You’re finally going on that spontaneous road trip across New Zealand.
You’ve saved up as much money as possible, got the time off work, and shown off your campervan booking confirmation to your mates. Now what do you do?
Believe us, being spontaneous is fun, but you’ll probably want to do a little planning before you go and find some places to check out when you’re there. Finding places to eat, sleep, get fuel and go on day trips can seem daunting, but finding these places (and saving a bit of money along the way) will be much easier with these 9 apps.
QUICK LINKS
These are the top road trip apps for New Zealand:
- Campermate
- Google Maps
- What’s Hot NZ
- Gaspy
- Wi-Fi Sweet Spots
- GrabOne Discount
- NZ Doc Campsite Finder
- The Outbound Collective
Best Road Trip App: Campermate
Whether you need to find a local campsite or you need to refuel, CamperMate has everything you need to make your trip to New Zealand truly unforgettable. Not only will it guide you towards your accommodation, using offline maps so there’s no need to worry about getting lost should you lose service, but it will also tell you where all the closest amenities are, including garages, shops, public toilets, and more.
That’s not all CamperMate is capable of doing, though. Looking for something exciting to do with your day? Simply use CamperMate’s innovative search functions to look for experiences, tours, and popular destinations in your region. Other users are able to leave reviews for where they have visited as well, making it easy to find the best places to visit.
Built specifically for an Australian and New Zealand audience, CamperMate has you covered for any eventuality, offering live traffic updates and warnings in real time. It truly is a must-have app for any intrepid explorer.
Find the Campermate app on the Google Play Store or on the App Store.
Best Maps App: Google Maps
The most comprehensive maps app out there due to the sheer scale of countries it covers – 220 countries! You’ll have no trouble finding your destination with this app. You can save 120,000 square kilometres in the offline mode and seeing as though it’s only about 1,700 kilometres from South Island to North Island, you’ll have no trouble getting from A to B (unless, of course, you want to get lost).
Google Maps should be pre-installed on most Android devices, so if you’re on an Apple device, download it from their App Store here.
Best Events App: What’s Hot NZ
Not only is there a lot to see in New Zealand, there’s also a lot to do. That’s why you’ll want the locals guide to all the best events around town with the What’s Hot NZ app. This free download is your ultimate event guide for design, fashion, arts, dining and accommodation. The app also includes:
- Offline access ensuring you’ll never miss a thing
- Extensive events and gigs listings across the whole of New Zealand
- Simple navigation lists activities/attractions, destinations, accommodation, restaurants and bars by category
- Locations of venues/attractions on the handy map
- Social media sharing of events, activities and attractions
- Create your own Bucket List of unmissable events and activities
Get the What’s Hot New Zealand app from the Apple App Store or Google Play.
Best Fuel App: Gaspy
When you’re on the road, knowing where to fill up can make all the difference. With petrol prices changing daily, you want to be able to rely on an app that gives you up to date price information, crowd-sourced by it’s own users. Enter, Gaspy.
This petrol station locator app helps you compare prices from petrol stations on your journey and avoid paying too much. It keeps money in your pocket for the important things, like 15 foods you must eat.
Download Gaspy from the App Store or Google Play store.
Best Wifi App: Wi-Fi Sweet Spots
If you need to get online, you want to do it quickly and effectively so that you can return to the road. To do that, we recommend Wi-fi sweet spots – an app which scans your location for the strongest wi-fi connection. This might also help in choosing your morning coffee shop to catch up on recent posts, or for reading the latest updates in your news feed.
Get the Wi-Fi Sweet Spots app from Apple’s App Store or Google Play.
Best Discount App: GrabOne Discount NZ
Take in even more of New Zealand with GrabOne. This app offers some incredible discounts across local activities, restaurants or outdoor camping spots, and even let’s you purchase your vouchers in advance.
Better yet, you can filter your searches by location, price and category, so you’ll never be short of adventure – even as you inevitably come across some of New Zealand’ most instagrammable locations.
With coupons across 20+ categories and locations, be sure to download the GrabOne app from Google Play or from Apple’s App Store.
Best Campsite Finder App: NZ Doc Campsite Finder
This road trip app contains the GPS locations of over 200 campsites managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC).
Whether cheap or free, these sites span the length of both the North and South Island, and the app itself contains some amazing locations which are saved locally – so no need to worry about losing mobile data or a wifi-hotspot.
Find the NZ Doc Campsite Finder app on Google’s Play Store.
Best Adventure App: The Outbound Collective
The Outbound Collective is a community-based travel app, great for finding local adventures, or planning your road trip to visit as many places as possible. The app features personal stories on real adventures, amazing landscape galleries, and categorises trips by activity and season. Be sure to check out their guides on exploring Karekare Falls (near Auckland), and the Rakaia Gorge Walkway (near Christchurch).
Download The Outbound Collective from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.
Don’t forget to check out our latest deals & specials on campervan hire in New Zealand.
About the Author
Bastian Graf
Bastian is the Sales & Marketing Manager here at Travellers Autobarn. He holds a Master of Commerce in Marketing and International Business Management, and 20+ years experience in campervan hire, road trips and travel.