Making an Abel Tasman Coastal Track Booking

The Abel Tasman Coastal Track is one of our 10 Great Walks of New Zealand – which is probably why you’re here – and a fantastic one to start on, because of its ease and accessibility. You can bail out if you need to, there are water-taxis running all over the place if you want to suddenly shorten your journey, and you’re not in the middle of nowhere if you’ve over estimated your level of fitness.

On top of that, it’s just beautiful and I would really recommend going in the summer, as it would be a shame to tramp it at any other time of year and not be able to fully enjoy the golden sands and turquoise waters that it offers.

I had visited the region before, but I was still taken aback by how closely this part of the coastline can resemble a tropical island when I returned to do the Great Walk in February 2022. Swimming everyday was delightful, and my Mum and I purposely took the full five days to walk it so that we could soak up the sun each afternoon.

Great Walks can involve a bit of planning when there is the need for taking public transport in and out of the track, if you don’r have a vehicle, and there’s also lots to consider when you’re booking the track, so hopefully this guide simplifies the process for you.

What Do I Need To Know About The Abel Tasman Coastal Track?

The Abel Tasman Coastal Track is located in Abel Tasman National Park, in the top left corner of the South Island. It is New Zealand’s smallest National Park, and it’s named after Abel Tasman, who named the country New Zealand.

It’s best known for it’s golden sand – Golden Bay in particular boasts very golden sand. The nearest city name you might recognise is Nelson, which is a small city, but it’s where you’ll fly into if you’re flying in especially for the track.

The Abel Tasman Coastal Track – that is, the official Great Walk, has a three day option, or a longer five day option. If you’re not fussed about doing the full Great Walk, you can also enjoy sections of it as a day walker, or you can paddle the coast on a kayak tour. This post is going to address the official three and five day track options, and what is involved with booking them.

It’s a point-to-point track, so you’ll need transport in, and transport out at the other end. It runs from Mārahau to Tōtaranui (which is the most common three day option), or Mārahau through Tōtaranui all the way out to Wainui Inlet (which is the five day option), and you can walk in either direction.

It’s a bit of a unique Great Walk as there are luxury lodges on the way, so you can really mix it up if you’d prefer to book a night in one of those instead of roughing it in a hut or a tent!

The track does undulate but it’s really quite flat compared to other Great Walks. It’s an easy one, a good starting-out one (even though it was my 9th Great Walk!)

The full five day version of the track is 60 kilometres (or 37 miles).

Booking Your Huts or Campsites

There are four huts along the track, so if you are staying in huts only, it’s nice and easy to decide where you’ll be spending your four nights (that is, if you’re doing the five day version). Your huts will be Anchorage Hut, Bark Bay Hut, Awaroa Hut and Whariwharangi Hut (or vice versa).

If you’d like to pack a lightweight tent and stay in the campsites, there are eight to choose from before Anchorage Hut alone! There are two more between Anchorage Hut and Bark Bay Hut, three more to choose from between Bark Bay Hut and Awaroa Hut, and five more to choose from between Awaroa Hut and Whariwharangi Hut. So planning distances and walk times between campsites gets a little more complicated (you do have to book them, no matter the season), but the Department of Conservation track page makes it really easy. 

We stayed in the huts. We had less to carry and the decision work was done for us as to which huts we would stay in – the four available!

If you’d like to stay in a hut one night, and switch to a campsite the next, you can do that, too.

Department of Conservation Huts

The Abel Tasman Coastal Track huts accommodate between 20 and 34 people each. The smaller ones are the extra two days that not everyone does, however, while Anchorage Hut and Bark Bay Huts have room for 34 people each, as they are the ones that accommodate the people doing the three day walk, as well.

Tell Me About The Cooking Facilities

Anchorage Hut, Bark Bay Hut and Awaroa Hut are all like most Department of Conservation Huts, but Whariwharangi Hut is a little different, as it is an old settler’s hut from 1897 that has been restored.

