This review is based on my own mistakes planning this trip. We had one day to get from…read moreNelson to Abel Tasman National Park to Christchurch- very ambitious and now I know it was a huge mistake! I tried my best to understand what we could do at Abel Tasman National Park before we got there and what to do there in only a few hours- I read reviews, skimmed the website, and watched YouTube videos. When we arrived to the visitor center it was in the morning and we only had a few hours there before we had to leave, we asked the ladies at the visitor center what they recommend. They weren't the friendliest or the most helpful, they recommended we did a ferry to one of the other islands but we wouldn't have time to come back wt make it to Christchurch. They didn't try to give other suggestions. We saw a beach area and decided we would walk around it until we couldn't and turn back which is when I saw the actual Abel Tasman coast track and decided we would walk that trail until we had to turn around to be at the car in time. We were able to get to three viewpoints and decided to start driving to Christchurch after. Few things I learned about this experience: there are no toilets at the visitor center, there's a horrific portable toilet walking distance from the visitor center however on our way back we found a toilet behind the visitor center that seems clean- near the kayaking companies. You must do a full day at Abel Tasman, if that means staying there overnight- it'll be worth it! Definetly not the best to just do the national park in few hours ( you can't do much! ). I do think if the ladies at the visitor center recommended this trail to us from the beginning we would have made it further down the trail and seen more.

Abel Tasman is beautiful! If lush green rainforest and sparkling turquoise waters appeal to you…read more(and I mean, why wouldn't it?) then by all means do the trek through Abel Tasman. Abel Tasman is one of New Zealand's "great walks" which means the trails are super well maintained, and there are luxurious huts (by trekking standards) to stay in so you don't even have to camp! You can hike from hut to hut and do anything from 2 days to 5 (or even just 1 day if you're wimpy) - you don't have to finish the entire trek as there are water taxis at various points that will take you back to the car park/trailhead in Marahau. The huts are equipped with mattresses, flush toilets, drinking water, and a kitchen area. In the common area there are also wood stoves, so if someone takes the initiative, you can have heating too. You do need to bring a sleeping bag and cooking equipment (and food of course) but all in all it makes for a much lighter pack than if you were straight out camping. For those who prefer to rough it, there are also various campgrounds along the trail. For both the huts and the camps you have to book ahead of time on the DOC website, and for the huts I believe it's something like $34 NZ per person per night. A bit pricey but you also have to consider there's no fee to enter the park, so that's all you'll pay. We planned our trip starting in Marahau and then staying in Anchorage Hut the first night. That meant our first day of hiking was relatively short (8 miles) and we found ourselves with most of the day at the hut. It's on a nice beach with a few shorter walks you can explore, but unluckily for us it rained most of the afternoon and we huddled in the hut rather than sunning on the beach. The next night we hiked all the way to Awaroa Hut, which was quite the trek - 16 miles I believe. You certainly don't have to do that all in one day, as it seems like most people just hike to Bark Bay, approximately half the journey. At Awaroa there's a tidal inlet and you can only continue on during low tide. The tides were not in our favor, which meant we would have had to wait until noon to cross the next day. Instead we chose to hike out a few miles to Awaroa Lodge (very fancy) and catch the water taxi back to Marahau. I do suggest reserving a water taxi trip ahead of time as they seem to fill up! The water taxi took about 1.5 hours to get us back, with several pick up/drop off stops along the way. It was fun to see all the places we'd hiked through from the water - a new perspective!