Everyone in New Zealand seems to have their favourite beach and Kiwis will passionately argue for their chosen strip of sand.
Top-selling weekend newspaper the Herald on Sunday asked its readers to help decide which was the best beach in New Zealand and they were besieged with votes for all types of beach, ranging from quiet, family-safe beaches to wild, black sand beaches with rampant surf.
The west coast beach at Piha was voted New Zealand’s best beach. The beach, about an hour’s drive west of Auckland, was chosen as the nation’s top beach.
Piha only just saw off a strong challenge from another of Auckland’s iconic beaches, Takapuna Beach.
Beyond that, votes came in for beaches as far apart as Dunedin’s St Clair in the south and Ninety Mile Beach in the north.
The contest for most scenic beach was also hotly debated. Coromandel Peninsula’s Cathedral Cove eventually took the public vote but only just ahead of Kaiteriteri in Nelson Bays.
The best beaches in New Zealand
Top choice
Piha, Auckland’s West Coast
Best of the rest (not in order)
Takapuna, North Shore
Mission Bay, Auckland
Kaiteriteri, Nelson Bays
Tahunanui, Nelson
Cathedral Cove, Coromandel Peninsula
Cooks Beach Coromandel Peninsula
Mt Maunganui, Bay of Plenty
KariKari Beach, Northland
Coopers Beach, Northland
Ninety Mile Beach, Northland
Best beach in New Zealand for kids
Top choice
Waiake Beach, North Shore.
Best of the rest (not in order)
Orewa Beach, Rodney
Thornton Bay, Coromandel Peninsula
Cheltenham, North Shore
Takapuna, North Shore
Tahunanui, Nelson
Best beach in New Zealand for surf
Top choices
A tie between Piha and Whale Bay, Raglan
Best of the rest (not in order)
Whangamata, Coromandel Peninsula
Mt Maunganui, Bay of Plenty
Wainui, Gisborne
Best secret beach in New Zealand
Top choice
Awana, Great Barrier
Source: Herald on Sunday
