Nya Zeeland

Dishing up a winning combination of beautiful surroundings, sophisticated art and culinary scenes, and lashings of sunshine, Nelson is hailed as one of New Zealand’s most ‘liveable’ cities. In summer it fills up with local and international visitors, who lap up its diverse offerings.

Brace yourself for sublime scenery on a breathtaking scale.

About 10km northeast of Takaka is pint-sized Pohara, a beachy village with a population that quadruples over summer. It has more flash holiday homes than other parts of Golden Bay, but an agreeable air persists nonetheless, aided by decent food and lodging, and a beach that at low tide is as big as Heathrow's runway.

Travelling into Taupo on a clear day along the northeastern shores of the lake is breathtaking: beyond the lake, which is the size of Singapore, you can see the snowcapped peaks of Tongariro National Park.

Det lider ingen brist på magiska naturunder i Nya Zealand. Fjordlandskapet i Milford Sound tillhör ett av landets mest besökta plaster, vill man däremot uppleva mer natur och färre turister ska man bege sig till intilliggande Doubtful Sound.

Before Whanganui was Whanganui, it was Petre, a town built at the mouth of the river in 1940. As one of New Zealand's oldest towns (and the fifth-largest until 1936), it's an amalgamation of Māori culture, heritage buildings – take a 60-minute self-guided tour with the free Whanganui Heritage Guide from the i-SITE – and a thriving local art community.

From turquoise lakes and lush peninsulas to snowcapped mountains and sparkling glaciers, the South Island's majestic landscapes offer awe and adventure in equal measure.

Landlocked cities in an island nation are never going to have the glamorous appeal of their coastal cousins. Rotorua compensates with boiling mud and Taupo has its lake, but Hamilton, despite the majestic Waikato River, is more prosaic.

With colossal mountains, forests and glaciers, Westland Tai Poutini National Park clobbers visitors with its mind-bending proportions. Reaching from the West Coast to the razor peaks of the Southern Alps, the park's supreme attractions are twin glaciers Franz Josef and Fox, served by townships 23km apart. Out of more than 60 glaciers in the park, only these two are easily accessible.

Nya Zeeland är en favorit för såväl naturälskare som backpackers. Vandra mellan gyllene stränder i Golden Bay, landets hippie-tätaste område.