What they all have in common – what all Abel Tasman Coastal Track Department of Conservation huts have in common – is the lack of cooking facilities: you MUST bring a gas cooker with you. You’ll need to make sure you have enough gas to keep it running for three days or five days, remembering that cooking a pasta or rice meal over gas for 15 minutes will use more gas than just boiling water for a few minutes in order to re-hydrate dehydrated food. I like doing both, it’s just that the amount of gas you will burn differs.

Tell Me About The Sleeping Arrangements

The Abel Tasman Coastal Track can be done staying in tents or in huts – or both, if you want to do a bit of a combination. The huts have your standard plastic mattresses and are shared bunk rooms. There’s four spaced along the five day walk, so anyone going in peak season (summer) will be competing against everyone else who is also booking just-huts. Some people are adamant they want a bottom bunk, and others don’t care, but if you fit into the first category, you’ll want a nice early start and to boost along the track to grab your spot at the next hut, and to do your swimming once you’re settled in.

The tentsites are plentiful – there’s eighteen of them! – so heaps of choices, but those choices need to be made before you turn up, as you do need to book your spot.

Whariwharangi Hut is an old homestead, so the stairs to the sleeping lofts are 19th century style – narrow, and steep!

Tell Me About The Toilets

Great news! You’ll be getting flush toilets on the Abel Tasman Coastal Track!! Some of them are flush toilets and some of them are long-drops, but to even have some, I think, is great. You’ll find a flushing toilet every four hours along the track (or every ten kilometres – 6 miles – or so.) I always have a roll of toilet paper in my pack, just in case one has run out.

Step One: Making a Great Walks Booking Account

There’s a step that comes before booking the Abel Tasman Coastal Track, and that is to ensure you first have an account with the Department of Conservation Booking Service. If you’ve booked a Great Walk previously, you’ll be able to use that same account. Check to see the password is what you remember and that you can still log in okay.

Some of the Great Walks are incredibly popular and spots sell out fast. The Abel Tasman Coastal Track is not one of the fastest, but it is still very popular – especially over the kiwi summer (December to February) so keep an eye out in late May each year for when the date that bookings will open is announced. Bookings are already open for the coming summer and it is too early to know when they will open them for the 2025/2026 season, but when you do know the date, start making your plans to avoid disappointment.

My mum and I walked the Abel Tasman Coastal Track in late February. We wanted to have warm weather for swimming, and this is a time of year that most people have gone back to work and kids have gone back to school. It was a beautiful time to go! I do recall missing out on our original plan though; we wanted to take six of us and could only get two of us booked, and we had to go with our plan B dates. Have your plan A and your plan B in case you need to call on it.

The link to the Department of Conservation Booking Service is https://bookings.doc.govt.nz/. Create your account if you don’t already have one – all it takes is your email and a password. There is just the one booking service for all Department of Conservation walks nowadays. 

Step Two: Booking through your Great Walks Booking Account

Once you have your Department of Conservation Booking Service account and you can get in alright, once the booking opening date has passed, you will be able to go in and book the Abel Tasman Coastal Track. Don’t wait too long to do this, because it is still quite popular. If you’re taking a bigger group, you’ll need to act fast on the day that bookings open. Below are the bits and pieces you need to have sorted out.

Know Your Party

You’ll need to know who you’re going with (and have names and ages for all). We wanted all six of us to go, but when it booked out for the dates we wanted (and we were quite picky about our dates because this is a tramp where you’ll need to think about low tide and high tide times – more on that later), we had to sacrifice those who weren’t as fussed about doing it.

It ended up just being Mum and I, as we were the two who wanted to do it the most. There’s another way though, if you find your dates are booked up for the number of people you want to go with, and that is to switch your dates up so that you can keep your group size.

Know Your Dates

Picking dates gets a bit interesting on the Abel Tasman Coastal Track. Of course, you can go anytime you like – year round even, unlike some of the alpine Great Walks – but there are two stretches of the walk where you must cross over tidal estuaries, and you can only cross them at low tide.

That means that if low tide is at a really inconvenient time on the date you have picked, you’ll be walking at a really inconvenient time.

Generally speaking, low tides are twelve hours apart, so if one low tide is going to be quite early in the morning, you’re in for a really early start to make it over before the tide rises, or a really long day while you wait for that high tide to come back down again. So it makes sense to look at the tidal calendar for this area when picking your dates, and note the possibilities on paper.

