I again laid out all of the things that we would like to see and do on the map below and used a 10-mile, 5-mile, and 2.5-mile diameter circle to locate the best area to stay. As you can see, a number of the viewpoints and trailheads that we are interested in are near the Wanaka area, so the city does make the perfect base camp to use.
Finding Hotel Options
Once I got my search area defined, I took a look at the hotels and hostels in that area and started to narrow down my choices to a list of ten properties. I mapped those properties out on a map that I have included below.
Hotels
Choosing a Fox Glacier Hotel
The last place that we will have to find accommodations near in New Zealand is the Fox Glacier area. We plan on exploring both the Fox Glacier and the Franz Joseph Glacier while in the area, and then plan on staying overnight in this area. The next day, we will get up early and start heading back to Christchurch. On our way, we will make one last stop to check out the Arthur’s Pass area.
Choosing the Location
In order to determine where it would be best to look for accommodations in the Fox Glacier area, I laid out all of the things that we would like to see and do in the area on the map below and then started my search for accommodations. Most of the hotels are in the Fox Glacier area, so this would be the best place for us to use as a base camp.
Finding Hotel Options
Once I got my search area defined, I took a look at the hotels and hostels in that area and started to narrow down my choices to a list of ten properties. I mapped those properties out on a map that I have included below.
Hotels
Choosing a Sydney Airport Hotel
Once we are back in Sydney, the last accommodation that I need to arrange for our trip is a place by the Sydney Airport to stay on our final night of the trip. We will be getting up early to head to the airport, so we will only be spending one night at this hotel or hostel.
Choosing the Location
Because we want to be close to the Sydney Airport, I set a 10-mile, 5-mile, and 2.5-mile diameter circles on the map below so that I could concentrate my hotel and hostel search in these areas. Ideally, I would like to find a hotel or hostel that is just a few miles from the airport at most.
Finding Hotel Options
Once I got my search area defined, I took a look at the hotels and hostels in that area and started to narrow down my choices to a list of ten properties. I mapped those properties out on a map that I have included below.
Hotels
Summary
In order to find the best accommodations for our trip, I started my process of looking for accommodations by laying out our itinerary. Using the itinerary, I was able to identify when and where I would need to find accommodations.
With this information in hand, I was then able to start narrowing down the specific areas to start my search by laying out all of the things we wanted to see and do on a map and then placing search radius circles on the map. This helped me make sure I was looking for hotels and hostels in the right locations.
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