Campsites, campgrounds or campings are run by organisations like the Department of Conservation (DOC) or Regional Councils. Lots of these campsites cannot be pre-booked. It's simply first come first served.
By using our free camping app or the CamperMate app you can see in the comments how busy or quiet it is at the moment at a particular campsite.
Holiday parks (commercial campings) can be pre-booked. We recommend booking these in advance when going to popular destinations (like Coromandel, Wanaka/Queenstown) during the busy summer season, from December to February.