The Department of Conservation has a page for the tide timetable for the Abel Tasman Coastal Track, for your convenience, which I’ll link here.

I’ll touch on it a bit further down, as obviously making your plans depends on how much time you need before you reach that crossing, as well.

Its easy to confuse hut and campsite names. Two of the huts start with A (Anchorage and Awaroa) and then you’ve got both Whariwharangi and Wainui starting with a W, plus you might be only doing the three day walk, so you have a different finish point, or you might be doing it in reverse. Plus, there’s eighteen campsite names you might be choosing from, so write it all on paper so you know which night you’re selecting where!

Run Your Search

When bookings open, and you get yourself logged into the Department of Conservation Booking Service site, you’ll need to find your dates in the calendar to run your search, and select that this is for the Abel Tasman Coastal Track. Enter if you’re doing three or five days – or four, that’s an option, too – basically, are you walking Mārahau to Tōtaranui, Mārahau to Wainui, or those in reverse? It would be less common to walk three days from Wainui, as you’ll miss out on Anchorage and Bark Bay, and the best parts of the track! The other end attracts the day-walkers for a reason!

Select Your Dates

So get all that entered in, select your group size (if each of you are booking for yourselves, then it’s just 1), and pick the squares in the grid that line up with your dates and huts/campsites. They’ll go in a diagonal line as you can’t make selections in a vertical column – that would be for one date only.

Anything that has come up red is booked, and anything that has come up red with an exclamation is not yet fully booked, just close. 

If you encounter some red when you’re trying to book, you could reverse the direction you’re going to walk in, you could move your dates by a couple of days (which wouldn’t affect the low tide timings too much), or you could just opt to shave off a day somewhere, or the opposite, spend a rest day on a beach somewhere with a double booking at one hut/campsite, for you to then continue on the following day! (Pack enough food for the extra day, obviously.)

Click Reserve and then enter in names and ages for everyone. Now you just have to pay.

Make Your Payment

The Abel Tasman Coastal Track can be booked year round, but, unlike the Lake Waikaremoana Track, for example, the prices of the huts and campsites depend on when you’re going. There’s actually quite a few different prices for each season – so that could get confusing. There’s also a price difference depending on whether you are a New Zealander or an international visitor. Children under 5 are free no matter what, and children aged 5-17 are charged a lesser rate.

So, if you’re going to be walking in October, November, December, January, February, March or April (that’s two thirds of our spring, any time over summer, or in the first two thirds of our autumn), that’s peak season, and a New Zealander will pay $50NZD 🇳🇿 per night for a hut. That totals $100NZD 🇳🇿 ($62USD 🇺🇸) or the three day walk with two nights in huts, and $200NZD 🇳🇿 ($125USD 🇺🇸) for the five day walk, with four nights in huts.

An international visitor will pay $76NZD 🇳🇿 ($48USD 🇺🇸) per night for a hut. That totals $152NZD 🇳🇿 ($95USD 🇺🇸) for the three day walk with two nights in huts, and $304NZD 🇳🇿 ($190USD 🇺🇸)  for the five day walk, with four nights in huts.

And if you’re camping, a New Zealander will pay $19NZD 🇳🇿 ($12USD 🇺🇸) per night. That totals $38NZD 🇳🇿 ($24USD 🇺🇸) for the three day walk with two nights at the campsites, and $76NZD 🇳🇿 ($48USD 🇺🇸) for the five day walk, with four nights at the campsites.

An international visitor who is prepared to camp will pay $28NZD 🇳🇿 ($12USD 🇺🇸) per night. That totals $56NZD 🇳🇿($35USD 🇺🇸) for the three day walk with two nights at the campsites, and $112NZD 🇳🇿 ($70USD 🇺🇸) for the five day walk, with four nights at the campsites.

Off-season is a cheaper time to go.

The key difference is that in these off-season months – May, June, July, August or September, the rates are the same, regardless of whether you’re a New Zealander or an international visitor. Yay! 

