National Geographic has named New Zealand as one of its top 25 destinations for 2023.
The influential magazine has listed Aotearoa alongside some famous tourist hotspots, and some more obscure ones, as places to discover next year.
New Zealand is one of the five listed in the ‘adventure’ category alongside Choquequirao in Peru, Utah in the US, the Austrian Alps and Mexico’s Revillagigedo National Park.
The magazine said of NZ that the “country that brought you bungee jumping is bouncing back from the pandemic”.
READ MORE:
* The ‘world cruise of world cruises’ is scheduled to visit 150 destinations including New Zealand
* Canterbury named one of National Geographic’s top adventure destinations
* The 10 best adventure holiday destinations
It focusses on a “reenergised” Queenstown which is “welcoming adventure travelers from all over the world” but says the area’s many cycling tracks are “generating the most excitement”.
QueenstownNZ.co.nz
Mountain biking around Queenstown was a feature in the magazine’s listing.
“By 2025, the Queenstown Trails Trust aims to complete a network of recreational and commuting bike lanes and paths that will link up workplaces, schools, and other urban spaces.
“The network’s shining star: an 80.7-mile (130km) biking route called the Queenstown Trail, one of New Zealand’s Great Rides. Starting on the shore of Lake Wakatipu, the Ride pedals east from Queenstown to Gibbston. “
The backcountry Coronet Loop Trail was also highlighted for the more adventurous as it “snakes past waterfalls, river gorges, beech forests, and the historic remnants of a 19th-century Chinese gold mining settlement along the Arrow River”.
National Geographic’s four other categories, nature, family, community and culture, also saw a wide range of diverse destinations featured including Botswana, the Dodecanese Islands in Greece and Manchester in the UK.
National Geographic’s Best of the World 2023:
Adventure
New Zealand
Revillagigedo National Park, Mexico
Utah, US
Choquequirao, Peru
Austrian Alps
Nature
Botswana
Big Bend National Park, Texas, US
The Azores, Portugal
Scottish Highlands
Slovenia
Cultures
Busan, South Korea
Appian Way, Italy
Charleston, South Carolina, US
Longmen Grottoes, Henan Province, China
Egypt
Community
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US
Laos
Ghana
Dodecanese Islands, Greece
Alberta, Canada
Family
Manchester, UK
Trinidad & Tobago
Switzerland
Colombia
San Francisco Crosstown Trail, California, US
/cloudfront-ap-southeast-2.images.arcpublishing.com/nzme/MLBL55LHNVF6NEJZ6QUBLXFEQQ.webp?resize=390,220)
