The best beaches in New Zealand, by what you want from a beach

For swimming and classic summer

1. Hahei, Coromandel: white sand, pohutukawa shade, and Cathedral Cove’s famous arch a kayak or walk away. The complete package.
2. Hot Water Beach, Coromandel: dig your own spa at low tide two headlands from Hahei; the pairing makes the peninsula’s case in one day.
3. Paihia and the Bay of Islands beaches: warm, sheltered, boat-studded; the Bay of Islands guide covers the island coves only boats reach.
4. Oneroa, Waiheke Island: the city beach that does not feel like one, with vineyards on the walk home.
5. Pauanui and the eastern Coromandel strand: long, safe, family-calibrated summer water.

For drama, surf and wildlife

1. Piha, west of Auckland: black iron-sand, Lion Rock and genuine surf. Respect the conditions and swim between the flags; this coast is beautiful and serious, and the flags exist because locals learned that the hard way.
2. Wharariki, at the South Island’s top: seal pups in the tidal pools beneath the Archway Islands. The windswept screensaver, literally.
3. The Abel Tasman coves: golden quartz sand reachable only by boot or boat; our Abel Tasman guide explains the water-taxi game.
4. Kaikoura’s Ohau Point coast: not a swimming beach at all, but the roadside seal colony makes it the South Island’s best beach stop with a camera.
5. Koekohe Beach, Otago: the Moeraki Boulders, spherical septarian concretions scattered like marbles at low tide, en route to Dunedin.
6. St Clair, Dunedin: the southern surf institution, hot salt pools at one end for spectators.
7. Ninety Mile Beach, the Far North: an official road, a dune-boarding playground and a sunset that goes on as long as the beach does. Rental cars are not insured on it; take the tour bus that surfs the dunes on the way to Cape Reinga.

The swimming calendar, without wishful thinking

Upper North Island sea temperatures peak around 21 degrees in February, which is properly pleasant; Wellington and the South Island run cooler, and Otago swimming is a character-building 14 degrees on a good day. Surf lifesaving patrols run at the busy beaches from roughly Labour Weekend to Easter: swim between the flags where they fly, and treat the wild west coasts as lookout points unless you know surf well.

Five beach days on one route

1. Auckland: the ferry to Waiheke and Oneroa, with the vineyards on the walk back.
2. Coromandel: Hahei for the swim, the Cove by boat, Hot Water Beach at low tide.
3. Bay of Islands: the ferry to Urupukapuka and a bay to yourself.
4. Abel Tasman: Anchorage or Bark Bay by water taxi, the walk between them, the swim at the end.
5. Kaikoura and the Moeraki Boulders: the beaches for the camera on the way south, with St Clair’s hot pools at the finish.

The North Island holds the swimming and the South Island the scenery, and a fortnight on the classic route gets both in five beach days. The summer guides carry the water temperatures month by month.

The rules that keep the day good

• Swim between the flags where they fly, and treat the west coast surf beaches as views unless you know surf.
• Rips are the beach hazard here, not sharks; if caught, float, raise a hand, and let the rip carry you out and along until it weakens.
• The sun is stronger than it feels: sunscreen and a hat every hour of the day from October to March.
• Rental cars are not insured on any beach, including Ninety Mile Beach, which is legally a road.
• Dogs, fires and freedom camping are controlled beach by beach; the signs at the car park are the law.