It’s cheaper still if you are walking in July or August (our winter), and somewhere in the middle if you are walking in May, June, or September (our shoulder months). Huts get as cheap as $30NZD 🇳🇿 ($19USD 🇺🇸) for everyone, and campsites get as cheap as $19NZD 🇳🇿 ($12USD 🇺🇸), for everyone.

Huts have a different rate for shoulder season and winter, whereas campsites have one, set, off-season price ($19NZD 🇳🇿  – $12USD 🇺🇸), so if you’re on a budget, you can weigh up if you’d rather be in a hut, during the winter, or in a tent, during a shoulder season. (I’d pick the tent, in shoulder season.)

Tips And Tricks

1️⃣ The smartest way to pick your dates is to pick it around the low tide timetable. It’s the Awaroa Estuary that can only be crossed at low tide, but if you’re an hour either side of that, the water will still only be up to your ankles, so it’s still quite passable.

We didn’t want to hang around any longer so we went for it with our boots off. Hut buddies were even less patient, however, and they set off while it was still waist-deep! It was a much more difficult crossing for them, but they had a water-taxi booking they had to make so it was either walk over in the middle of the night (which they strongly considered doing, against everyone’s advice) or get really wet but cross in the morning. They chose to get really wet.

2️⃣ If you have the flexibility, have your ideal dates for more than one month written down. We wanted to go February but we had also looked at the low tide timetable for January and March, so if we missed out on our February booking, we knew straightaway what our preferred dates were for the following month.

3️⃣ If you’re going in summer, don’t rush the walk! The swimming is incredible; Mum and I constantly marvelled at how clear and turquoise the water was – so inviting! – so we allowed time each afternoon for swimming. Parts of the track go along the beach – stop and have some time at the beach, rather than being focussed on the destination.

4️⃣ Not booking related, but on your walk from Bark Bay to Awaroa (your day might be set up a little differently if you are staying in campsites, not huts, as the spacing it a little different) you will pass a turnoff for the Awaroa Lodge. Even if you are not staying there, trampers are welcome to go down and utilise their restaurant or their pizzeria. Although Mum and I didn’t stop (I think we ate tuna and beans on the track instead, ha,ha!), what could be better than a hot slice of pizza mid-way through your big walk!? If my pizza-loving husband had been with me then we would have most definitely stopped!

Cancellations and Refunds

Hopefully you won’t need to do this but it happens! Contact the Department of Conservation by phone or email and have a read of their cancellation and refund policies – they write quite a lot about all sorts of circumstances. This page of theirs goes into detail about cancellations and refunds.

Booking Your Transport

You’re booked! Or you probably are, if you’re up to this part. I am so excited for you! Like many of the Great Walks of New Zealand, getting in and out if you’re not from the area can take some planning. Abel Tasman Coastal Track is a bit unique in that you may be booking a water taxi – or probably some road transport, depending on where you’re coming from.

It’s not a loop track, so you are either going to be walking the whole way from Mārahau to Wainui Inlet, or just Mārahau to Tōtaranui, or the reverse, Tōtaranui to Wainui Inlet. (It’s less likely you’d be going from Wainui Inlet only as far as Tōtaranui, as you’ll miss the best of it).

The Three Day Walk

🛥️ If you’re starting at Mārahau and leave a vehicle there, you can water-taxi back to Mārahau from Tōtaranui after your three days on the track, and leave in your vehicle. You can park in the Department of Conservation carpark at Mārahau.

🛥️ If you’re starting at Tōtaranui and leave a vehicle there, you can water taxi back to Tōtaranui from Mārahau after your three days on the track, and leave in your vehicle. You carpark in the Department of Conservation carpark at Tōtaranui.

The Five Day Walk

🛥️ Or, you can water-taxi on day one to your start point (either end) and walk in the direction of your vehicle, whether that be at the Mārahau Carpark or the Tōtaranui Carpark.

🚌 If you’re doing the five day walk, you’ll be going all the way from Mārahau to Wainui Inlet. There’s a Department of Conservation carpark at Wainui Inlet, too, so you can leave your vehicle at either end, and get transport back to the end you start at. That’ll be by road, however, you can’t water taxi the whole way back (as Mārahau to Tōtaranui is as far as they go). There are operators who will shuttle you by road.

