When planning your New Zealand vacation it is important to keep in mind public and regional holidays. These holidays can impact what tourist attractions will be available as well as what events will be available. Fortunately, the majority of New Zealand’s holidays are similar to what we’re used to in the U.S., however, they have a few holidays that are unique to this small island nation.
The first set of New Zealand holidays that you need to be aware of when planning your international vacation are statutory public holidays. These are the holidays that could potentially impact what businesses and attractions that will be open during your vacation. Some of the statutory public holidays that are observed in New Zealand include: New Year’s Day, January 2, Waitangi Day (February 6), Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Easter Monday, ANZAC Day (April 25), the Queen’s Birthday (first October Monday), Labour Day (the 4th Monday in the month of October), Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
If you are trying to plan your flights to New Zealand to correspond to provincial anniversaries then you will need to know when that date is. In Southland the provincial anniversary is January 17, in Wellington Province the date is January 22, the Auckland Province anniversary date is January 29 as is the anniversary date for Northland. Nelson has its anniversary on February 1, Otago has its on March 23 and Taranaki has its anniversary on March 31. South Canterbury celebrates its anniversary on September 25, Hawke’s Bay and Marlborough celebrate their anniversaries on November 1, Chatham Islands have theirs on November 30 and Westland has its anniversary on December 1.
Do you have a New Zealand holiday that you would like to add to our list? Post your holiday below.
