New Zealand is probably the best country in the world for a scenic road trip. As there are so many awesome places for camping in New Zealand, it is a traveller's paradise. It's safe; there are excellent facilities at the campgrounds and NZ holiday parks, no nasty animals to be wary of and of course, you're surrounded by incredible scenery.
You'll need to camp at a designated camping area with your campervan. You can't just park & sleep anywhere. There are rules and regulations to (freedom) camping. Use the recommended free camping apps to find all campsites in New Zealand.
Roadtripping with a Non-Self-Contained Campervan, then you can select "Campsites for Non-Self-Contained Vehicles" in the app's filter. We recommend staying at campsites with appropriate facilities. There are 1000s of free & budget campsites for these kind of campervans. Check out the app and see for yourselfs.
Travelling with a Self-Contained Campervan then you can select "All Campsites": Campsites for Self-Contained Campervans + Campsites for all Vehicles. This means that you'll have even more campsites to choose from.
Campings in New Zealand are different from what you might expect in your own country. For example, what people in Europe call campings (grassy, square areas with heaps of facilities) is what we call holiday parks, for example Top10 Holiday Parks.
Campsites and campgrounds in New Zealand are run by organisations like the Department of Conservation (DOC) or Local or Regional Councils. These have minimal or basic facilities and are located in beautiful and often "remote" locations. Prices range from $0 to $18 per night. At DOC sites, you can pay as you go via an honesty box system or book online (only a select number of DOC sites can be booked online).
All these holiday parks, campings, remote campsites and campgrounds are listed in the Spaceships recommended camping apps.
Using the Free Campsites & Road Trips Apps to Find Campsites
Click on the FILTER icon (3 horizontal lines with dots) in the top-right side of the app to open the filter options.
There are heaps of campsites in New Zealand, for all types of campervans. Make sure to zoom in on the area you want to spend the night as more and more campsites will appear on the map the further you zoom in.