Or! You might have part of your group who just want to lounge around on the beach at Tōtaranui for a few days, and stay in the massive campsite there! They might be prepared to take you to and collect you from each end – it’s a half hour drive from Tōtaranui to Wainui Inlet (14 kilometres, or 9 miles) and a two hour drive from Tōtaranui to Mārahau (88 kilometres, or 55 miles). They can entertain themselves with guided or self-guided kayak hire, if they’d prefer to paddle while you walk! It’s an incredibly popular place for sea kayaking. 

Actually, if you yourself can spare a day after your walk for a day out on the water, I would so recommend taking the opportunity to!

Transport To/From Nelson

🚌 And if you don’t have a vehicle? We didn’t either. We got a shuttle from Nelson to the start, and from the end back to Nelson. Nelson has the nearest airport, so for Aucklanders like Mum and I, we had to fly in, so we had to look at transport operators from Nelson. 

The drive from Nelson to Mārahau is an hour (59 kilometres, or 37 miles).

The drive from Nelson to Tōtaranui is two and a half hours (127 kilometres, or 79 miles).

The drive from Nelson to Wainui Inlet is two hours (113 kilometres, or 70 miles).

Water Taxi Operators

Below are six water taxi operators who can shuttle people around beach to beach. They’re helpful if you’re a day walker who wants to be dropped off on one beach and walk a section of the Abel Tasman Coastal Track before being picked up at another beach, and they’re helpful for you, too, if you want to get between Mārahau and Tōtaranui after three days on the track!

Note that the water taxis don’t operate further north than Tōtaranui. What this means is that as someone doing the full five days to Wainui Inlet, you are unlikely to use the water taxi services, as you’ll need to travel out of Wainui Inlet by road. 

You’ll see that some of them include Kaiteriteri as an option – Kaiteriteri is not part of the Abel Tasman Coastal Track, as it’s further south than Mārahau, so that option is not meant for those doing the Great Walk.

👉🏻 Abel Tasman Water Taxis let you book online, so that’s very convenient for most of us. This map of theirs, linked here is very helpful for seeing the national park and it’s layout, visually. They charge $63NZD 🇳🇿 ($39USD 🇺🇸) for water-taxi between Mārahau and Tōtaranui.

👉🏻 Mārahau Water Taxis is another company that will shuttle you to and from pretty much any of the beaches, but for our trampers doing the Great Walk, you’re looking at going between Tōtaranui and Mārahau, and that’s a $60NZD 🇳🇿 ($38USD 🇺🇸) journey. 

👉🏻 Abel Tasman Aqua Taxi is one of the main operators for water-taxis in the area and they will do the Tōtaranui to Mārahau leg (or vice versa) leg for $60NZD 🇳🇿 ($38USD 🇺🇸).

👉🏻 Abel Tasman Kayaks offer one-way water-taxi services, and you just have to book both legs separately as they don’t do any sort of return package. From one end of the three day walk to the other, ie Mārahau to Tōtaranui, or Tōtaranui to Mārahau, it’ll cost you $65NZD 🇳🇿 ($41USD 🇺🇸) (plus $25NZD 🇳🇿 – $16USD 🇺🇸, for your tramping pack).

👉🏻 Abel Tasman Sea Shuttles are another of the water-taxi operators in the area. Those doing the Great Walk will once again just be looking at the Mārahau to Tōtaranui (or vice versa) option. It is highly likely they do the Tōtaranui to Mārahau stretch, but their price list here doesn’t include it. Tōtaranui to Apple Tree Bay is the closest (as Apple Tree Bay is just an hour’s walk out from Mārahau) and that leg costs $55NZD 🇳🇿 ($34USD 🇺🇸). These guys also have a bus service between Mārahau and Nelson (or Motueka), so long as you have a water taxi booking with them, too.

👉🏻 Wilson’s Abel Tasman are another operator who do transport for the self-guided walkers (and guided walks, too!). Like Abel Tasman Sea Shuttles, their website only gives an option for Tōtaranui to Apple Tree Bay (or Kaiteriteri Beach; Mārahau is between the two). Obviously another hour’s walk from Apple Tree Bay to Mārahau is the last thing you want to do when you’ve just finished three days on the track! So it would pay to get in touch with them and enquire.

