New Zealand is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. With miles and miles of scenic coasts, a handful of national parks, lakes, and other natural attractions, coming over to this place is surely a once in a lifetime experience. But because of its distance and the many things you can do here, vacationing to New Zealand can carry a hefty price tag. However by following some simple tips you can shave off a lot from the expense of enjoying this country.

Tips before you make your trip to New Zealand

It is easy to book a flight to New Zealand and you can do all the activities available to tourists or go to all the places the country has to offer to its guests. But the truth is doing that can easily eat on your vacation budget. The secret is to vacation with intention. Here are some key pointers:

• Do not come on peak season – you are not the only one looking forward to visiting New Zealand. Even locals are up and about during the summer season (December to February) which makes hotel reservations and airline tickets at record high prices. It also makes tourist spots crowded so that can also affect the quality of your visit. Come over in spring time up to halfway of fall. Book your flight and accommodation in advance that way you can save on promos and use that money on other vacation expenses that can add on to the quality of your local experiences.

• Plan your trip to the last detail – the problem with having no plans at all is that you will probably incur more costs as you pick activities in random and choose to visit places spontaneously. The more specific and focused your itinerary, the better. For example you can choose to explore the North Island for now thereby cutting the length of your stay and cutting local transportation costs. This also allows you to know New Zealand better as you take your time exploring one island at a time. Maybe on your next trip you can visit the South Island.

Tips while you are in New Zealand

As you land in New Zealand you can make simple choices that can save you tons of money. Here are some examples of those money saving decisions.

• Decide on your mode of transportation – because you have planned for your itinerary beforehand you can decide better how to go around the country. You can rent a car if you like but this can be costly if you plan to drive around for extended periods of time. A better option would be to buy a car (some companies offer a buy back guarantee so that you can recoup your investment of the car after your vacation) or rent an older car from local car rental companies. You can also choose to rent a campervan and save on accommodation costs. This is ideal especially when you want to exploit New Zealand’s scenic camping sites. You can also ride buses which offers destination that can easily cover your planned itinerary.

• Exploit local offers – you just have to be a discount hunter to do this. Use the same tour company on your trip so that they can offer discounts on your passes. Visit a local I-Site office which has staff that would be willing to give you money-saving heads up on local deals. You can also secure city passes that allows you to visit local sites at discount rates.

 Your New Zealand excursion does not need to be expensive. All you have to do is to have some advance planning, prioritization of places you want to go to and things you want to do, and make some off peak reservations on plane tickets, hotel rooms, and local sights and sounds passes.