Our Best Eco-Friendly Wellington Camping Spots

Camping in New Zealand is an experience that you must experience! Looking up at the sky full of stars at night and waking up to the view of beautiful coastal landscapes. There’s no better way to travel New Zealand than by campervan, staying at sustainable camping spots and discovering sustainable activities around these destinations.

Wanting to go camping near Wellington in New Zealand and keep your trip sustainable? Here is our list of the top sustainable camping spots for your next road trip! 

Putangirua Pinnacles 

The Department of Conservation are a government agency charged with conserving New Zealand’s natural and historic heritage. They have a webpage that shows all their campsites that offer a “back to nature” style camping experience. 

One of those found on their website is the Putangirua Pinnacles, which is a 1 hour 45-minute drive from Wellington. There are 50 nonpowered/tent sites at the reserve. There are a few walking tracks that are accessible from the reserve to get amongst nature. The Ridge Walk Track leads to spectacular views of Lake Onoke and Palliser Bay.  

This was also a filming location for the ‘Paths of the Dead’ scene in the third movie of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy! A must visit location for all movie fanatics. 

Catchpool Valley  

Another campsite found on their website is the Catchpool Valley campsite, which is a 40-minute drive from Wellington, with 19 nonpowered/tent sites available. There are multiple facilities available at this camping site, being cold showers, shelter for cooking, BBQ’s, phones and toilets.

There are many outdoor activities in Catchpool Valley being:

• mountain biking
• picnicking
• swimming in the Catchpool Stream
• walking tracks, two popular ones being the Catchpool Loop Walk and the Nga Taonga Nature Walk.  

Another sustainable campsite that isn’t found on the Department of Conservation website is: 

Upper Hut 

Upper Hut is a 30-minute drive from Wellington. Breathe in the fresh air and explore the great outdoors with up to 50 parks and reserves to stroll around, hiking or biking through the hills and fish in the river.  

The Wellington Kiwi Holiday Park is located just outside the town centre. They are a holiday park with environment focused waste disposing facilities and they endeavour to use sustainable building materials to move towards a more environmentally friendly holiday park.  

Always wanted to see some of New Zealand’s native animals, the Staglands Wildlife Park is also in Upper Hut. They have multiple conservation and environmental initiatives that they pursue and practise, for a sustainable wildlife reserve.  

Choosing sustainable camping options when travelling New Zealand will help you minimise the impact on the environment, promote environmental conservation and reduce your carbon footprint. Visiting these sustainable camping spots near Wellington listed above will point you in the right direction of choosing sustainable travel on your next road trip adventure! 

If your looking at starting your journey in the North, make sure you check out our deals on campervan hire in Auckland. But if you are looking at starting on the South Island don’t forget to check out the latest deals on the campervan hire in Christchurch, also!

Wanting to discover more sustainable camping spots? Check out our Sustainable Camping Spots in New Zealand article.

To learn more about sustainable travel in New Zealand, check out our How To Travel New Zealand Sustainably article.