Our Region
We are passionate about the area, and providing an enjoyable and memorable experience for you.
The Abel Tasman National Park
The Abel Tasman National Park is renowned for its golden beaches, sculptured granite cliffs, and the world-famous Abel Tasman Coastal Track. With a mild climate, it’s an ideal place to visit any time of the year.
Just 400 metres from the entrance to the National Park, the Abel Tasman Lodge makes the perfect base for exploring the abundant, clear, turquoise-coloured bays, and lush green native forest. The sheltered waters and stunning golden beaches and bays also make the Abel Tasman National Park perfect for sea kayaking for first-time as well as experienced paddlers.
There are several sustainability initiatives that care for this national treasure including Project Janszoon, Abel Tasman Birdsong Trust and the Tasman Bay Guardians. These organisations work to restore and revive the native plants, birds and wildlife in the park.
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Mārahau - the Abel Tasman Village
The picturesque seaside village of Mārahau is the starting point for all your Abel Tasman adventures. You'll find cafés and restaurants, water taxis, kayaks, canyoning, walks, scenery and experiences galore, all within easy walking distance.
Mārahau is on the edge of the Abel Tasman National Park. It’s as close as it gets! It’s a popular place to spend time exploring and relaxing.
The Region
From Mārahau you can choose from a variety of day trips further afield in the greater Tasman Region.
Kaiteriteri
Kaiteriteri is approximately 15 minutes drive from Mārahau offering more golden sand and crystalline water. Kaiteriteri, a busy settlement with a café, playground, larger water taxis and kayaks. Unique to this area is the excellent Kaiteriteri Mountain Bike Park. There are trails here to suit all mountain biking abilities, from beginner through to expert.
Motueka
Motueka is the main service town near Mārahau. It’s useful for supermarket shopping, banking and pharmacies. It’s the ideal place for picking up groceries and any other shopping requirements before moving on to Mārahau for your Abel Tasman experience.
Between Mārahau and Motueka is the small settlement of Riwaka, which is ‘world famous’ for its hops and beer. Try HOP Federation on the Riwaka main road (SH60).
Māpua & the Moutere
Nearby is the township of Māpua and the Moutere Valley region. Māpua boasts some nice cafés, restaurants and decent visitor shopping. Moutere offers a range of established along with up and coming wineries, artists and artisans. Both places are an easy 40-minute drive from Mārahau.
Golden Bay
Just an hours drive from the Lodge, the Golden Bay region provides a good day trip with several interesting short walks and a range of arts and crafts shopping – pottery, paintings, jewellery, sculpture, ceramics and woodworkers – based in the township of Tākaka.
You can also enjoy the unique experience of catching your own freshwater salmon at Anatoki Salmon Farms and then savour the taste of it over lunch or take it away vacuum packed for dinner at the Lodge.
Nelson
The largest town between Wellington and Christchurch, Nelson is an ideal place to fly into. The small, but busy Nelson Airport is served by several airlines with flights to and from Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch as well as several other smaller centres. The airport has good amenities with car hire and public transport.
The region has a strong history of arts and crafts. While many of the artisans reside in the Tasman area (between Nelson and Mārahau), several galleries are situated in Nelson city, including the Suter Gallery and the unique WOW Museum, near the airport.
Free booking & information service
Let us take away any holiday hassle.
Use our local knowledge of the Abel Tasman National Park to help tailor and book your activities at no extra charge.
What’s more, if you book ahead, you don’t need to pay for any activity until you arrive.