New Zealand · The Surf Coast
Taranaki
One sacred mountain, and the best waves in the country.
The Region
Taranaki is a region built around one perfect volcanic cone. The mountain — legally a person under New Zealand law, and sacred to the iwi who ring it — gathers dairy farms at its feet and the country’s finest surf along its coast. The Surf Highway runs the arc of it, break after break, most of them empty.
It is a region of raw natural drama still waiting for accommodation worthy of its setting, which is why we send travellers here ahead of the crowd, not behind it. Come for the waves, the galleries of New Plymouth, and roads that feel found rather than built.
01
A Moment We Design
The Surf Highway
A hundred kilometres of coast road around the mountain’s skirt, with iron-sand beaches and point breaks the whole way. Surf it with a local who knows which bank is working, or simply drive it slowly with the windows down, the mountain on one side, the Tasman on the other.
02
A Moment We Design
The Forgotten World Highway
The road in from the east is one of the North Island’s great remote drives: a day of saddles, tunnels and river gorges through country that time mislaid. We break it properly, with a backcountry station stay, so the journey to Taranaki becomes half the reason to go.
When To Come
The season is part of the design
The surf works year-round; the wetsuits just get thicker. Summer brings the beach days, autumn the cleanest swells.
The mountain shows itself most reliably on still winter mornings — snow-capped, improbably symmetrical, and gone again by lunch. Photographers, set your alarms.
Design your journey
Tell us what pulled at you here. We'll design the journey around it, with the right people waiting when the helicopter lands.
Start a Conversation