Vehicle Operators

There are at least eight operators who offer road transport connections, whether that’s a bus, coach or shuttle.

👉🏻 Wilson’s Abel Tasman offers a return Nelson to Mārahau shuttle for $60NZD 🇳🇿 ($38USD 🇺🇸), and a return Nelson to Motueka (a closer town than Nelson) shuttle for $25NZD 🇳🇿 ($16USD 🇺🇸).

👉🏻 Better Bus is the local bus service running between Mārahau, Nelson, and the closer town of Motueka, and they run daily, but only in the summer months. Opening October 1st, you will pay $35NZD 🇳🇿 ($22USD 🇺🇸) for the Nelson to Mārahau leg (and vice versa). There’s no Wainui option, so you’d need to get back to Mārahau before you can use them.

👉🏻 Golden Bay Air not only offer flights around the national park, but shuttle buses, too. They will do transfers between Nelson, Mārahau and Wainui Inlet, so a good operator to consider for those doing the five day walk all the way out to Wainui Inlet. They do a package which will see you go from Nelson to Mārahau (or Wainui Inlet), and pick you up from the other end, and return you to Nelson. That is an option between November and April and offered for $119NZD 🇳🇿 ($74USD 🇺🇸). If you just want to walk three days to from Mārahau to Tōtaranui and water-taxi back to Mārahau when you’re done, they do a Nelson to Mārahau return ticket for $80NZD 🇳🇿 ($50USD 🇺🇸). Note both of these services only tun on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays.

👉🏻 You can also travel by road from Nelson (or Motueka) to Mārahau (and back) with Abel Tasman Sea Shuttles, but you must book a water taxi, with them, too. They have an excellent map here which will help you visualise the National Park, even if you don’t end up using them. Here’s their bus schedule.

👉🏻 Trampers Transport by Somerset Hostel in Collingwood also do a range of shuttle options for trampers needing to go between Wainui and Tōtaranui, and can be contacted for pricing on info@backpackerscollingwood.co.nz.

👉🏻 Scrambled Legs have the Abel Tasman Track listed amongst the drop down options on their prices page. They charge $49NZD 🇳🇿 ($29USD 🇺🇸) for a one way transfer to the Mārahau end of the track, and $85NZD 🇳🇿 ($50USD 🇺🇸) for a one way transfer to the Wainui end of the track.

👉🏻 Trek Express do transport from Nelson. They charge $42NZD 🇳🇿 ($25USD 🇺🇸) for a one way transfer to the Mārahau end of the track, and $80NZD 🇳🇿 ($47USD 🇺🇸) for a one way transfer to the Wainui end of the track.

👉🏻 Nelson Lakes Shuttles also offer transport. It costs $42NZD 🇳🇿 ($25USD 🇺🇸) between Nelson and Mārahau one way, $95NZD 🇳🇿 ($56USD 🇺🇸) between Nelson and Tōtaranui one way, and $80NZD 🇳🇿 ($47USD 🇺🇸) between Nelson and Wainui one way.

If you’ve left a vehicle at either end, they charge $65NZD 🇳🇿 ($38USD 🇺🇸) to take you between Wainui and Mārahau in either direction, or they charge $80NZD 🇳🇿 ($47USD 🇺🇸) to take you between Tōtaranui and Mārahau in either direction.

Is There A Guided Walk Option?

Yes! There are several.

👉🏻 Abel Tasman Guides offer sections of the track guided, and the full thing. Their ‘4 Day All The Way Walk’ may be only four days but is the full stretch from Mārahau to Wainui Inlet. They take care of all of your transfers to and from Nelson, water-taxis, you won’t have to carry your big pack, you’ll have great lodge accommodation sorted out, and all your food made for you. They charge $3379NZD 🇳🇿 ($2111USD 🇺🇸) but you’ve got to have minimum two people booking for that price. (They also do a ‘4 Day Classic Guided Walk’ but that’s the traditional three day version of the Great Walk (Mārahau to Tōtaranui) with a spare adventure day thrown in, so it’s not the full stretch.)

👉🏻 There’s a second guided option with a company called Southern Wilderness. They are slightly more affordable as their accommodation is in the Department of Conservation huts with everyone else, and you’ll still be carrying your pack, but they will guide you for the full 60 kilometre stretch out to Wainui Inlet over five days, and they will have someone cooking for you each night, and you won’t have to make your own plans to get back to Nelson. Their package costs $1995NZD 🇳🇿 ($1246USD 🇺🇸).

👉🏻 A third guided option is to do your walk with Wilson’s Abel Tasman, although they only offer the three day version, walking mostly from Tōtaranui to Mārahau (but sometimes they do the reverse). You’ll get the benefit of lodge accommodation and food and transport provided, as well as a guide. It costs $1650NZD 🇳🇿 ($1031USD 🇺🇸). (Their advertised five day walk does not do the full stretch out to Wainui Inlet; it’s just a slower paced trip back from Tōtaranui.)

👉🏻 A fourth option is Tuatara Tours. They have the five day Abel Tasman Coastal Track tour, including transfers to and from Nelson, your guide, your food and not having to carry your pack for $2850NZD 🇳🇿 ($1780USD 🇺🇸), and they have the three day Abel Tasman Coastal Track tour, with all the same inclusions, for $1750NZD 🇳🇿 ($1093USD 🇺🇸).

👉🏻 A fifth option is a company called Great Walks of New Zealand, who have their Abel Tasman Guided Adventure. It spans six days as it includes a night’s accommodation in Nelson, but the walking they do is only the three days of the track, Tōtaranui to Mārahau. As well as your guide, you pay for not having to carry your luggage, and the arrangements made for your transport and your food, etc, and they charge $3050NZD🇳🇿 ($1905USD 🇺🇸).

What Will It Cost Me?

This is multi-factorial, as I explained above in the Make Your Payment section, but accommodation on the Abel Tasman Coastal Track is going to cost a New Zealander somewhere between $38NZD 🇳🇿 ($24USD 🇺🇸) (for two nights at campsites, in shoulder season or in winter, if doing the three day walk), and $200NZD 🇳🇿 ($125USD 🇺🇸) (for four nights in huts, in peak season, if doing the five day walk). 

Accommodation on the Abel Tasman Coastal Track is going to cost an international visitor somewhere between $38NZD 🇳🇿 ($24USD 🇺🇸) (for two nights at campsites, in shoulder season or in winter, if doing the three day walk), and $304NZD 🇳🇿 ($190USD 🇺🇸) (for four nights in huts, in peak season, if doing the five day walk). 

I acknowledge that that’s quite a big range, and you can spend even more if you want to swap out a night at Awaroa Hut for a luxury night in the Awaroa Lodge (which will set you back more than a few hundred dollars).

Those doing the three day walk and utilising the Tōtaranui to Mārahau (or Mārahau to Tōtaranui) water-taxi services are looking to pay $60NZD 🇳🇿 ($38USD 🇺🇸) to $65NZD 🇳🇿 ($41USD 🇺🇸) for the one-way water-taxi trip, depending on who you book through.

As for road transport from Nelson to and from the National Park, you might be looking at anything from $80NZD 🇳🇿 ($50USD 🇺🇸) to $120NZD 🇳🇿 ($75USD 🇺🇸) for both trips. Swap this cost for petrol costs if you’ll be driving your own vehicle in and out. It’s obviously going to be less if you are coming from closer in, from somewhere such as the town of Motueka.

Anywhere between two and five hundred dollars would probably be a fair budget.

The Abel Tasman Coastal Track is one of the more complex to book, simply because you have more choices and ways to customise your trip than on other Great Walks. There are endless options for exploring the national park, and even those specifically looking to do the Great Walk will find multiple ways of doing it. The beauty of it is that you can walk it in sections, and you could even return another time to complete the sections you missed, if you like – it’s that easy to get in and out. 

Hopefully this guide (while packed with information) has not been too overwhelming but instead breaks it down somewhat so you have an idea of where you need to go, who you need to contact, and what details you need to sort out.

This is one national park I can’t wait to get back to and enjoy again.